EIT Jumpstarter supports innovators with early-stage projects. The maturation process goes through INESC TEC with follow-up sessions to transform ideas into “successful ventures”: this year, one of them won an award.
Innovative ideas and projects often need to cut corners and go through a refining process before jumping into the spotlight. And this is what INESC TEC does as a partner of the pan-European program EIT Jumpstarter; in the 2024’s edition, five companies in the final attended the sessions organised by the Institute.
Focusing on challenges related to intellectual property, collaboration with the market or connection to stakeholders and the importance of communication, these internal sessions seek to strengthen the ideas developed by start-ups and prepare them for the market. In November last year, in Budapest, the Urbix Hub team won the first prize (€10K) in the “Urban Mobility” category, awarded by EIT Jumpstarter.
A team composed of INESC TEC members Cristina Barbosa, Alípio Torre, Cristina Machado Guimarães, Vasco Teles and Paula Faria monitored the teams that participated in this pre-acceleration programme to support innovators – under the supervision of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), and through the EIT Manufacturing RIS HUB Portugal.
“Our participation in the EIT Jumpstarter programme underscores the commitment to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in supporting start-ups in the initial phase of transforming their ideas into successful ventures,” said Cristina Barbosa, responsible for promoting the bootcamp at INESC TEC, which featured the team that went to Budapest.
These initiatives – workshops, bootcamps and mentoring sessions – are the first step in a seven-month process that, within the scope of EIT Jumpstarter, provides tools to innovators to complete the meandering and long journey that connects an idea to the market. This whole process culminates in an award ceremony.
INESC TEC has been promoting the local and online sessions, as well as the workshops, for four years. It is almost like a “warm-up” session to show participants the way to join the more than 1180 entrepreneurs who, according to EIT Jumpstarter, have taken safe steps to leverage their start-ups and create jobs. “We are happy for the path of innovation and entrepreneurship to bear fruit in this European competition,” said Cristina Barbosa.
The EIT Jumpstarter finalists competed for almost €150K in prizes divided into eight categories: “Energy”, “Food”, “Health”, “Manufacturing”, “Raw Materials”, “Urban Mobility”, “New European Bauhaus” and “Rebuilding Ukraine”. The top three teams in each category received up to €10K to “acknowledge their innovative solutions to pressing global challenges”, stated the organising committee.
In 2025, entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and early-stage start-ups are open to compete in the pre-acceleration programme. Registration is open until April – for a new “race” to the awards ceremony scheduled for November.
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