EIT Jumpstarter Launches Innovative Start-ups Tackling Society’s Most Urgent Challenges

29 November 2024

24 new, science-based start-ups were awarded at the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final: 49 teams from 21 countries competed in 9 categories, collectively winning prizes worth €150,000
It was the culmination of this year's edition of the pre-acceleration programme EIT Jumpstarter – an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union, which aims to train and convert innovative ideas into budding businesses
The programme has trained 1,180 participants so far, leading to the establishment of 124 new start-ups in emerging countries and contributing to the creation of 2,100 new jobs. Plans for 2025 include additional support for talent from Ukraine, the Western Balkan, the Mediterranean, and EU outermost regions innovators

This year's final of the EIT Jumpstarter programme was held on 28 November in Budapest, Hungary, along with the EIT Community conference “The next decade of innovation for the future of Europe. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme”. EIT Jumpstarter is an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union.

“The pipeline of start-ups established in non-Western countries through programmes like EIT Jumpstarter is growing every year, and many ventures from previous editions have now reached multimillion valuations. This is particularly important to close the funding gap in the European innovation ecosystem. The programme helps create new jobs, brings new skills, and stimulates entrepreneurship in the region,” says Piotr Boulange, representing the EIT Jumpstarter programme. “Considering that every euro invested in the programme generates 30 euros in external funding for newly built start-ups, EIT Jumpstarter truly serves as a springboard for talented founders,” he adds.

Throughout the seven-month programme, participants identified and validated the best business model for their science-based innovative ideas. The aim of this process is to turn their ideas into market-ready start-ups. From 600 applications, only 180 innovators were selected for the training, and the best 49 teams were shortlisted to compete in Budapest, during a dynamic live pitching session divided into eight categories based on the industry – from food to energy. In each of the categories, three awardees were selected, collectively winning prizes worth €150,000. In addition, the top alumni from previous editions of the programme could also present their growth since graduation and compete in the ninth category.

The next edition of the programme will be opened in January, but pre-registration is already available. In 2025, the EIT Jumpstarter foresees additional support for the Western Balkan and Ukrainian talents and a new prize to recognise the best newly created start-up in the Mediterranean region and Outermost Regions of the European Union.

Since 2017, the EIT Jumpstarter programme has trained 1,180 talents, leading to the establishment of 124 new start-ups and contributing to the creation of 2,100 new jobs in the countries, which are considered emerging and moderate innovators, according to the European Innovation Scoreboard. These start-ups collectively attracted €150 million in external investment up until now. EIT Jumpstarter is open to more than 22 countries and regions and is led by EIT Health with support from EIT Food, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Manufacturing, EIT RawMaterials, EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Culture & Creativity.

EIT Food
Winner: NEAMO (Latvia)
Runners up: MultiBioCrop (Greece), Bestran (Spain)

EIT Health
Winner: BIOCHIP-PATHFINDER (Portugal)
Runners up: WellscanPro (Kosovo), NexThera Tech (Portugal)

EIT InnoEnergy
Winner: StoreNow (Portugal)
Runners up: Deltasort (Croatia), Rehemp (Serbia)

EIT Manufacturing
Winner: Yapar3D (Turkey)
Runners up: VeridianIQ (Hungary), Melt3D (Slovakia)

EIT Post-JumpstarterWinner:
Lightly (Czechia)

EIT RawMaterials
Winner: Total Energy (Croatia)
Runners up: Bristlechem (Spain), Unconventional Lithium (Ukraine)

EIT Urban Mobility
Winner: Urbix Hub (Bulgaria)
Runners up: ARport (Hungary), Wyvernn (Italy)

New European Bauhaus
Winner: POWAR STEAM (Spain)
Runners up: RevAlve (Estonia), UrbanGeoWonders (Ukraine)

Rebuild Ukraine
Winner: Drone NonDestructiveTesting (Ukraine)
Runners up: AgRe – Technology for restoring soil (Ukraine), CathodMiner (Ukraine)

Western Balkans special award
Winner: WellscanPro (Kosovo)

About the EIT

The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) strengthens Europe’s ability to innovate by powering solutions to pressing global challenges and by nurturing entrepreneurial talent to create sustainable growth and skilled jobs in Europe. The EIT is an EU body and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

The Institute supports dynamic pan-European partnerships, EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), among leading companies, research labs and universities. These KICs are dedicated to driving systemic change in Europe and beyond, focusing on key areas such as climate change, energy, health, food, manufacturing, raw materials, digitalization, urban mobility, and culture and creativity. Together with their leading partners, the EIT Community offers a wide range of innovation and entrepreneurship activities across Europe: entrepreneurial education courses, business creation and acceleration services and innovation driven research projects.

About the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme

The EIT launched the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) in 2014 as its main tool contributing to reducing Europe’s regional innovation disparities. It helps innovators from eligible countries to access EIT activities, creates links among regional innovation actors and offers tailor-made programmes to support moderate and emerging innovating countries and the EU Outermost Regions to build their innovation capacity. The EIT RIS has created a dense and resilient network of people and organisations, supported by the EIT’s nine Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs): EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Health, EIT RawMaterials, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing, EIT Urban Mobility, and EIT Culture & Creativity.

For media

Olga Kozlitina
Communications Coordinator, EIT Community Strategic Regional Innovations
+48 576 018 901
olga.kozlitina@eithealth.eu

Michal Rakowski
Communication Coordinator, Enterie Network
+48 517 449 006
michal@enterie.com

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