EU: EIT JumpStarter 2023

The strategic aim of this program is to create a sustainable impact in the Central-Eastern and Southern-European Regions by boosting innovation and entrepreneurship within this part of Europe.

What is the EIT Jumpstarter?

EIT Jumpstarter is the award-winning pre-acceleration programme for scientists, researchers, and innovators, who want to validate their idea and develop business skills so to create and run its own startup. The programme, powered by the EIT Community, focuses on talents coming from the countries located in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, where the overall pace of innovation is moderate or modest. EIT Jumpstarter has brought to live already 70 startups and trained over 750 researchers, scientists, and professionals. It isfree of charge and doesn’t require equity-shares.

Who are the participants?

EIT Jumpstarter creates new European cohort of innovators: curious and eager to find solutions to some of the global intersectional challenges such as climate change, energy crisis, access to raw materials, health, well-being and active ageing, sustainable manufacturing or smart and livable cities. Very often they have necessary scientific background and research experience, but they lack business skills or have never validated their idea on the market. During the seven-month-long programme, the participants are equipped with a unique business skill set that is a must for future entrepreneurs, including business modelling and validation of the market need. They also gain best-in-class networking and understand how to bring their innovation from the lab to the market and make a potential impact in their respective industry. EIT Communities are carefully selecting the best candidates to enable quality peer-to-peer learning. The most promising teams will be awarded cash prizes for further development.

The competition is open to all individuals and teams of natural persons – citizens of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme eligible or Western Balkan countries. Natural persons: researchers, master and PhD students or research groupsfrom universities and research organizations; professionals, entrepreneurs or idea owners that have an idea/ solution that is targeting the scope of one of our categories and want to start a company. 

The newly created company connected to the business idea should be registered during the year of 2023 in one of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme eligible countries and territories: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Türkiye, Ukraine, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain).

What kind of ideas can be submitted?

Participants can submit their idea in one of the nine categories, powered and mentored by different EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (EIT KICs): 

• Health
• Food
• RawMaterials
• InnoEnergy
• Manufacturing
• Urban Mobility
• Digital
• New European Bauhaus
• Rebuild Ukraine

Funding terms

Financing is based on teams, no matter if the team is represented by 1 or 2 members. Team members are sharing their costs and will be reimbursed or paid with a lump sum (depending on the internal processes of the EIT KIC coordinating the category) using eligibility criteria and reporting documents.

There are two forms of funding: Successful applicants are eligible to receive support for covering their travel, accommodation, and other project development and start-up creation costs in two stages:

• 1. Local Joint Trainings phase: Selected teams will have a budget of 2,000 € to cover their own individual travel and accommodation costs attending the local trainings as well asto finance other eligible project development activities.
• 2. Grand Final phase: Each of the 54 finalist teams will have a budget of additional 1,000 € to cover their own individual travel and accommodation costs to attend the Grand Final in-person as well as to finance other eligible project development activities. Basic eligibility criteria for funding are to sign the consent form or the subgranting agreement (all participating team members) and submit required deliverables.

Additional information and guidance will be provided during the programme on how to get and use this support. Please note that there is no funding available for teams who only completed the Online Bootcamps phase.

Prize is another form of financial support in the programme.

In each categories winners of the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final will receive: 1 st 10,000€ 2 nd 5,000€ 3 rd 2,500€ and one Special prize available for the finalists coming from Western Balkans regardless of their category: 5,000€ These are non-dilutive awards.

Winners must provide the necessary documents (start-up creation legal documents and other award documents) by 31st December 2023 to receive the prize. In case a prize winner cannot receive the prize (e.g. resigns, cannot submit all the required document on time, receives higher prize), the next eligible team in the ranking is entitled to receive the respective prize.

Participants of the former editions of the EIT Jumpstarter cannot be selected to the program and receive any financial support at any stage of the competition.

Structure of EIT Jumpstarter

• Phase 1: Submission of ideas and selection to the Online Bootcamps
• Phase 2: Online Bootcamps and learning group coaching
• Phase 3: Online Pitch Day and selection to the Local Joint Trainings
• Phase 4: Local Joint Trainings
• Phase 5: Selection to the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final
• Phase 6: EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final

Key dates

• Deadline for submitting business ideas: 16 April 2023 at 23:59 CET 
• Selection of ideas and invitation to the Online Bootcamps: 5 May 2023
• Online Bootcamps will be held online in May-June 2023 (to be defined)
• Local joint trainings: July-September 2023 (to be defined)
• Grand Final: November or December 2023 (to be defined)

Dates could change, but the project management team will report them appropriately.

Terms and conditions

EIT JumpStarter 2023