Innovation for a Sustainable Future – 2024 EU|BIC Impact Report – EBN

This article is part of a series, you can find other stories about our community’s impact here

We are proud to bring you the 2024 EU|BIC Impact Report – demonstrating EBN’s and the EU|BIC community’s impact by applying innovation toward shaping a prosperous and sustainable future in Europe and beyond.

The 2024 EU|BIC Impact Report highlights the significant strides made by the EU|BIC community in fostering regional development, supporting innovative startups, and advancing sustainability goals across Europe. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, this report underscores the critical role EU|BICs play in nurturing entrepreneurial ecosystems, facilitating access to finance, and driving digital and green transitions.

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Quality Business Support

EU|BIC clients achieve outstanding startup survival rates: 83% of supported companies continue to operate after three years. This rate is well above the European average of 58% and marks a slight increase from the 82% survival rate in 2022.
In 2023, EU|BICs helped more than 24,800 companies and entrepreneurs get a head start in delivering their innovation to the market.

As we approach the 40 years of EBN, our community’s engagement in driving the innovation ecosystem building and supporting the realisation of the green and digital twin transition in Europe stands stronger than ever. The way forward in achieving our sustainability goals and driving greater well-being for all is through entrepreneurial innovation.
Laura Lecci, CEO at EBN

The collective efforts of the EU|BIC community are instrumental in driving forward the EU’s Regional, Innovation, SME, and Industrial policy agendas. EU|BICs are trusted, locally rooted, and globally connected entrepreneurship/innovation support organisations (ESO/ISOs) that strive towards a green, digital, and fair society while creating high-quality jobs. The 2024 EU|BIC Impact Report demonstrates the tangible impact of EU|BICs on both local and broader European scales.

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Regional, Sustainable Economic Development

Since 2004, the EU|BICs have created 338,748 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs.
EU|BICs are natural ecosystem partnership builders with 98% collaborating with regional authorities and 85% having active partnerships with other entrepreneurship/innovation support organisations.

Key achievements of the EU|BICs include substantial contributions to regional economic development, the promotion of deep-tech innovations, and the support of startups in overcoming market and regulatory challenges. The decades-long commitment of EU|BICs to innovation and sustainability makes us look with confidence to their ability to drive future impact in fostering a resilient, competitive, and sustainable Europe.

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Scaling European Innovation

In 2023, EU|BICs supported 690 client companies in their efforts to scale and access foreign markets.
343 foreign companies were hosted by EU|BICs to access local markets.

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Access to Finance

In 2023, companies supported by EU|BICs secured over 870 million euros from various sources.
In total, 5,000+ companies gained access to finance via EU|BIC support. Of the approximately 1,800 served idea phase entrepreneurs (seed capital), 1,800 reached startups (Series A-B), and 1,400 were SMEs with capital to scale (Series C and beyond).

Our mission commitment to quality business support, regional development, and sustainable innovation is enhancing the competitiveness of European enterprises and contributing to the overall cohesion of European regions and the well-being of their societies.

Access the full 2024 Impact Report