Strong platform for global growth of deep tech startups!

Project ABCD - The Alliance of Boundary Crossing for Deep Tech, supported through the EIT HEI Initiative by EIT Climate-KIC, aims to become the leading platform for innovation and deep tech entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans region! ABCD will encourage an entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial activities and help deep tech startups to scale globally.

1.75 billion US dollars

raised in funding

The ABCD initiative will encourage an entrepreneurial mindset and support deep tech startups to advance both locally, regionally, and globally, through effective cooperation with stakeholders and representatives of the innovation ecosystem.
Although there are numerous initiatives and projects in the Western Balkans region that support innovative entrepreneurship, primarily technically and financially, innovators still face numerous challenges, which mainly involve limited access to infrastructure and resources needed to enter the market, which is further complicated in the development of deep tech innovations. For this reason, the ABCD project, putting a special focus on the importance of deep tech innovations, will work on strengthening the capacity of the innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem, establishing and building strong connections between startups and ecosystem facilitators, and promoting and spreading good results at the regional and global level.

  • The ABCD initiative will train 8347 deep tech innovators by 2030, which represents a sustainable and significant contribution even beyond the project’s timeline.
  • The consortium will sign the Deeptech Pledge and support the EIT 'Deep Tech Talent Initiative', focusing maximally on sustainable technological innovations that have real potential to solve global challenges.
  • The 'Deep Tech Talent Initiative' aims to support a minimum of a million deep tech innovators by 2025 - the ABCD will contribute to this with a minimum of 986 trained innovators.
  • Strengthening the entrepreneurial mindset among students, researchers, and professors will improve the transfer of research results into concrete technological solutions.
  • Connecting with the industry and greater participation in training programs will result in efficient and directed innovative deep tech development.
  • Innovation testing will prepare innovators for the initial stages of startup development and direct them toward concrete acceleration programs.

The project target groups include students, professors, and researchers, but also innovators and startups outside the academy. ABCD aims to attract as many investors as possible ready to support the development of the innovative ecosystem of the Western Balkans, and therefore the establishment of startups and the launch of innovative technological solutions on local and global markets.
By emphasising deep tech and academic entrepreneurship, new opportunities will be created for the entrepreneurial engagement of students and researchers, followed by the opening of academic entrepreneurship advisory offices, the structure for the creation and development of startups will be advanced, cooperation with stakeholders (companies, research organizations, state institutions, NGOs) will be improved, and curricula and training programs on entrepreneurship and innovation will be developed and improved.
This approach modernises and improves higher education and adopts new teaching methods, and above all supports technology transfer between academia and industry. Promoting and encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship, and social responsibility greatly helps to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The project goals, and its impact, will be achieved by developing inter- and multidisciplinary structures and support programs, which will help innovators to recognize opportunities for technological solutions development, from the micro level of an academic institution, through local and regional connectivity, to conquering global markets. The ABCD initiative will strengthen the links between academia and industry, necessary for joint actions and efficient knowledge and technology transfer.