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EIT Digital Challenge is a leading pan-European competition that aims to identify the best European deep tech entrepreneurs and help them scale up internationally. Back for its 9th edition, EIT Digital Challenge 2022 seeks fast-growing companies with a differentiated product offering that leverages sophisticated, hard-to-reproduce digital technologies.

Since its launch in 2014, the competition has attracted thousands of applications from more than 33 European countries. Many of the winning scaleups have moved on to become internationally successful companies. Now it’s your turn to shine!

Do You build Digital Technology Solutions?

The EIT Digital Challenge 2022 focuses on emerging deep tech scaleups that are bringing about valuable innovations in the following five categories:

Digital Technology: Inventing the digital future with core technologies providing secure, robust, responsive, and intelligent communications and computation.

Digital Cities: Serving cities with digital technologies that address urban mobility, inclusive citizen engagement, and public safety.

Digital Industry: The digital transformation of industry, from production to logistics and retail.

Digital Wellbeing: Safeguarding health for the youth, the working professional, and the elderly by analyzing sensor data.

Digital Finance: The disruption of digital transactions and institutions with technologies that enable transparency, efficiency, security, and trust.

Why Should You Apply for EIT Digital Challenge?

The 5 winners of EIT Digital Challenge 2022 will receive a waived entry into the 12-month EIT Digital Accelerator Program. You will also receive access to dedicated services in international finance and business development by the EIT Digital Accelerator team.

The top 20 companies will be invited to an exclusive event to pitch in front of a panel of experts and investors. If you are one of them, you will get the opportunity to participate in matchmaking sessions with invited corporates and investors.

Explore all the benefits of winning the EIT Digital Challenge

• Growth Support: A full year of tailored international growth support by the EIT Digital Accelerator worth €50,000 to scale up your business.
• Fundraising Support: A dedicated team of experienced business developers and financing specialists operating from 17 major European cities and a hub in Silicon Valley to support you in growing your business internationally and raising capital.
• Pan-European Innovation Network: You will gain access to EIT Digital’s network of more than 350 renowned partners across Europe – from corporations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), startups, universities, and research institutes.
• International Visibility: EIT Digital will spread the word about your success and share your story through its well-connected offline and online channels as well as leading European media outlets — driving powerful international exposure for your business.

Key Dates & Timeline for the EIT Digital Challenge

• Application deadline: September 19 – apply here!
• Calls with shortlisted applicants: September to October
• Announcement of finalists: October
• Final event: October 27

EIT Digital evaluators will shortlist applicants like you who will be invited to individual calls. This will allow the evaluators to clearly understand the areas in which you need support as well as your mission, vision, and growth potential. The finalists will be selected based on these calls.

EIT Digital will then invite the finalists to the closed-group exclusive event where you have the opportunity to present your pitch in front of investors, corporate executives, journalists, as well as representatives from EIT Digital.

Are You Eligible for the EIT Digital Challenge 2022?

Startups in the growth stage – scaleups – can apply across five thematic areas: Digital Tech, Digital Industry, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing & Digital Finance. Companies that are interested in applying should consider the following eligibility criteria for the EIT Digital Challenge:

• Your scaleup is incorporated after the 1st of January 2012
• Your scaleup is registered in the EU-27 or Horizon Europe Associated Countries
• Your scaleup generated:
  • minimum revenue of €300,000 in 2021, or,
  • minimum revenue of €300,000 in the first semester (up to 30th of June) of 2022, or,
  • total equity funding to date of €2,000,000.

EIT Digital will examine the market and internationalization potential of your product or service as well as the quality of your core team.

The EIT Digital Challenge Accelerates Scaleups

Discover the exciting solutions brought forward by the winners of the EIT Digital Challenge 2021:

• Cubbit is an IT scaleup based in Bologna that enables distributed, encrypted, as well as green cloud storage.
• Based in Paris, Connecting Food is a food tech company that advances food traceability through its blockchain-based solution.
• Hamburg-based scaleup Nect is shaping the future of digital identity with its fully automated AI-powered online identification solution.

Ready to scale your business & strengthen the European deep tech ecosystem? 

Apply for EIT Digital Challenge today!

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The post Join the pan-European EIT Digital Challenge 2022 to Scale Your Deep Tech Solution! appeared first on StartUs Magazine.