What is EIT Jumpstarter?

Creative community, advanced know-how, unique programme, expert trainers and mentors, this is EIT Jumpstarter. With the contribution of best-in-class experts, creative community, unique know-how our aim is to support idea-holders to turn their ideas into business. We help innovators and entrepreneurs build a viable business model around their innovative product or service idea, validate it and if their business idea is proven to be sustainable, we encourage them to register their company.

The competition is organised by EIT Health, EIT RawMaterials EIT Food, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Manufacturing and EIT Urban Mobility.

Jumpstarter will reopen applications soon.

Apply here!

Eligible countries

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Romania, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Republic of North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Kosovo (only individuals are accepted to participate in the program from Kosovo).

Important dates

  • Deadline for submitting business ideas: 10 April 2022
  • Selection of ideas and invitation of the bootcamps: May 2022
  • Bootcamps will be held online in May/June 2022
  • Local joint trainings: September 2022
  • Grand Final: November 2022

Is it for me?

Are you part of a scientific project team, innovator, scientist, PHD student or master’s student with a product or service idea to disrupt the existing markets in healthcare, agri-food, raw materials, energy, urban mobility or manufacturing sectors? Do you want to bring your idea out of the lab to the market? Then EIT Jumpstarter is ideal for you.

What will you learn?

During the 8 months-long program, you will find and validate the best business model for your innovative idea. The courses build on the lean start-up methodology from the Silicon Valley translated to the European Environment. You will learn about: how to refine your deal, market segmentation, customer value proposition, market segmentation, financials, investment basics, legal basics

You will receive travel and accommodation support during the program, and the best teams in each category will have the chance to win a €10,000 money prize.

Why it is unique?

EIT Jumpstarter is a very selective, competitive program; participating in it opens doors towards the European markets and connects the best teams with the three EIT Communities’ large industrial partners such as GE Healthcare, Siemens, Philips, Roche, Bosch, Nestlé, Pepsico and Maspex, among others.

EIT Jumpstarter Talents

Curious what kind of companies started their careers with EIT Jumpstarter? Here are some of them. Join the factory of talents!

FlowForLife (Italy) designed a test that can screen simultaneously 80 antibiotic residues. Their goal is to obtain an “antibiotic safe” label.

SAFE Pack (Portugal) developed natural-based polymeric coatings to protect, preserve and extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, thus reducing food waste.

Alghètica (Italy) plans to create new and better food ingredients and help the environment. They do this by exploiting microalgae, which naturally consume greenhouse gases such as CO2 as they grow.

MyPots (Latvia) developed a solution for sustainable horticulture – biodegradable but still reusable plant pots produced from biomass waste that do not damage plant roots.

FIXIGO (Macedonia) addresses the challenge of the unsustainable way the industry currently uses vital and finite resources by proposing a platform that monitors critical soil parameters. With the know-how in data analysis, it will notify the farmer of the critical situations of the crop and give them appropriate recommendations.

Myceen (Estonia) substitutes plastics with carbon negative and compostable mycelium products (made by combining mushroom mycelium with agri, food and wood industry leftovers).

Coffeco (Greece) designed and developed a holistic approach in order to reuse 100% of the coffee waste and produce various high value-added products.

Relicta (Italy) designed a water-soluble packaging made from fish skin in order to solve the problem of plastic thrown into the oceans.

Meterscope (Greece) developed a monitoring tool that ensures food product quality from farm to shelf. By using Meterscope, food companies manage to avoid food losses, ensure product quality, improve traceability and increase transparency.

Etern+ (Poland) produces a fully nutritious and valuable meal for the elderly in response to the growing participation of older people in society and the emerging problem of malnutrition in this age group.

AGRODRONE (Portugal) helps farmers reducing costs on synthetic chemicals while delivering harvests with higher yield and quality. The company’s latest product is Agrochar, a customized fertilizer for big area professional agriculture.

FoodAccept offers a sensor-based technology that allows the precise prediction of bitterness and astringency “outside the mouth” in different phases of the production process.

BalticFreya (Lithuania) produces stackable farming modules for greenhouse farmers. Instead of widely used hydroponics their modules use fog to deliver the nutrients to the plants.

Odd.Bot (Netherlands) The ‘Weed Whacker’ robot from Odd.Bot can detect and distinguish weeds from crops and remove the weeds mechanically.

2BNanoFood (Portugal) produces and commercialise custom-made solutions based on bio-based and biodegradable materials, aiming to replace synthetic materials in foods while maintaining their quality and safety.

Fiberbio (Romania) makes fibre-rich products made of upcycled fruit, vegetable and seed pomace which is presently discarded during juice and oil production.

RapidPricer B.V. (Netherlands) works on the solution that helps retailers to increase margins and reduce waste by automating pricing and promotions in real-time, unlike traditional consulting solutions.

TastyHour (Spain) helps international tech-oriented companies (early adopters) be more sustainable by providing an ever-growing variety of delicious rescued food for their offices’ breakfasts and snacks.

DARK-WIN’s favourites (Spain) offers a unique, innovative and effective solution based on natural selection driven by pollinator’s preference that aims at delivering healthier and more resource-efficient and resilient varieties against climate change, thus contributing to food security and the maintenance of the pollinating insects, which are required for crop production in 87 out of 124 most important food plants.

Bluetentacles (Italy) is an advanced irrigation solution that aims to irrigate only when it is necessary, retrofitting existing irrigation systems with a cloud-based artificial intelligence based on climate and soil humidity data. Bluetentacles solution has a positive impact for farmers and irrigation consortia increasing the water availability by means of better management of water resources.

FreshStrips (Greece) makes a low-cost, easy-to-read sticker that gets attached on the outside of the food packaging and changes colour if the food is exposed to unsuitable temperatures during transportation.

FeJuice (Serbia) is producing unique and tasteful juices made from fruits and vegetables which are clinically proven to prevent and treat anemia.

Lapezza (Italy) produces a cotton-based wrap coated with natural ingredients to preserve food, wash and reuse it. 100% Compostable

ThermoEye (Poland) designed a system that enables contactless animals’ temperature monitoring (24h/7) and provides early, remote detection of any pig fever.