EIT Community Strategic Synergies 2024 highlights
In 2024, the EIT Community's Strategic Synergies cluster, comprising initiatives in Artificial Intelligence (AI), New European Bauhaus (NEB), and Supernovas, made significant strides in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.
EIT AI Community: Advancing AI Innovation
The EIT AI Community continues to advance its work in Artificial Intelligence (AI) through targeted initiatives that drive innovation, support talent development and address real-world challenges.
The key achievements from 2024:
- AI Challenge 2024 implementation: The AI Challenge 2024 was successfully conducted, offering participants the opportunity to develop solutions to practical AI problems. Winners were provided the platform to present their solutions at SLUSH, a major international startup event, facilitating broader visibility and networking opportunities.
- Launch of the Disruptive AI Call: This year, the EIT Community introduced the Disruptive AI Call, designed to identify and support innovative, high-impact AI solutions. Winners of this call received structured support to advance and scale their ideas, contributing to the broader goal of fostering transformative AI technologies.
- EIT AI Roadmap: This year, we are deepening our collaboration with strategic partners such as ADRA, the Digital SMEs Alliance, and the European AI Forum. Our focus is on jointly developing initiatives and actively contributing to the ongoing discussions on AI development in Europe.
- Skill Sync training milestone: Over 1,800 individuals were trained this year using courses recommended by Skill Sync, the personalized training recommendation tool launched in 2023. This achievement aligns with the goals of the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative and represents significant progress in upskilling Europe’s workforce in AI-related domains.
These efforts underline the EIT Community’s commitment to fostering impactful AI solutions and equipping individuals with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
EIT AI Community in 2024 successfully scaled up, creating greater impact by addressing systemic gaps in the ecosystem.
By bringing together diverse stakeholders and leveraging our unique tools that provide insights into AI maturity, skills gaps, and company compliance, we significantly boosted corporate innovation and disruptive AI. This progress lays a strong foundation for dynamic evolution in the coming years.
EIT Community NEB: A Year of Growth, Innovation, and Collaboration
The EIT Community New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative made major progress in 2024, reaching significant milestones in supporting innovation and community engagement across Europe.
Through six calls for participation, the initiative attracted an impressive 379 applications from 22 unique countries, showcasing the broad interest in its mission. In addition, a network of 85 design and business mentors played an important role in guiding and supporting NEB projects throughout the year.
One of the key highlights was the NEB Celebration in Barcelona, where over 50 participants gathered to celebrate the collaborative spirit of the initiative and reflect on its achievements. Another noteworthy event was the NEB Festival side event in Brussels, which offered a unique platform for NEB beneficiaries to engage in creative ideation activities and showcase innovative projects supported by the EIT Community NEB. Participants also experienced playful activities designed to highlight the core values of the NEB.
The launch of the largest-ever Catalyse NEB cohort in Leuven, Belgium, was an impressive achievement. This accelerator programme, which supported 28 start-ups prioritising societal impact alongside economic growth, culminated in a Demo Day at the Smart City Expo in November 2024, providing the projects with an opportunity to showcase their innovations on a global stage.
2024 has been a year of exceptional progress for the EIT Community NEB. By making EU funding accessible to grassroots innovators and supporting projects through micro-funding, we are helping to improve people's lives and bring the principles of the New European Bauhaus closer, and more accessible, to everyone.
It’s inspiring to see how our beneficiaries are transforming these opportunities into tangible results, while still demonstrating the importance of collaboration and innovation in building a sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful Europe for all.
EIT Supernovas: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs and Investors in Deep Tech
In 2024, Supernovas made significant strides in supporting women entrepreneurs and investors across Europe, providing tailored training, mentorship, and funding opportunities.
This year, Supernovas supported 14 women entrepreneurs through the Women Leadership Programme (WLP), delivered in collaboration with the EIC. The programme provided a comprehensive set of trainings, coaching, and mentoring to empower female founders.
With Rocket Up, Supernovas assisted 12 female-led startups in developing their internationalization strategies and business plans over a period of 6 months. The programme culminated with an in-person Demo Day at the Slush event, providing participants with a valuable opportunity to showcase their businesses.
The initiative also organized 6 investment forums, where 30 female-led startups had the chance to pitch their ideas in front of carefully selected investors. To ensure they were fully prepared, all participants received targeted pitch training prior to the forums.
In addition, we launched our Data Room at the 4YFN event in Barcelona, a platform showcasing over 800 female-led startups that have participated in our various EIT programmes to date.
On the investor side, we achieved significant milestones:
- We trained 35 mid-level female VC investors and 40 junior investors through our VC Academy, strengthening the pipeline of women in venture capital.
- Through Women2Invest, we successfully delivered a 3-month training programme on VC fundamentals to 52 STEAM women, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to explore careers in venture capital.
- In our Business Angel Academy, 90 women—both junior and senior participants—were trained, contributing to an increase in the number of women who actively start investing as business angels.
We successfully launched our new study Women Founders in European Deep Tech Startups, that reveals that women founders in the field receive less total funding compared with men founders. The Study has been brought forward by the EIT, the European Investment Fund and European Investment Bank Advisory Services.
Finally, we are building a robust ambassadors network to foster a sense of community, increase our local presence, and drive real impact and change for women entrepreneurs and investors globally.
Supernovas has continued to build the blocks to become a reference community, whose offer will cover the needs of investors in terms of learning, networking and access to dealflow.
Looking ahead to 2025, the EIT Community's initiative for AI, New European Bauhaus and women entrepreneurship will continue to drive innovation, support talent, and foster collaboration across these key areas of Europe’s innovation ecosystem. With new initiatives, expanded programs, and strengthened partnerships, we remain committed to creating lasting impact and empowering the next generation of changemakers.
