S3E at the Empowering Female Entrepreneurship Summit 2023
"Empowering Female Entrepreneurship" is a two-day summit that brings together inspiring speakers from all Europe, female entrepreneurs, EU officials, investors and key stakeholders in business.
The summit was held on the 8-9 of March in Brussels, coinciding with International Women’s Day. Co-organised by the European Female Founders with the support of the European Commission, who initiated the network, the event brought together more than 60 participants. On behalf of the S3E team, our Community Manager, Carmen Serna, attended the event and had the opportunity to meet inspiring female founders.
Two days of inspiration
The speech of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and the EU Gender Equality Champions Awards opened the summit. Gabriel handed the prizes to the winners of this pioneering initiative that celebrates the outstanding results achieved in implementing gender equality plans by academic and research organisations.
During the first day, participants listened to panels and exchanged knowledge and experiences on critical topics such as how to foster female entrepreneurship, build strong ecosystems and diverse communities and tackle the gender gap regarding access to funding.
Some takeaways from the session remind us that entrepreneurship is crucial to Europe’s economic growth. Yet women entrepreneurs continue to face different gendered challenges, from lack of funding to expectations that they will perform unpaid care duties at home. In this sense, by promoting women’s entrepreneurship, European societies could accelerate economic growth and women’s participation in the marketplace.
In the second day, participants witnessed powerful testimonies about the entrepreneurship journey. With a mix of Keynote Speeches and interactive and stimulating workshops, they learned practical information about where and how to get funding, mental resilience for entrepreneurs and diversity and inclusion.
The "Empowering Female Entrepreneurship" summit has created a rich forum for discussion, experience sharing, and alignment to understand better why female entrepreneurship in Europe is still lagging. It has also brought inspirational and educational content to empower female entrepreneurs. In this first edition, outstanding speakers have shared pinpoint female founders' struggles and discussed the measures needed. Fundamental topics, such as funding, networking, building ecosystems, education, mental resilience, diversity and inclusion have been addressed over the two days.
Impact and Mission of European Female Founders
Female-led companies represent only 5% of all VC backed startups, with this percentage going downnto 2% if the team is all-women. For this reason, Commissioner Gabriel is asking European women to raise their voices. In May 2022, European Female Founders was created on her initiative. This network brings together European women entrepreneurs to propose concrete actions to enable equal opportunities for all founders. The network aims to inspire, encourage and act to support female entrepreneurship for an inclusive and diverse Europe.
S3E's contribution to achieving gender equality
At S3E, we are committed to supporting women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship as part of our innovation programs. S3E focuses on the acceleration of deep tech projects, startups, and SMEs that, by providing solutions towards a more sustainable society and economy, can impact social development and economic growth in these countries and contribute to the timely achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in line with the EU Green Deal, the EU Digital Agenda and the Recovery Plan for Europe. Because of this mission, we are at the frontline of making female researchers and innovators thrive.

Learn how we are supporting women entrepreneurship through our three innovative programs (START, CHARGE and REVERSE) and check our current opportunities to join the SOUTHERN DEEP TECH REVOLUTION.
Do not miss our official communications.
Subscribe to the S3E Newsletter now!
S3E START: Selected Research Teams and Tech Transfer Offices
S3E START Open Call results are out!
Between November 7, 2022 and February 10, 2023, research teams and tech transfer offices from South European countries were able to participate in our Open Call #1.
S3E START is a programme made for research teams with deep tech projects, grounded in a scientific discovery or meaningful engineering innovation and in any stage of development, that want to explore the path from the lab to the market, and also for technology transfer offices that want to learn a thoroughly tested methodology to foster science-based entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.
During the open call period, we received a total of 43 applications for S3E START and after running and independent evaluation process (counting on external experts) we are very excited to share the selected research teams and tech transfer offices that will take part in the first edition of our S3E START program.
18 RESEARCH TEAMS SELECTED AND 67 RESEARCHERS INVOLVED
| Project Name | Country | Researchers involved | Science field | SDG addressed | Affiliation | |
| Male | Female | |||||
| SIRIUS-AAGI | Spain | 2 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | Complutense University of Madrid The Mindkind SL |
| Brine Utilisation for CO2 to be ‘Koncretely’ Sequestered, Solidified and Stored - BUCKS$$$ | Italy / Greece | 1 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH) | Sapienza University of Rome | Queen Mary University of London |
| Nanofertilizer | Turkey | 1 | 1 | Natural Sciences | Climate Action Life on Land |
Ege Universisty |
| Device for vacuum sublimation (DVS) | Spain | 1 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | ICREA/ICMAB-CSIC |
| Sumatrix Biotech | Turkey / Germany | 2 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Climate Action |
|
| Nano-ink: Exploring Nanofluids for High Throughput Thin Film Production | Turkey | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Eskisehir Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering | Izmir Katip Celebi University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences | Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of History of Medicine and Ethics |
| In vitro system for metastatic breast cancer diagnostic | Spain | 0 | 2 | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-being | Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela |
| CAVI | Greece /Slovenia | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Clean water and sanitation Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovatiuon and Infrastructure |
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana | National Technical University of Athens |
| COPPER (II) NITROPRUSSIDE (Cu(II)NP) FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT OF TUMORS | Italy /Slovenia | 3 | 2 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | Ca' Foscari University of Venice | Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano |
| ENIGMA | Italy | 2 | 2 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | Politecnico di Milano |
| MET Lab - Protein Portflolio for Sustainable Chemicals | Portugal | 2 | 1 | Natural Sciences | Affordable and clean energy Sustainable Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
ITQB NOVA - Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier |
| RL-based solution for managment of RAN slicing in 5G networks | Spain | 3 | 1 | Engineering and technology | Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Sustainable Cities and Communities |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Researcher at Mobile Communication Research Group |
| Breast 4.0- AR-enabled breast cancer localization | Portugal | 3 | 0 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | Clinical Center Champalimaud |
| Colloidal inks for Superconductors (HTS-INKS) | Spain | 0 | 5 | Engineering and technology | Affordable and clean energy Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Sustainble Cities and Communities Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action |
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) |
| The potential of EntomoPathogenic Fungi as Biological contol agents, Biofertilisers and Biostimulants (EPF3Bio) | Greece | 2 | 2 | Agricultural Scienses | Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Decent work and economic growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life On Land | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Life on healthy land- Circular economy for microbial inoculants to improve soil quality (CE4Land) | Serbia | 0 | 3 | Engineering and technology | Zero Hunger Responsible Consumption and Production Life On Land |
Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad |
| BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems for hard tissue engineering - BioMEMs | Portugal | 2 | 1 | Medical and health sciences | Good health and well-being | University of Aveiro |
| GENOME EDITING OF THE KOZAK SEQUENCE FOR TREATING DISEASES | Italy | 3 | 0 | Medical and health sciences | Good Health and Well-being | University of Trento | Fondazione Hub Innovazione Trentino (HIT) |
12 TECH TRANSFER OFFICES SELECTED
| TTO Name | Description | Country | |
| Aliağa Industrial Zone Technology Transfer Office (ALOTTO) | ALOTTO leads the trustworthy information flow between universities, industry and start-ups to create innovative products, processes and services. |
Turkey | |
| Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol | Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord | Institut Català de la Salut | Its activities have focused on driving cultural change through the development of early-stage projects, as well as on evangelising the healthcare community in the hospital on what innovation in healthcare is and what it entails. |
Spain | |
| Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano | The National Cancer Institute /C.R.O. Aviano, a public institute operating under the authority of the Italian Ministry of Health /MoH and leading center for cancer research, diagnosis and therapy works to advance medical knowledge, provides outstanding medical care, and prepares tomorrow’s physicians, scientists, and other professionals. |
Italy | |
| ODTÜ Technology Transfer Office | METU TTO Commercialization Department works on the commercialization of 150+ academic inventions from various technology areas. Commercialization activity is initiated by the patent application of an academic invention, to the national patent office. During the grace period, we begin to assess the commercial potential of the invention. |
Turkey | |
| Tec Labs | The incubator of the Faculty of Sciences of ULisboa and the place where all the science and technology-based entrepreneurship and innovation related initiatives happen. For the last 30 years we have been supporting and promoting the economic valorisation and knowledge transfer in this school | Portugal | |
| International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) | It is a research organization created in 1987 at the heart of the prestigious Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) as a partnership between the Government of Catalonia and UPC, in cooperation with UNESCO. The aim of CIMNE is the development of numerical methods and computational techniques for advancing knowledge and technology in engineering and applied sciences. The ultimate goal of CIMNE is to become an international reference centre and leader in computational mechanics, through achieving excellence in all the activities carried out by the centre. | Spain | |
| Bilkent University | As Bilkent TTO, we carry out works involving deep and high technologies. |
Turkey | |
| Center for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) & Competence Center I4byDesign | CERTH: is one of the leading research centres in Greece & listed among the TOP-15 E.U. institutions with the highest participation in competitive research grants Integrating digital and technological Industry 4.0 & Logistics 4.0 solutions in Greek and international MSMEs | Greece | |
| Babes-Bolyai University | Given the market value of our research team results (Constantin Cosma Radon Labortaory from Babes Bolyai University - LiRaCC), we had laid the foundations for our university's first innovative spin-off, RadonControl. |
Romania | |
| ODTÜ Technology Transfer Office | As METU TTO Commercialization Department, we are working on the commercialization of 150+ academic inventions from various technology areas. Commercialization activity is initiated by the patent application of an academic invention, to the national patent office. During the grace period, we begin to assess the commercial potential of the invention. |
Turkey | |
| Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Institute of Robotics | It is a leading scientific institution integrated in the international research community. The creative work of the institute is focused in 9 labs and departments. The team works on cutting-edge inventions and events that aim to familiarise the public with robotics and its benefit for the society, education and business. | Bulgaria | |
| UniSMART- Fondazione Università degli Studi di Padova | UniSMART - Fondazione Università degli Studi di Padova aims to bridge the gap between academia, more specifically University of Padova researchers, and industry, be it an established company or a Venture Capital firm. |
Italy |
WHAT NEXT?
S3E START offers selected researchers and tech transfer offices an 18-weeks hands-on experience that involves:
- Online classes, mainly on the topics related to the process used to guide the participating teams in the development of a business case for a product, service, or process grounded on the proposed technology. Note: classes are held every week for one hour.
- Webinars, on diverse topics pertinent to the development of the relevant skills (e.g. intellectual property, financials, business development, venture funding.). Note: a total of six webinars (one hours long) will be held.
- Mentoring (industry experts) that will guide the teams on validation of the project and in the development of the business case. The mentors supporting the S3E Start edition are individuals who are somehow connected to the area of deep tech and entrepreneurship, and who are prepared to help teams solve problems that arise throughout the program. You can see an updated list of mentors on the S3E website (https://south3e.eu).
- Networking with industry leaders and showcase opportunities at the S3E Open day.
Outcomes:
- The teams will undergo a training program that will have as the visible outcome a business case for a product/service or process concept sustained by the technology proposed.
- The teams will pitch their project, at S3E Open day, to pre-seed stage investors and corporate ventures.
We congratulate the selected participants and we are looking forward to supporting their deep tech projects!
LINKEDIN | TWITTER | YOUTUBE
Meet the selected CHALLENGES: S3E REVERSE Program in action!
The aim of S3E REVERSE is to create a Deep Tech Brokerage Program that will connect corporates and public organisations (Challenge Organisations) that face certain challenges related to the SDGs, with start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs (Solvers) that can address these challenges through their products, services, and solutions, based on deep tech.
The overall goal is to create new collaborations between Challenge Organisations with specific needs and the Solvers that are able to address them.
We launched this program in November 2022 by inviting Challenge Organisations to submit challenges through our Open Call Mechanism. Through this Open Call we received a total of 21 challenges from 19 organisations and after running an independent and transparent evaluation process, we have selected 15 challenges.
MEET THE 15 DEEP TECH CHALLENGES
Challenge title |
Challenge description |
Related SDGs: |
| AI-driven Energy efficiency | This Challenge aims to reduce costs due to unnecessary energy consumption and avoid destruction of fuel and natural resources used and the resulting pollution caused. | SDG 9
SDG 10 |
| Human-centred services with privacy at the core | This Challenge aims to tackle a social problem by use of deep tech driven innovations for the support of well-being professionals and those seeking mental help while easing the burden on the hospitals caused by the rise in the demand for mental help due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. | SDG 3
SDG 9 |
| Energy Demand Forecasting | This is a targeted Challenge aiming to come up with optimal bidding strategies that will be used as part of power and gas demand forecasting algorithms for residential users | SDG 3
SDG 9 |
| Monitor and improve public health, reduce health disparities, and support healthy lifestyles | Health and well-being are an important challenge for smart cities, and technology can play a significant role in improving public health and reducing health disparities.
This Challenge aims to devise technology driven solutions that can solve several key problems related to the well-being of smart such as, amongst others inadequate access to care, lack of health information, inefficient use of healthcare resources and chronic disease management. |
SDG 3 |
| Thermal energy storage | The process of aluminium smelting and shaping requires high temperatures and incurs high energy costs. A great amount of thermal energy gets lost. This is a dual challenge as it concerns on the one side how to decrease energy losses and also reduce the negative environmental impact. | SDG 9 |
| Global Monitoring of Health Misinformation | This Challenge is about finding ways to compile, analyse, monitor and respond to the proliferation of public conversations that can be detrimental to the quality of life.
Applications can be considered in various levels: in global context like by the United Nations Health Organisation, applied to a local context like a municipality or a region monitoring citizen behaviours and trends, or a commercial brand that monitor consumer habits and reactions |
SDG 3
SDG 4 SDG 5 SDG 9 |
| Increase transparency and accountability in the wine supply chain | This Challenge is focused on enabling the track of products and materials from source to final destination in the wine supply chain. We would like to explore the potential of employing blockchain technology and cover aspects related to quality control, traceability, and sustainability. | SDG 8
SDG 9 |
| Vehicle Fleet Management | Communities and SMEs alike suffer from lack of technical support in managing and growing their green vehicle rental service offerings as they are unable to compete with big commercial players.
This Challenge aims to help come up with innovative and intuitive solutions that will help reverse this trend. |
SDG 3
SDG 9 SDG 10 |
| Flood Risk prevention in Smart Cities | Climate hazards are already a serious threat to many urban dwellers, who are increasingly affected by extreme weather. This Challenge aims to deploy Digital Twin technology to support assessment of flood risks using Open Data (Geospatial, Satellite, Climate Data) and AI-based models. | SDG 9 |
| Clean energy solutions for sustainable agriculture | This Challenge aims to explore novel ways to develop and deploy deeptech innovations to generate low-cost and clean energy in particular for agricultural usage demands. | SDG 9 |
| Improving the user experience for data protection and privacy | Sharing private data (health, lifestyle) is always an issue: apart from the legal aspect, citizens should have an increased feeling of value they receive from sharing or donating their own data. This challenge aims to explore ways to offer citizens and patients an increased control over their own data, incentivising them to share or donate them for health- and medical-related research and innovation activities | SDG 3
SDG 8 SDG 9 |
| Prevention of harassment | With this challenge we seek to deploy viable NLP algorithms that can detect written harassment and be used as plug-ins to online corporate communications | SDG 5
SDG 8 |
| Digital transformation processes | Manufacturers and distributors of products in electronic marketplaces face many challenges and there is an increasing demand for coupling IT processes close(r) to the production processes. | SDG 9
SDG 10 |
| Optimization of machine operation | Production plants consist of many isolated machines that are not connected with each other. How can a plant interconnect all machines in one single platform? This platform will support AI and Data Analytics and enable functions such as controlling the machines, monitoring, and improving productivity, updating MES etc. | SDG 9 |
| Raw material and alloy upgrade | In a Scrap Sorting Unit of an aluminium production company, aluminium scrap goes through the shredder before going through the smelting process to turn into aluminium billets. During the alloying process unwanted elements remain in the material. A) How could we remove these unwanted elements? The alloy mixture is determined by employees based on experience (% of scrap and % al. billets). B) How could we optimise the mixture “recipe” to give the final product the characteristics we want? | SDG 9 |
ARE YOU A START-UP OR SME WITH A DEEP TECH SOLUTION?
S3E REVERSE is launching its first open call for applications for Solvers: start-ups and SMEs with deep tech solutions to overcome the challenges described above.
Any kind of SME can participate as long as it meets the following criteria:
- Is established in any country of the Southern European science-based innovation ecosystem is eligible for the Horizon Europe program including associated countries.
- Is capable of addressing a challenge that has been submitted as part of the conducted open call for Challenges and which is related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
- Can justify the development and / or deployment of a Deep Tech solution.
OPEN CALL LAUNCHES ON 14 MARCH 2023
The Solver Organisation will be invited to submit a simple and quick application to present the proposed solution to any of the submitted challenges of the previous phase. The application will be submitted through the F6S platform and is available at: https://www.f6s.com/s3e-reverse-for-solvers/apply
To get ready to apply, do not forget to read carefully the Guidelines for Applicants, available here.
GET READY TO APPLY!
WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!

S3E Open Call # is now closed: 95 applications were submitted!
Our first open call closed the 10th of February at 17.00 CET and we have received 95 applications!!
From the S3E team, we deeply thank all interested parties who have submitted their applications in time willing to revolutionise the South European Deep Tech ecosystem!
In this article we are sharing the first general results from the received applications for each of the tracks and we announce the beginning of the evaluation period. Good luck to all successful and eligible applicants!
S3E START
We have received 29 applications from research teams, composed by 114 researchers in total.
| OVERVIEW APPLICATIONS S3E START FOR RESEARCHERS (By Contries) | |
| Turkey | 8 |
| Portugal | 6 |
| Italy | 5 |
| Spain | 5 |
| Serbia | 2 |
| Greece | 1 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 |
| Slovenia | 1 |
We have received 14 applications from Tech Transfer Officers composed.
| OVERVIEW APPLICATIONS S3E START FOR TTOS (By Contries) | |
| Turkey | 4 |
| Italy | 4 |
| Spain | 2 |
| Portugal | 1 |
| Greece | 1 |
| Romenia | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 1 |
- Results will be announced on 7th of March 2023.
S3E CHARGE

We have received 33 applications from growth startups.
| OVERVIEW APPLICATIONS S3E CHARGE (By Contries) | |
| Italy | 7 |
| Spain | 6 |
| Greece | 5 |
| Portugal | 4 |
| Bulgaria | 3 |
| Turkey | 3 |
| Albania | 2 |
| Cyprus | 1 |
| Serbia | 1 |
| Romania | 1 |
- Results will be announced on 24th of March 2023.
S3E REVERSE

We have received 19 challenges looking for deep tech solutions.
| OVERVIEW APPLICATIONS S3E REVERSE (By Contries) | |
| Spain | 4 |
| Portugal | 3 |
| Greece | 3 |
| Italy | 3 |
| Turkey | 2 |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| Estonia | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 1 |
| Germany | 1 |
- Results will be announced on 7th of March 2023.
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Subscribe to the our engaging S3E Newsletter!
Six fruitful meetings promoting the S3E Open Call in our Portuguese Roadshow
The consortium of S3E – The Engine for South European Deep Tech has completed the third Roadshow in Portugal as part of the promotion activities of its First Open Call .
We have shared the opportunities that the S3E project bring with more than 125 researchers and Technology Transfer Officers (TTOs)
Through the Open Call #1, S3E will select and support the development of disruptive solutions built around unique, protected or hard-to-reproduce breakthroughs, and embodies products, processes or services capable of fulfilling currently unmet (or ill-met) market needs. This new engine will unlock the untapped innovation potential of Southern European Deep Tech, targeting scientific and technical excellence in the fields of agricultural, life and physical sciences, engineering and technology.
The S3E Open call closes the 10 February 2023 (17h CEST), so there’s still a few days more for interested applicants to prepare their applications.
To promote this opportunity all around, HiSeedTech has met different members of the Portuguese Research and Innovation ecosystem to present the project and the S3E programs and services that are available through the open call process.
Follow the Portuguese tour with this photographic summary!
12 January: i3S – Research and innovation in the Health Sciences

24 January – ICVS – Life and Health Sciences Research Institute


25 January: UPTEC

31 January: Aveiro University


1 February: INESC MN Tec Labs, Innovation Center

2 February: Tec Labs, Innovation Center


Learn how we are going to accomplish our mission through our three innovative programs (START, CHARGE and REVERSE) and get ready to APPLY to the Open Call #1 to join the SOUTHERN DEEP TECH REVOLUTION.
Do not miss our official communications.
Subscribe to the S3E Newsletter now!
S3E meets EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, responsible for Horizon Europe
On 26th January, 2023, the S3E project participated at the workshop ''How Horizon Europe European innovation ecosystems projects support new European Innovation Agenda'' in Brussels.
This first workshop organised by the European Commission and host by Ms. Mariya Gabriel, the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth was an opportunity to present the first wave of projects funded under the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme in support of the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA).
‘’It’s the first time since 2010 that we have a document that articulates a comprehensive strategy for innovation in Europe. And this is crucial to our ambition, which is to unlock the innovation potential in Europe.’’
Mariya Gabriel
The New European Innovation Agenda is a comprehensive strategy put forth by the European Union to promote innovation and competitiveness. It was adopted in July 2022 and aims to accelerate the digital transformation of the EU economy and society. One of the key components of the NEIA is the EU’s focus on deep tech and their potential to drive innovation.
We met more than 40 projects which directly contribute to three flagships of the New European Innovation Agenda: scaling up deep-tech innovative companies; enabling innovation through public procurement and strengthening innovation ecosystems across the EU by addressing the innovation divide. The projects are included in the new European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) Data Hub, an interactive database showing all projects funded under the EIE programme.
‘’We count a lot in you, you are the green and digital transition, you are the circular economy, you are the health digitalisation, you are this new wave of deep tech innovation that would like to see Europe as leader, as powerhouse.''
Mariya Gabriel
S3E – The Engine for South European Deep Tech is one of the selected projects and during our presentation, Cláudia Barbosa shared the perfectly alignment of the S3E project with the goals of this NEIA, positioning Southern Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. S3E’s mission is to support moderate and emerging innovators to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges and improve the market connectedness & efficiency of research teams, startups & SMEs working on Deep Tech.
‘’Its only by working together that we can create this more open, more dynamic, more competitive Europe.''
Mariya Gabriel
Watch S3E 1 MINUTE PITCH
https://youtu.be/oC3W18EmOYM
Watch the whole workshop:
How S3E supports the new European Innovation Agenda
Read our last article here.
See some pictures:



Learn how we are going to accomplish our mission through our three innovative programs (START, CHARGE and REVERSE) and get ready to APPLY to the Open Call #1 to join the SOUTHERN DEEP TECH REVOLUTION.
Do not miss our official communications.
Subscribe to the S3E Newsletter now!
How S3E supports the new European Innovation Agenda
The New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA) is a comprehensive strategy put forth by the European Union (EU) to promote innovation and competitiveness. It was adopted in July 2022 and aims to accelerate the digital transformation of the EU economy and society.
One of the key components of the NEIA is the EU’s focus on deep tech and their potential to drive innovation. Another important aspect of the NEIA is the EU’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and small businesses. The agenda includes initiatives to support the creation and growth of new companies, particularly in the areas of clean energy, digital technologies, and health care.
In addition, the NEIA aims to increase the collaboration between the private sector, research institutions, and governments to foster innovation. This includes the creation of new partnerships and the development of new funding opportunities to support joint research and development projects. One of these projects is S3E – The Engine for South European Deep Tech.
The S3E project aligns perfectly with the goals of the New European Innovation Agenda, positioning Southern Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. S3E’s mission is to support moderate and emerging innovators to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges and improve the market connectedness & efficiency of research teams, startups & SMEs working on Deep Tech.
Europe wants to be the place where the best talent work hand in hand with the best companies and where deep tech innovation thrives and creates breakthrough innovative solutions across the continent. S3E is one of the projects working towards this purpose and that is why we have invited by the European Commission to participate in the workshop ``How Horizon Europe European innovation ecosystems projects support new European Innovation Agenda´´ next Thursday 26th January, 2023.
Event and Web-streaming link:
How S3E supports the new European Innovation Agenda
New European Innovation Agenda |
S3E – The Engine for South European Deep Tech |
|
Improve access to finance for European start-ups and scale-ups, for example, by mobilising untapped sources of private capital and simplifying listing rules |
S3E has created three types of progams to accelerate Deep Tech projects and solutions coming from research teams, start-ups and SMEs that can impact social development and economic growth for a more sustainable future. |
|
Improve the conditions to allow innovators to experiment with new ideas through regulatory sandboxes |
As part of these three innovation programs (START, CHARGE and REVERSE), S3E upskills researchers to fast-track science to the market, S3E supports growth stage startups in business development, S3E brokers access to investment and S3E facilitates Open Innovation with industry. |
|
Help create “regional innovation valleys” that will strengthen and better connect innovation players through Europe, including in regions lagging behind |
S3E is focused on a group of countries (Southern Europe) that are lagging behind in terms of innovation-led social and economic growth and that, because of their geographic location, share some common socio-economic traits that may contribute to facilitate the deployment of this growth engine. |
|
Attract and retain talent in Europe, for example by training 1 million deep tech talents, increasing support for women innovators and innovating with start-up employees’ stock options |
Through several open calls, S3E will support 150+ Deep Tech ventures to develop disruptive solutions built around unique, protected or hard-to-reproduce breakthroughs, and embodies products, processes or services capable of fulfilling currently unmet (or ill-met) market needs. S3E will unlock the untapped innovation potential of Southern European Deep Tech, targeting scientific and technical excellence in the fields of agricultural, life and physical sciences, engineering and technology. |
| Improve the policy framework through clearer terminology, indicators and data sets, as well as policy support to Member States |
South3E alignment with EU priorities and strategies strengths our commitment to improve the market connectedness & efficiency of research teams, startups & SMEs working on Deep Tech through the acceleration of Deep Tech projects coming from research teams, and deep tech solutions coming from start-ups and SMEs that can impact social development and economic growth for a more sustainable future. |
S3E participates at the 'Startups for Sustainability' event
On January 19, 2023, S3E participated at the event organised by Envolve Greece and Generation AG called 'Startups for Sustainability'. The event took place in Athens, Greece.
The audience was composed of students interested in entrepreneurship willing to learn about sustainable development goals and how they can be a competitive advantage for them when creating new businesses.
Christina Deligianni, as we can see in the picture below, presented the S3E project as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop new business ideas based on deep tech and meeting the UN SDGs.
Thank you Christina, and EPLO team, to spreading the word and inviting the Greek ecosystem to join the S3E mission.

💥Join the deep tech revolution in South Europe💥

The engine for South European Deep Tech calls for brokers to meet the best startup talent
In order to support the implementation of S3E REVERSE, we are calling deep tech brokers to match identified corporate challenges with the portfolio of solutions offered by scaling startups.
About S3E REVERSE
S3E Reserve is designed to help scaling start-ups and more mature SMEs to gain market traction through a pan-European brokerage program, that will connect them with corporates with certain challenges and problems, which they can work together to solve.
To learn more about the S3E REVERSE program, visit this site: https://south3e.eu/apply-now/
Deep Tech Brokers
The role of S3E deep tech brokers is to analyse the challenges posed by corporates that require relevant field of expertise, interview the liaison element of the corporate for a better understanding of the challenge and finetune its specification, analyse and interview scale start-ups that match their field(s) of expertise, choose the adequate solution provider and broker the contacts between the corporate and the start-up(s) that may have a solution to solve the challenge.
Brokers are considered eligible for the S3E Call for experts if complying with ALL the following rules:
- High-level of expertise and professional experience in supporting technological innovation projects, growth and scaling startups.
- Experience in the following science fields: agricultural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, and natural sciences.
- A very good level of English is required because it is the official language of the program.
- Knowledge of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Experience in innovation support, evaluation, mentoring, and /or coaching.
Scope of collaboration
Deep Tech Brokers selected for our program are expected to dedicate around 10 hours in private consultations and meetings with the Challenge Organisations and/or the scale-ups to help them define their needs and agree on a common action plan that will be described in an MoU document.
This document will provide the basic requirements that will be needed by the scaleups to adapt or customise their solutions and products and will outline their future collaboration options: direct sale, common R&I project, pre-commercial procurements (PCPs) and public procurements of innovative solutions (PPIs) opportunities, further work etc. The work of the Tech Brokers will start at around July 2023 and will last till Dec 2023.
What are the benefits?
As well as benefiting from the opportunity to draw on their own experience and knowledge to help another colleague grow and develop, as an expert, brokers also benefit from the chance to:
🔶 Play an active role in the South European deep tech ecosystem.
🔶 Access to the S3E Community and expand your professional network.
🔶 Training on “Sustainable Development and Investments” with a certificate by the Institute for Sustainable Development at EPLO.
🔶 Connect with relevant EU institutions and stakeholders.
🔶 Have the opportunity to “give something back”:
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- Give insights into processes and practices that you are familiar with.
- Share good practices from your own experience.
- Offer perspectives and insights into new or different ways of doing things.
- Enable new colleagues to hit the ground running and be as effective as possible in their roles.
🔶 Learn by gaining exposure to new ideas, approaches, and perspectives.
🔶 Gain recognition for your skills and experience and for your contribution as an expert, raising your professional profile.
🔶 Develop valuable interpersonal and communication skills such as listening and questioning.
🔶 Be at the forefront of the revolution of deep tech.
Apply before 31st January:
Download the Expression of Interest text: https://zenodo.org/record/7377769/files/S3E%20Call%20for%20experts.pdf?download=1
Apply via F6S: https://www.f6s.com/s3e-call-for-experts/apply
More info: https://south3e.eu/community/
💥Join the deep tech revolution in South Europe💥

S3E visits the Portuguese innovation ecosystem for its Open Call #1 last Roadshow
The consortium of S3E – The Engine for South European Deep Tech is pleased to announce the celebration of the third Roadshow in Portugal as part of the promotion activities of its First Open Call.
We are very happy to visit Portugal since it’s the country where S3E was born. S3E project is inspired by the HiSeedTech program aiming to fulfill a gap in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting the translation of cutting-edge technology and scientific discoveries into new business opportunities.
HiSeedTech has been working during last 10 years being an enabler of investments in technology-based ventures and licensing opportunities by providing the business community, venture capital investors and potential licensors a deal flow of duly-scrutinized projects.
HiSeedTech joined IDI, EPLO and AUTRALO to create South3E, an engine of growth to improve the connectedness and efficiency of the entrepreneurship ecosystems in Southern European countries. The EU funded project South3E will accelerate Deep Tech projects and solutions coming from research teams, start-ups and SMEs that can impact social development and economic growth for a more sustainable future.
Through the Open Call #1, S3E will select and support the development of disruptive solutions built around unique, protected or hard-to-reproduce breakthroughs, and embodies products, processes or services capable of fulfilling currently unmet (or ill-met) market needs. This new engine will unlock the untapped innovation potential of Southern European Deep Tech, targeting scientific and technical excellence in the fields of agricultural, life and physical sciences, engineering and technology.
The S3E Open call closes the 10 February 2023 (17h CEST), so there’s still time for interested applicants to prepare their applications.
To promote this opportunity all around, HiSeedTech will be meeting different members of the Portuguese Research and Innovation ecosystem to present the project and the S3E programs and services that are available through the open call process.
These are the scheduled meetings as part of the Portuguese Roadshow:
- 12/01/2023- 14:30 - i3S- Research and innovation in the Health Sciences
- 24/01/2023- 14:30 - ICVS - Life and Health Sciences Research Institute
- 25/01/2023- 14:30 - UPTEC
- 31/01/2023- 14:30 - Aveiro University
- 01/02/2023- 14:30 - Tec Labs, Innovation Center
- 02/02/2023- 14:30 - INESC MN
Check out this teaser video
https://youtu.be/_WhfmjQSMMw
Join our Roadshow tour following our social media channels (Twitter, Linkedin and Youtube)
and get ready to APPLY to the Open Call #1 to join the SOUTHERN DEEP TECH REVOLUTION.
Do not miss our official communications.












