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Women TechEU

Women TechEU

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The SCALUEP destination aims to strengthen and expand cooperation between innovation actors to better support the next generation of innovative companies whose solutions can lead us to a more competitive EU and a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient world.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Commission announced a new initiative called "Women TechEU" to support women leading deep tech start-ups in Europe and help them grow their companies into the deep tech leaders of tomorrow.

"Women TechEU" will offer first-class coaching and mentoring to female CEOs and founders, as well as targeted funding to help take their business to the next level. It is funded under Horizon Europe's European Innovation Ecosystems work program.

This topic is part of the calls for proposals named Elevating the scalability potential of European business (2021) HORIZON-EIE-2021-SCALEUP-01.

Expected opening date: 13 July, 2021.

 

Title

WomenTechEU

TOPIC ID: HORIZON-EIE-2021-SCALEUP-01-03

Link  to the call:

LINK

Deadline

10 November 2021

Programme:

Horizon Europe

 

Work programme

HE Work programme 2021–2022 – 10. European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE)

Funding body:

European Commission

 

Budget (€):

3 750 000 euro

Objectives:

The project outcomes that the Commission intends to co-fund must contribute to the following expected outcomes:

  •  Support deep tech innovation as a foundation for a modern, knowledge-based, resource-efficient and competitive economy;
  •  Promote women's leadership in the deep tech industry to build more equitable, more inclusive and more prosperous innovation ecosystems in Europe.

 

 

Activities

 

Women TechEU

Women TechEU supports 35 early-stage European deep tech start-ups. The initiative complements activities funded under the European Innovation Council (EIC), paving the way for their start-ups to participate in future EIC calls. Women TechEU targets highly innovative start-ups founded, or co-founded by women, who hold a top management position (CEO, CTO or equivalent) in the company at the time of submission. The company must be registered and established in an EU Member State or a country associated with Horizon Europe for at least six months at the time of submission. All deep tech36 domains are eligible, with an emphasis on overall gender balance and the position occupied by women in the start-up.

The support provided to Women TechEU beneficiaries under this initiative consists of the following components:

  • financial support to the company in the form of an individual grant of 75,000€ to support activities such as updating the business model, updating the business plan and growth strategy, finding partners and investors, market validation, etc.;
  • mentoring and coaching provided by the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS), as part of the new "Women Leadership Programme", which includes dedicated networking and pitching events;
  • the opportunity to participate in dedicated activities organized by InvestEU and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

At the end of the funded project, and after completing the Women Leadership Programme, the beneficiaries will submit an evaluation report. Women TechEU beneficiaries will become part of a community of peers, and will have the opportunity to expand their network and showcase their business at pitching and networking events, to give visibility to their work and attract further funding.