On Thursday, 1 June, the European Commission announced the launch of a new European Innovation Council (EIC) initiative: ‘Scale Up 100’, which aims to support the development of future European champions of disruptive technologies (deep tech).
The initiative’s objective is to identify, promote, and support the growth of 100 promising European companies from among the top-performing beneficiaries of EIC financial schemes or other research and innovation programmes at the national or European level.
The companies selected will be supported by the “EIC Scaling Club” for a period of 2 years. This network will enable companies to develop their strategies, grow, access international markets, and meet investors and strategic partners.
The European Commission makes it clear that its ambition is for the companies participating in the programme to achieve 40% growth in terms of their valuation, new investments, partnerships, and jobs. The 20 top-performing companies are expected to experience 50% growth for these parameters.
The initiative will be implemented by a consortium of partners selected following a call for participation and led by the platform TechTour. The consortium includes Bpifrance, 3ura, EurA, the University of Navarra’s IESE Business School, Webrazzi, and Hello Tomorrow. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)