The recently amended European Innovation
Ecosystems work programme increases the budget to €10 Millions, to support around 130 companies led by women. The Women TechEU call for proposals will open on 21 June 2022
About the Women TechEU initiative
The Women TechEU call is a brand-new initiative of the European Commission funded under the European innovation Ecosystems (EIE) work programme of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. We introduced the EIE programme in a recent post, in short, it aims at creating more connected and efficient innovation ecosystems to support the scaling of companies and spur innovation to address important challenges in a responsible way.
The Women TechEU programme addresses the innovation gender gap by supporting women-led deep-tech startups at the early, riskiest stage of their companies. The initiative offers financial support in the form of grants, worth €75 000 each, to carry out grow-up business activities. On top of that, the Commission complements the financial support with first-class coaching and mentoring under the European Innovation Council (EIC) Women Leadership Programme, and EU-wide networking opportunities.
Women TechEU is part of a series of EU measures to boost female innovators. Key initiatives include the EU Prize for Women Innovators, ambitious pitching targets for women-led companies under the European Innovation Council Accelerator, a gender balanced EIC Board, integration of the gender dimension in the relevant EIC Challenges and a pilot gender and diversity innovation index to track progress.
How was the first call?
The pilot scheme was launched last 16 July 2021, with an overall budget of 3,75 M€. As a result of this call, that it received 391 applications from 37 EU Member States, a first cohort of 50 promising women-led deep-tech startups were selected last 1st of March following the evaluation of independent experts. The list of selected companies and organisations is available below:
Top sectors and countries are presented in the following figure:
Details about the call
Thanks to the great welcome of the programme in 2021, the Commission renewed the Women TechEU call for this year, with increased budget and additional opportunities for Women-led deep-tech startups. The call will be officially launched next June, the 21st. But, which are the specific details of the call?
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- Eligibility: Participation is limited to early-stage deep tech start-ups founded, or co-founded by women, holding a top management position (CEO, CTO or equivalent) in the company at the time of submission. The applying legal entity must be registered and established in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country for at least six months at the time of the submission.
- Deadline: 4 October 2022
- Projects duration: Projects should last from 6 to 12 months.
- Funding: € 75 000
- Activities to be funded: There is not a restrictive list of activities to be funded. Any activity needed for the grow-up of the startups are included. As an example: business model upgrade, update and consolidation of business plan and growth strategy, business model validation, update of financial plan, certifications, IP strategy and freedom to operate, commercial plan, market analysis, customer validation and technical/clinical assessment, finding partners and investors.
- Additional support by the EC: Mentoring and coaching provided by the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS), under the new “Women Leadership Programme”, which include dedicated networking and pitching events. And the possibility to participate in dedicated activities organised by InvestEU and Enterprise Europe Network.
Are you a Womentrepreneur interested in this call?
From SPLORO we want to make this funding opportunity more accessible for your startup. See how SPLORO supports you in your application!
- Identification and analysis of funding opportunities: not only with this call, but with all the European opportunities for your company. Our team monitors all open calls and make a first check on the eligibility of your organization.
- Proposals writing and submission management: we support you to land that idea that you have in mind and adapt it to the requirements of the call. In addition, we carry out the management and upload on the different platforms of all the necessary documentation to ensure that your project is eligible for the call.
- Video and Pitch guidance: the Women TechEU requires additional documents rather than a simple text proposal. Among others, there is a video pitch to be prepared by the project lead. We do everything to make you shine in front of the camera!
- Project management support: our service does not end with uploading the documentation, we help you throughout the full life cycle of the project, providing you management support and ensuring that you receive 100% of the grant you have won.
If you are interested in applying to the Women TechEU call and/or you want to know more about our services for startups, do not hesitate to contact us and book a meeting with our CEO through this link ;). We are looking forward to knowing more about your projects and supporting you in your growth path.