Request for proposal:

Request for Proposals: International expansion group sessions provider for the Rocket Up programme

By the present procurement procedure, EIT Urban Mobility is aiming to identify a provider to provide acceleration services within the EIT Community Women Entrepreneurship initiative (hereinafter WE). The service provider will have to deliver training packages for a total of 10 start-ups and scale-ups on traction and go-to-market strategies and financing aspects.

Women entrepreneurship – context

The WE initiative is part of the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) 2021-2027 which sets the strategic direction, priorities and objectives of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities (EIT KICs). More specifically, the WE initiative is one of the four key initiatives co-designed and co-created by the EIT KICs with their innovation ecosystems: EIT Community Artificial Intelligence for Europe, EIT Community Circular Economy Collaboration, EIT Community Women Entrepreneurship, and EIT Community New European Bauhaus,.

WE expands the efforts of KICs involved in supporting women entrepreneurship by proposing a transversal approach to enhance the presence of women in key roles of the entrepreneurship and deeptech innovation ecosystem, both as nascent entrepreneurs and in other key decision-making roles, shaping entrepreneurship and innovation for the future.

The activities held in WE includes five main activities:

1. Rocket Up: support international growth of women-led start-ups.
2. Women 2 Invest: finance training and internship placement of young women in corporate VC funds.
3. EIT-EIC Women Leadership Programme: training on leadership skills.
4. Community of investors: connect, train and increase the number of women investing in start-ups.
5. EIT Data Room: showcase EIT impact in women entrepreneurship.

Rocket Up programme

Rocket Up is a growth programme supporting women-led technological ventures achieve successful international expansion in Europe.

To achieve rapid growth, European start-up’s always must go through an internationalisation process. And launching a new market requires strategic planification and good connections within the target region.

The programme is aimed at 10 female-led start-ups with high environmental and social impact, in the fields covered by EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Manufacturing and EIT Food, and intends to deliver the following activities :

• An academic perspective on how to expand internationally
• Tailored-made mentoring with hand-picked business and regional experts
• Access to respective KIC network and other financial opportunities
• A network of female founders
• Organised mission to target region
• Visibility though EIT communication channels

The Rocket Up is structured as follows:

Phase 1 – duration: ~ 4 months, April – July

It includes the activities necessary to select the best participating companies:

• Design and launch a call to identify European start-ups leaders in their home market with the potential to expand
• Conduct external communications needed for promoting the call
• Evaluate and select the participating start-ups

Phase 2 – duration: ~ 6 months, July – December

Deploy start-up support to access new markets including the following tasks:

• Search and select two mentors for each start-up according to its needs and goals (1. business expert, 2. regional expert) and monitor its services
• Design and deliver online group sessions to give an academic perspective on selecting which market to expand to and have a defined go-to-market strategy
• Enable the connection to other participants and other role models female-led start-ups to build a community for further development

Objectives of the proposal

EIT Urban Mobility requests support to tasks within the Rocket Up programme, specifically for phase 2. This includes but is not limited to:

• The supplier shall support EIT Urban Mobility on best-fits for potential mentors to participants, giving access to its international network
• The supplier shall develop and execute online group training on the topic of international expansion facilitating peer-to-peer networking
• The supplier shall give individual mentoring to every start-up to support the definition of the internationalisation strategy

All information, including the detailed scope of work, deliverables, and terms & conditions can be found in the Request for Proposals.

To apply, please send the completed tenders submission and declaration form.

Deadline for submissions: 31 March 2023 at 16:00 Central European Time