FAQ

• By the beginning of September: Open call to our startup ecosystem to submit an expression of interest (EoI) to participate in the process.
• By mid-September: Workshops between corporate partners and eligible startups.
• By the beginning of October: Startups are invited (alone or teaming up with other startups) to design and submit their project proposals addressing the challenges.
• Early October: Independent jury evaluation of the proposals and selection of finalists.
• 18 October: Finalists pitch their proposals at BoostUp! BRIDGE finale.
• During 2022: Solution implementation of your proposal with the corporate partner.

Startups must be registered in the EU or a Horizon Europe associated country.

Eligible startups are defined as incorporated in 2016 or later with cumulative commercial revenues of 5 million EUR or less (grants and royalties are excluded).

In addition, startups should have a solution of TRL 8 or higher that can address, partially or in full, one of the challenges.

Please note that BoostUp! RIS 2021 winners are not eligible to apply.

Yes!  If you are interested in addressing more than one challenge, multiple expressions of interest should be submitted. However, only one expression of interest per startup shall be accepted for each challenge.

Expressions of interest will be accepted until 6 September 2021, 12:00 CET.

No, only startups, which submitted an eligible expression of interest and which will have signed a dedicated NDA, will be invited to join such workshops.

BoostUp! BRIDGE will take place on 18 October 2021 from 9:30-13:30 CEST.  A full agenda can be found here.

As part of the event, finalists in the BoostUp! BRIDGE pitching competition will present their ideas and solutions.  A prize ceremony for the winning proposals related to each challenge will round out the event.

BoostUp! BRIDGE provides a rare ‘access to market’ opportunity for startups to potentially implement their solutions, with up to €50k in prize money per winning project, on the real world challenges of corporates.  Given the challenges are scalable, the right solution could have significant potential beyond the defined project.

In addition, BoostUp! BRIDGE seeks to help startups work with partners beyond their regional or domestic markets, which could provide a stepping stone to future growth.

Lastly, EIT Manufacturing will also provide support for winning teams related to business development, access to market and access to finance.  Both winning solutions and startup teams will receive visibility and international publicity through EIT Manufacturing’s communication channels.

The official language of the competition is English (i.e., all submission material must be submitted in English and the applicant must present in English, in the event that he/she will be selected for participation in the final event).