EUDIS Business Accelerator aims to enhance start-ups’ and scale-ups’ understanding of the defence environment and end-user needs, and strengthen their business development, enter the defence market and go-to-market capabilities.
How does it work?
The EUDIS Business Accelerator will offer tailored support to European start-ups & scale-ups over an 8-month programme featuring six dedicated bootcamps across defence industrial ecosystems in Europe.
The programme is open for start-ups' and scale-ups' from EU Member States and Norway. Entities from Ukraine can take part in the EUDIS Business Accelerator’s matchmaking activities.
The companies will gain valuable insights into defence end-users' needs and strengthen their business development and go-to-market strategies. They will receive get dedicated training and coaching by industry experts, exclusive networking opportunities, engagement with investors and defence stakeholders. Selected companies will receive a €65,000 seed-financing voucher.
At the end of the program, the companies will demonstrate their achievements to defence end-users from EU Member States and Norway at a prominent tech event or defence exhibition.
Applications open soon!
In addition to inviting defence startups and scale-ups from EU and Norway, we are also encouraging key stakeholders from the European defence ecosystem to apply as coaches and trainers to support the companies.
Rewards and Benefits
- Strengthen the EUDIS Business Accelerator’s start-up and scale-up companies’ knowledge of defence environment and business development.
- Improve their access to financing, making them investment-ready, providing them with seed-financing vouchers of EUR 65,000 per company, training and coaching sessions.
- Provide them with testing opportunities to create in-demand innovative defence solutions.
- Strengthen start-ups, scale-ups, SMEs and small mid-caps’ networks and engagement with defence end-users, investors and corporates through EUDIS matchmaking events.
- Facilitate capacity building for investors by offering insights on the defence market and technologies.
A Business Accelerator provides innovation and business development support to SMEs for start-up and scale-up companies.
The EUDIS Business Accelerator adds defence training, testing and validation, and interaction with the defence end-users from EU Member States and Norway to this general set-up of a Business Accelerator. These features are highly necessary to be successful on the defence market.
If you are a start-up or scale-up company, for example aiming at entering the defence market or strengthening your existing position in the defence market and defence industrial eco-system, applying for the EUDIS Business Accelerator would be an interesting way forward.
You would meet a programme designed to support you to understand the defence market, receive coaching and training on both defence and business, grow your business, and meet with innovation partners, end-users and investors, which may be hard to accomplish successfully on your own.
After the EU Commission has signed a contract with the awarded contractor, the organisation of the Business Accelerator will start.
We plan for start-ups and scale-ups to be able to start applying to join the Accelerator in early Spring 2025.
Thereafter, a selection of participating companies will be done, selecting 20 companies for the first batch of the EUDIS Business Accelerator.
No, the Commission will not ask for any equity or ownership of IPRs in relation to the start-up and scale-up companies’ participation in the EUDIS Business Accelerator.