ICT Innovation and Start-up Ecosystems

Through the EU4Digital Initiative, the EU aims to connect Eastern Partnership (EaP) innovation and start-up ecosystems to EU networks and close gaps between the two ecosystems to support innovation and start-ups, drawing on EU best practices, principles and standards.

In support of these goals, the EU4Digital Facility Phase II will: 

• Promote networking and transfer of relevant practices and tools between innovation ecosystem stakeholders in the EU and EaP; 
• Support the development of the EaP digital start-up ecosystem; 
• Develop a common framework and recommendations for development of innovation clusters in the Eastern partner countries. 

These build on the successes of the ICT Innovation activities in Phase I, which include developing country-specific policy recommendations and action plans for strengthening the region’s ICT research, start-ups and innovation ecosystems, and organising key networking events among EaP stakeholders and EU organisations. A market assessment for a Digital Innovation and Scale-up Initiative (DISC) was developed. Guides for building ICT entrepreneurial ecosystems and for creating the Women in Tech mentorship programme were further elements aimed to boost the growth of the ICT ecosystems. 

The Facility supports the work of the EU4Digital ICT Innovation network, which focuses on developing: 

• Networking 
• Innovation framework 
• Innovation infrastructure 
• Pilot projects for start-ups 
• Innovation services for SMEs 

Through EU4Digital, EU support for the ICT innovation ecosystem will encourage the sharing of research excellence and cross-border investments, open EU markets to start-ups and SMEs from the EaP region, encourage investments and the creation of jobs for talented young people, and lead to an overall increase in knowledge, productivity and value. 

The ongoing EU-funded EaPConnect programme also supports ICT innovation through the interconnection of research and education communities across the region and with their European counterparts via a high-capacity broadband internet network, providing up to two million EaP scientists, students and academics at over 700 institutions with access to digital services and global research.