To help SMEs boost their growth in the defence sector, EUDIS includes exclusive business coaching services for selected SME beneficiaries of the European Defence Fund (EDF).
All SME beneficiaries in the EDF calls can benefit from business coaching for free.
Coaches will guide SMEs in their business challenges to ensure the SME can accelerate growth and transition quicker from the research to the development phase or from the development phase to the market
How does it work?
Each year, SME beneficiaries are invited to participate in the business coaching services.
SME beneficiaries can register to the EUDIS coaching platform and submit a coaching services request, a process taking around 30 minutes.
Beneficiaries will be provided with a needs analysis report, recommended assistance packages and the best matching coach to support them. The SME and the coach initially define a coaching plan to guide their collaboration, the goals of the partnership and decide how often they meet.
The coaching takes place over a period of 6 months.
Rewards and Benefits
Coaching Services
The coaching services will be tailored to the needs of SME beneficiaries.
SMEs can benefit from one or more of the following assistance packages for up to a total of 15 days of coaching:
1. Pre-assistance discovery session
• Review and discuss self-assessment
• Company pre-check together with coach
• Feedback on existing strategic plan, sales strategy, product/pricing, management & team, financials, organisation, culture and compliance
• Fine tune and priorisation of the identified needs
• Revision of the required services
• Define concrete next steps for remaining service delivery
2. Commercialisation
• Product/service review and validation
• Market research and analysis, including insights into market opportunities, demand, and competition (e.g., civilian and defence market opportunities)
• Estimation of total addressable market
• Discovery and refinement of product market fit for defence (e.g., military, border control, civil protection, disaster management…)
• User involvement/stakeholder analysis
3. Defence procurement & strategic partnerships
• Understanding of defence procurement processes, portals, and key actors involved
• Identification of defence procurement opportunities and tenders
• Development of strategic partnerships for procurement with public and private entities (e.g., MoDs, government agencies, prime contractors, and large system integrators)
• Review of government defence plans to secure continuous funding
4. Corporate Strategy
• Definition of company vision and mission
• Definition of company strategy for the defence market
• Business model review and validation
• Alignment of strategy with defence/civilian market needs and government regulations
• Exploration of strategic opportunities for commercialisation of solutions from civilian to defence or across different defence domains.
• Goals & KPIs
• Action planning
5. Investment Readiness
• Calculation of the business case
• Financial model development or evaluation, including estimation of key financial indicators such as CAPEX, OPEX, revenues, ROI, NPV, etc.
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Economic and financial risk assessment
• Investment concept development
• Definition of fundraising strategy (grants, equity, debt)
6. Access to finance
• Preparation of project for compliance with investor requirements
• Identification and liaison with suitable investors
• Documentation overview & preparation
• Investor pitch and negotiation preparation
• Analysis of risks, challenges, and weaknesses of investment proposals
• Identification of relevant private investors to diversify revenue streams and scale operations (e.g., securing commercial contracts and/or preparing a funding round)
7. Improving operations and execution capacity
1. Internal Dimension
• Project management
• Operational excellence (e.g., leveraging AI tools to enhance operational efficiency)
• Organisational design and workforce
• Risk management
• Refine company's procurement processes
2. External Dimension
• Enhance supply chain and logistics for defence
• Outsourcing as a strategic asset
8. Scaling up and internationalisation
• Roadmap for scaling product, service, or technology
• Internationalisation readiness
• Preparation of internationalisation plan and/or market expansion approach
• Assessment and prioritisation of target markets and business opportunities
• Analysis of export regulations and policies (e.g., export controls for dual-use products, accreditation and IP requirements)
• Identification of relevant clients and partners in target markets – building relationships with prime contractors and governments
9. Legal and regulatory advice
• Analysis of defence regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements
• Understanding of dual-use technology regulations
• Analysis of applicable standards and regimes, including examples of good practice
• Contract review and general legal advice ( (e.g., partnerships’ rights and liabilities))
• IP advice: patent, copyrights, design registrations, trademarks, logos, domain names
• Analysis and understanding of the IP landscape and definition of relevant IP strategies for defence
10. Sales and marketing
• Marketing and communications strategy and action planning (e.g., market segmentation, business partner/investor personas, communication channels)
• Product/service definition, refinement of value proposition and unique selling point
• Preparation of project presentation & sales pitch for business partners and/or investors in defence
• Analysis and understanding of the buyer's journey/profile/sales cycle
• Engagement and outreach strategy
Testimonials & Success Stories
Below is a collection of stories from SME beneficiaries of the European Defence Fund who participated in the coaching programme.
Learn about their innovations, and discover how the coaching helped them grow their business and build a market path for their company in the defence & space sector.
Bring advanced Additive Manufacturing anywhere
Pioneering AI-driven solutions for secure and intelligent systems
Delivering Turnkey soltuoins for global challenges
Bring advanced Additive Manufacturing anywhere
Services for the development and design of innovative products
Geospatial software solutions for mission-critical scenarios
Dedicated software solutions and innovative applications
Targeted services and solutions for security, cybersecurity and defence
Solutions for secure connectivity in commercial and defence networks
Developing the next generation of graphene applications
Robust lasers for extreme environments
Embedded security solutions for unparalleled trust in the digital world
Who can participate in the business coaching?
Business coaching adds additional support and empowerment to all SME beneficiaries in all the EDF calls.
Who can be a business coach?
For coaches, becoming a member of the EUDIS coaching community is a great way to expand your network, gain visibility, and connect with innovative start-ups and SMEs in the defence and aerospace sector.
To be eligible to provide coaching services, coach candidates must:
- Be nationals as well as residents of the EU or Norway for at least 5 years
- Commit to a minimum availability of 20 coaching days per year
- Provide a Personal Security Clearance or an absence of a criminal record
- Apply in their personal capacity
Additionally, the following elements are taken into consideration for the assessment and selection of coaches:
- Experience in business coaching for start-ups and SMEs
- Experience in defence technology, defence industry and/or procurement of defence products in the EU
- Experience in the sectors covered by the EDF
- English proficiency and additional languages skills
- Experience in the areas covered by the proposed assistance packages
For more information, please reach out to coach
eudis-coaching [dot] eu (coach[at]eudis-coaching[dot]eu)
How will business coaches be recruited?
The Commission started recruiting coaches in July 2023, interested coach candidates may apply on an ongoing basis via the EUDIS coaching platform.
Who will choose the coaches for beneficiaries?
SMEs will receive recommendations for the best suited coach after applying for the services. However, in the application form they can express one or more preferences.
What type of coaching is provided for beneficiaries? For how long will the coaching be provided?
Topics covered via the coaching services include commercialisation, corporate strategy, business development and strategic partnerships, investment readiness and access to finance, scaling up and internationalisation, improving operations and execution capacity, sales and marketing, or legal and regulatory advice. For more information on the assistance packages, please click here.
Coaching will be provided in the first year of the EDF project. The coach is assigned to the SME, addressing business challenges. The services are provided for free and can last up to 15 days over a period of up to 6 months.
When will beneficiaries receive business coaching?
SMEs will receive coaching after the grant agreement has been signed, and the coaching services itself will be available during the first year of the project.