Today, the network of partners – Seeds of Bravery – selected to implement a €20 million European Innovation Council (EIC) action supporting Ukraine’s innovation community, launched their first call for Ukrainian start-ups. This call will provide grants up to €10 000 to purchase up to two months of business consultancy services that will support Ukrainian tech start-ups to upgrade their business model, business plan, or growth strategy.
Seeds of Bravery, within the next two years, will launch five different support programmes for the integration of Ukrainian tech start-ups (SMEs) into the European innovation ecosystems, as well as their business continuity and/or the expansion of their businesses into European markets with grants from €10 000 to €50 000. The initiative will support at least 200 Ukrainian deep tech start-ups with up to €60 000 in grants for each of them to further develop their innovation and business activities. In addition, the companies will also receive non-financial support, such as business advisory services, coaching, mentoring and matchmaking. The aim of this support is also to facilitate the application of more Ukrainian deep tech start-ups to the EIC Accelerator, thus opening potential funding opportunities up to €17.5 million per start-up.
Background
Launched in March 2021 as a major novelty under the Horizon Europe programme, the EIC has an overall budget of over €10 billion between 2021 and 2027. To mobilise all possible resources and provide support that can help Ukraine in these difficult times, the EIC work programme has been amended in 2022 to launch an additional call for proposals targeting Ukraine’s deep-tech community, which has a strong potential for creating breakthrough innovations. In the past years, the Ukrainian start-up scene has been growing steadily and increasing its contribution to the Ukrainian economic growth. This action should strengthen the Ukrainian tech innovators and ecosystems, supporting innovative solutions for rebuilding the Ukrainian economy and infrastructure after the war.
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