Introducing the Winners of the 2022 EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final

Over a hundred innovators from Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe gathered in Kraków, Poland to turn their ideas into businesses at the EIT Jumpstarter. The most promising early-stage start-ups won nearly EUR 200 000.

On 29 November, the sixth EIT Jumpstarter came to an end with pitches from 42 finalists in seven different categories – health, food, raw materials, energy, urban mobility, manufacturing, and the New European Bauhaus (an EU initiative to create sustainable and inclusive living spaces). 

For the last couple of years, we noted an increasing interest from teams from the Western Balkans. But this year was exceptional in terms of innovators coming from this part of Europe. Many Jumpstarters joined the programme with clear and feasible ideas, and some had already funded their company, even before the Grand Final.

Dóra Marosvölgyi, Director of the EIT Community’s Regional Strategic Innovation Projects

Bulgarian start-up Green Kilometers won the Best Cross-Thematic Business Idea prize, a special award for impactful innovators. Green Kilometers worked with local municipalities to create a social-benefit system that rewards inhabitants for using non-motorised, “green” urban transportation. Those rewards include cultural event tickets, art classes, and even tax reductions. 

Start-ups were not the only ones getting awards. The University of Warsaw, Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) Hub for EIT Food, was named Best RIS Hub. 

The institution actively participated in all stages of the programme, supporting the teams throughout their development with high efficiency, and many teams they trained made it to the Grand Final. With the award, we would like to recognise their very professional, precise, and inspiring attitude and work. 

Anna Mihok-Peli, Programme Coordinator of EIT Jumpstarter

Jump-starting market success

The EIT Jumpstarter is a programme run by six EIT Knowledge & Innovation Communities (KICs): EIT Health, EIT RawMaterials, EIT Food, EIT InnoEnergy, EIT Manufacturing, and EIT Urban Mobility. The goal is to help early-stage innovators from emerging European regions turn their scientific ideas and innovations into successful businesses.

For seven months, selected start-ups work with mentors in local trainings on business modeling and business planning. Start-ups are then evaluated based on the quality of the business plan they created during that time. The six best plans are qualified for the Grand Final – this year hosted in Kraków, Poland –, where they compete for the prize of EUR 10 000 in each of the seven categories.

More than 750 innovators have joined the programme during the last six years, and there are several success stories. While some of the alumni keep refining their business idea, over 45 have formalised companies and continue to expand.

Dóra Marosvölgyi, Director of the EIT Community’s Regional Strategic Innovation Projects

The Winners of the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final 2022

EIT Health

1^st prize – Thertact (Portugal)

2^nd prize – Orgavalue (Portugal)

3^rd prize – Play.air (Poland)

EIT Food

1^st prize – LiFi4Food (Spain)

2^nd prize – Ribes Technologies (Poland)

3^rd prize – Digital Bites (Greece)

EIT RawMaterials

1^st prize – FarMine (Turkey)

2^nd prize – EpoxCE (Spain)

3^rd prize – Kodatek (Estonia)

EIT InnoEnergy

1^st prize – Solar Container Marine (Green Marine) (Spain)

2^nd prize – EFC Mag (Slovenia)

3^rd prize – EV to go (Republic of North Macedonia)

EIT Manufacturing

1^st prize – Quimsil (Spain)

2^nd prize – Lume Label (Poland)

3^rd prize – Fprint (Spain)

EIT Urban Mobility

1^st prize – Bruntor (Latvia)

2^nd prize – BeBeep (Montenegro)

3^rd prize – Esguil (Spain)

New European Bauhaus

1^st prize – Spektral Seismic Solutions (Slovenia)

2^nd prize – KEEEN (Italy)

3^rd prize – Hiriki (Spain)

Special Prizes

Best cross-thematic business idea – Green Kilometers (Bulgaria)

Audience Award – MindMatch, former MaskOFF (Poland)

Best business idea from the Western Balkans – FCL (Serbia)

Best RIS Hub – University of Warsaw (Poland)

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