Expression of Interest (EoI) for Innovators’ Pitches
Thursday, 23 October 2025, Brussels
Enabling That Step Forward
#MakingItPossible #NotARegularEvent
Thank you for your interest.
The Expressions of Interest are now closed.
Are you an innovator working in Africa, Europe or the Mediterranean and/or at the interface of these areas?
Do you want to showcase your latest innovation tackling pressing contemporary challenges? Do you want to display how international collaboration brings innovation to life? Do you seek to establish new collaborations with other innovators and investors? Do you need specific support to scale up your solutions and finally bring them to end-users?
Pitch your work as part of the Innovation Fair in Brussels, Belgium!
The Innovation Fair will take place on 23 October 2025 in Brussels, Belgium, and (partly) online. With the running theme title of “Enabling that step forward”, the Innovation Fair aims to showcase the vibrancy of the cooperation among European, African and Mediterranean innovation ecosystems, promoting innovative solutions with potential for market- and societal uptake, vis-à-vis potential public and private funders and fostering networking, matchmaking and collaborations.
As part of this, start-ups and SMEs, as well as university spin offs, are invited to pitch their innovations to showcase their solutions to global challenges in the areas of (i) Public Health, (ii) Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture, (iii) Climate Change and Sustainable / Renewable Energy, (iv) Innovation and Technology and (v) Capacities for Science!
#MakingItPossible #NotARegularEvent
Scope
Representatives from 16 Start-ups and SMEs will be invited to present a 2-minute pitch. These should be aligned with the priority areas of the R&I cooperation policy initiatives between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), and between the EU and the Mediterranean region, namely in the following areas:
| Priority Area | Number of start-ups to be selected | Challenge question to be addressed via the pitch |
|---|---|---|
| Public Health | 4 start-ups / SMEs to be selected) | How do(es) your innovative initiative(s) concretely improve Public Health in Europe and/or Africa and/or the Mediterranean region? |
| Green Transition a) Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture b) Renewable Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable / Renewable Energy (2 start-ups / SMEs to be selected) | a) 2 start-ups / SMEs to be selected b) 2 start-ups / SMEs to be selected | How do(es) your innovative initiative(s) concretely (a) improve Food Security and Agriculture or (b) contribute to halting climate change and fostering green transition in Europe and/or Africa and/or the Mediterranean region? |
| Innovation and Technology | 4 start-ups / SMEs to be selected | How do(es) your innovative initiative(s) concretely improve Innovation and Technology in Europe and/or Africa and/or the Mediterranean region? |
| Capacities for Science | 4 start-ups / SMEs to be selected | How do(es) your innovative initiative(s) concretely strengthen innovation, entrepreneurship, and/or research ecosystems in Europe and/or Africa and/or the Mediterranean region? |
Selected innovators will be sponsored to attend the event in Brussels.
Pitchers can expect to address a wide audience of public and private investors, policy makers, and potential collaborators (e.g. representatives of other start-ups and SMEs, corporates, researchers, Civil Society Organisations, etc.).
Successful pitchers will be awarded with a prize that will help them further de-risk their innovative initiatives, depending on their needs (e.g. securing their intellectual property and/or strengthening their business and market launch plans and/or marketing campaigns and/or scale up their R&D and/or manufacturing and production processes, etc.), and therefore “make that step forward”.
Expressions of interest (EoIs) will be assessed by a dedicated Task Force of the Innovation Fair Organising Team, including representatives from the Africa-Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP) and Strengthening European and African Digital Ecosystems (SEADE) projects, and from the AU-EU Innovation Agenda Working Group of AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and from the Union for the Mediterranean.
Interested applicants should submit their EOIs by Sunday 24 August 2025 (midnight CEST).
Thank you for your interest. The call for Expression of Interest is now closed. Successful pitchers will be contacted by email.