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Ten years of innovation coaching for the European Commission – now for your deep-tech venture.
Between excellent technology and a market-ready business model lies a long road. That is exactly where IMBEO accompanies start-ups, SMEs and research teams – as a business coach, not as an application writer.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) funds Europe’s boldest innovations. Yet between an excellent technology and a market-ready business model lies a long road – and that is exactly where most applications, pitches and go-to-market plans fail.
As an official innovation coach of the European Commission, İlkay Özkısaoğlu has accompanied start-ups, SMEs and research teams along exactly this road for more than ten years. He knows the programmes’ requirements and evaluation logic first-hand. This area bundles that experience in four clearly defined services, from the Accelerator venture to go-to-market with a Seal of Excellence.
The jury does not fund technology. It funds teams that have understood a market.
The European Innovation Council is Europe’s flagship for breakthrough innovation. With the EIC Accelerator it funds start-ups and SMEs with grants and equity, with the EIC Pathfinder early research. Horizon Europe also funds collaboration between industry and science. Competition is enormous, success rates are low, and most applications do not fail on technology.
Besides excellence and degree of innovation, the evaluation focuses above all on impact and implementation. How big is the market really? Who are the first paying customers? How will it scale, and can the team deliver? Technology-driven teams often answer exactly these questions too briefly. This is where our EIC Accelerator coaching starts, as business coaching rather than application writing.
For more than ten years İlkay Özkısaoğlu has accompanied companies in the programme as an innovation coach on behalf of the European Commission. We combine this experience with what distinguishes IMBEO: industrial understanding, an international network and modern communication via LinkedIn®, events and trade media. This way your innovation is funded and, beyond that, found, understood and bought.
Maturity, previous evaluations, team and technology – honestly assessed.
Customer segments, value proposition, pricing logic and competition at jury level.
Interview training, storyline and visibility with investors and partners.
Pilot customers, industry partners and go-to-market – with the IMBEO network.
Photos: Christian Lue, Paws and Prints, Guillaume Périgois / Unsplash
Horizon Europe is the world’s largest research and innovation programme. Consortia of industry and science produce results there that are meant to have an impact beyond the end of the project. Yet exploitation and dissemination often end up in a work package at the very end and receive too little attention.
In Horizon Europe business coaching we develop exploitation strategies, business models for research results and partner strategies with you. From the IMBEO network we bring in industry partners and pilot users. Via LinkedIn®, lives and specialist events we ensure dissemination that actually reaches decision-makers. This turns a project report into a market.
You develop a technology with breakthrough potential, for example in advanced materials, composites, energy, medtech or AI, and want to finance it with the EIC Accelerator. We sharpen business model, market size, customer segments and pitch to the level jury and investors expect.
Your mid-sized company plans an innovation that goes beyond day-to-day business. Whether EIC Accelerator, Horizon Europe or national funding: we connect technological excellence with go-to-market, sales and communication so that funding becomes revenue.
Institutes, universities and Horizon Europe consortia produce results that need exploitation. We translate research into business models, find industry partners and pilot users and ensure dissemination that reaches decision-makers.
You are founding in deep tech and are part of the Women TechEU programme or plan to apply. We support you with business coaching, positioning, LinkedIn® visibility and access to industrial networks in Europe and Türkiye.
You received the EU quality seal but no funding. We use the seal as a door opener: for alternative funding routes, national programmes, investors, industry partners and a communication campaign that turns the award into a market entry.
With Women TechEU the EU supports female founders in deep tech at an early stage. Besides funding, what is often missing is access to industry, investors, media and networks. Our Women TechEU support combines business coaching with positioning, LinkedIn® visibility and targeted introductions to industrial ecosystems in Europe and Türkiye.
The Seal of Excellence recognises projects that meet the EIC’s high quality criteria but are not funded for budgetary reasons. The seal is a strong signal of trust, provided you use it actively. With Seal of Excellence go-to-market we open up alternative funding routes, national and regional programmes, investors and pilot customers. At the same time we make the seal visible in your communication and sales.
Funding is not a goal but an accelerator. The real question is what happens after approval: how do milestones become customers, prototypes products and a consortium a market? Many projects lose pace after approval because sales, communication and partnerships were not considered from the start.
IMBEO therefore accompanies the entire path, from the position check before submission via business model, pitch and interview to pilot customers, industry partners and international visibility. Via LinkedIn®, lives, specialist events and our network in Europe and Türkiye we ensure your innovation becomes known in the right community: among users who want to test it, among investors and in trade media.
Many EIC projects come from advanced materials, composites, lightweight engineering, energy, mobility and industrial manufacturing. These are exactly the industries in which our network has grown over more than thirty years. We know the value chains from raw materials via materials and processes to OEMs and operators. And we know how buyers, developers and managing directors decide in these industries.
This knowledge makes your market analysis more realistic, your customer segments more concrete and your pitch more credible. And it opens doors to the companies that come into question as first paying customers or strategic partners.
No. IMBEO coaches the business side: business model, market, customers, communication and go-to-market. That is exactly what decides success – in the application and in the market.
In German, English and Turkish, remotely or on site.
Ideally three to six months before submission – then there is time to sharpen business model, market and pitch. Starting after a rejection or with a Seal of Excellence also pays off: the jury’s evaluation is the best starting point.
For deep-tech start-ups, SMEs, spin-offs and research teams with a technology that is meant to make the leap to market – especially from advanced materials, composites, engineering, energy and industry.
Funding consultants optimise the application. IMBEO optimises the company behind it: customers, market, business model and visibility. The two complement each other – many of our clients work with an application writer in parallel.
Yes. The real work begins right after approval: pilot customers, partners, communication and international visibility – with LinkedIn®, events and the IMBEO industry network.
The European Commission provides selected funded companies with experienced business coaches who support business model, market, scaling and organisation. İlkay Özkısaoğlu has worked in this role for more than ten years and knows the programmes’ requirements and evaluation logic first-hand.
Our focus is on business coaching around European programmes. Especially with the Seal of Excellence and projects not directly funded by the EIC we review alternative national and regional routes together and connect you with specialised funding consultants where needed.
We simulate the jury interview with realistic questions on market, team, technology and financing, give feedback on storyline, role distribution and appearance and train the critical answers until they are confident and concise.
The EIC Accelerator is the European Innovation Council’s flagship programme for start-ups and SMEs with breakthrough innovations. It combines grants for development and validation with optional equity investments via the EIC Fund. Selection takes place in several stages up to an interview in front of a jury.
The Seal of Excellence is a quality label of the European Commission for projects that passed evaluation but could not be funded for budget reasons. It opens doors to alternative funding sources and is a strong argument towards investors and partners – if communicated correctly.
For radical innovations with high risk and large market potential – such as advanced materials, composites, lightweight engineering, clean tech, energy, mobility, medtech, deep tech and digital industry. What matters is a clear technological lead, a scalable business model and a team that can implement it.
For the EIC Accelerator, companies must be based in an EU member state or a country associated with Horizon Europe. Besides EU states, these include Türkiye among other associated countries. In the initial conversation we check together which programmes are suitable for your project.
In an initial conversation we clarify where you stand and which next step takes you furthest. At eye level, with your industry in view.
Free of charge, no obligation. Reply within 24 hours on working days.
