EIT Digital partners with CIVITTA to grow scaleup ecosystem

CIVITTA Slovakia will bring the skills and the expertise developed through its ten years of activity in Slovakia and the region. EIT Digital, meanwhile, catalyses digital innovation and entrepreneurship through a number of initiatives aimed at driving digital transformation across Europe and beyond. The common goal is to help the Slovak innovation ecosystem grow and play an increasingly important role in the international landscape by fostering Slovak startup access to European markets.

Fabio Pianesi, EIT Digital's Head of External Collaboration said: "We are excited about the prospects collaborating with Neulogy opens to EIT Digital. Working together, we will make unique chances available to local entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses internationally, and support the growth and European positioning of the entire Slovak innovation ecosystem".

Peter Kolesar, Neulogy CEO (now Partner at CIVITTA) said: "The conditions for innovative companies in Slovakia have changed considerably since 2011, when Neulogy organized its first Startup Awards. An increasing number of start-ups have successfully scaled their businesses and expanded into European and global markets. Our specialization in technology commercialization and our close ties to many Slovak scaleups make our new partnership with EIT Digital an important milestone in the company's leading regional role in the sector."

Neulogy's strong track record includes setting up the first Slovakia-based management company to run a fully regulated seed and venture capital fund (Neulogy Ventures), designing collaborative research centers, establishing and organising the country's largest startup and innovation event (Startup Awards) and leading international projects to support the global expansion of startups and business-academia collaboration.

The collaboration between Neulogy and EIT Digital takes place within ARISE Europe, EIT Digital's implementation of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS). ARISE Europe is designed to stimulate regional growth in EU countries where EIT Digital is not physically present with a node. Its objective is to connect local and regional innovation centres and their ecosystems to EIT Digital's Europe-wide innovation and education ecosystem.

In the upcoming weeks, Neulogy will facilitate mutliple opportunities for meetings between EIT Digital representatives, Slovak policymakers and some of the most promising innovative companies from Slovakia. An important output of the cooperation between Neulogy and EIT Digital will also be a comprehensive study of Slovak innovation ecosystem and its evolution over the years. The final report will be published at the seventh annual Startup Awards in Slovakia on December 1.