EIT – Newsletter – Introducing the EIT Community Booster – Scaling New European Bauhaus Ventures

Supporting the New European Bauhaus (NEB) that connects innovation, creativity and design to improve citizen’s quality of life, the venture booster will support 20 ventures with support and funding worth EUR 50 000 each as part of a wider EUR 5 million budget for EIT Community New European Bauhaus activities in 2021-2022

This new EIT Community programme will identify and support promising New European Bauhaus-related ventures, supporting their growth and development from individual ideas to successful entrepreneurial projects. With the help of the New EIT Community Booster, selected start-ups and scale-ups will be provided with services that will accelerate their business to the next level, combining the EIT’s Knowledge and Innovation Communities network with the backing and support of the EIT, Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem.

20 innovative companies will be selected as part of the new booster, a joint initiative of the EIT Community including: EIT Digital (lead coordinator), EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Food, EIT Urban Mobility and EIT Manufacturing. Selected companies will receive funding from a pool of EUR 1 million to accelerate solutions and become international game-changers integrating three inseparable values: sustainability (from climate goals, to circularity, zero pollution, and biodiversity), aesthetics (quality of experience and style, beyond functionality) and inclusion (including diversity first, securing accessibility and affordability). The EIT Community Booster call is open until 17 December 2021 so apply now and scale your venture with Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem!

EIT Community Improving Citizens’ Quality of Life with Innovation

Throughout this year, the EIT Community has leveraged its large network and on ground presence to support the design phase of the New European Bauhaus. A joint EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiative was deployed to combine aesthetics, sustainability, and inclusion to increase citizen engagement and involve communities in the co-design of sustainable public spaces while delivering on the goals of the European Green Deal.

The joint EIT Community New European Bauhaus initiative has a budget of EUR 5 million for 2021 and 2022 to:

provide acceleration services and support New European Bauhaus-related entrepreneurs, innovators and ventures,
create and mobilise bottom-up citizen driven initiatives,
offer entrepreneurial training activities and education resources in upskilling and lifelong learning.

Successful New European Bauhaus-related EIT Community activities already underway include:

(1) the announcement of the first cohort of citizen engagement projects awarded grants from the joint EIT Innovation Community New European Bauhaus initiative including transforming parking spaces to playgrounds in Żejtun, Malta, to working with the elderly to climate proof heritage sites in Pula, Croatia;

(2) strengthening the new ‘EIT Community Booster – Scaling New European Bauhaus Ventures’ through the success of its pilot phase which has already supported 13 ventures with a total of EUR 650 000;

(3) supporting early-stage New European Bauhaus-entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe through the award-winning EIT Jumpstarter programme;

(4) the integration of a specific New European Bauhaus focus within the 2021 Climathon. This ‘hackathon’ gathers diverse participants from 150 towns and cities around the world to raise climate awareness, disrupt the status-quo, and rethink the spaces we live in and the future we want as citizens. It’s not too late to get involved, to find your local Climathon and join the 2021 New European Bauhaus edition, follow this link.