Accelerating Innovation: Spherik’s year in review for 2024
Do you want to be a unicorn? About DMS Accelerator with Mădălina Sumedrea
April 22, 2021Accelerating Innovation: Spherik’s year in review for 2024
As the first accelerator founded in Romania, Spherik has been at the heart of the Romanian startup ecosystem for the last 11 years. Initially focused on tech startups, the organisation’s focus has narrowed over the years, currently supporting DeepTech startups building GreenTech solutions, while expanding its coverage into the EU and Associated Countries. Over the years, Spherik has supported through mentoring, guidance and financial support over 500 European companies.
As 2024 is ending, two major projects the organisation was involved in are ending as well, while others are just beginning.
Main projects
Synergist EIC, which ran from January 2023 until December 2024, was the first European project coordinated by Spherik. Through this project, a consortium of four partners: Spherik (Romania), F6S (Ireland), G-Force (Slovakia) and FastTrack (Portugal), has offered acceleration services and financial support through third-party agreements of up to 50.000 EUR per beneficiary, amounting to 1.5M EUR in total financial support.
During the 2 years of the project, 31 European startups and SMEs have received support and mentoring in two cohorts, 15 during the first-year cohort and 16 during the second-year cohort. Based on the feedback gathered from the participants, an impact report for the 1st cohort of the Synergist EIC project was compiled and publicly shared on the project website earlier this year. The second cohort report will be shared with the public shortly and integrated into this article.
Spanning over four years, starting January 2020 until December 2024, the EIC Urban Mobility project was run by a consortium of Romanian partners, Iceberg (Brasov), Spherik (Cluj) and FZMAUR (Brasov). Each year, 10 Romanian startups with focus on mobility have received mentoring, access to workshops, and various opportunities to grow and expand their operations, through this project funded by the EIT Urban Mobility.
The EIC Urban Mobility team organised yearly a GreenTech-themed hackathon to identify solutions to the current city problems. To ensure the hackathon teams solve real-life problems, the organising team has previously mapped challenges in 11 Romanian cities and towns, extracting three main recurring themes. In 2024, four amazing teams have presented their innovative solutions. The winning team has received a prize of €1000 for their idea to create a network of mobility experts to assist municipalities and organisations in implementing mobility projects.
The EIC ACCESS+ project is an EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS) initiative that offers co-funded access to the EIC Service Catalogue to accelerate DeepTech innovation across Europe. The project will span over two years, starting August 2024 until July 2026 and will support at least 180 beneficiaries to access services from the EIC Service Catalogue. Innova (Italy) leads the consortium of six partners: Spherik (Romania), Bpifrance (France), Aster (France), Booster Labs (France) and EBN (Belgium).
An Open call for startups and SMEs was launched on 1 November 2024 to offer grants of up to 60.000 EUR. The grants will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, following the applications’ evaluation once every two weeks. Only EIC Awardees (Pathfinder, Transition and Acceleration) and Seal of Excellence holders under Horizon Europe can apply.
The total funding available for startups and SMEs through this initiative is €3.45 million. The grants can cover up to 50% of the costs associated with accessing the services designed to help them grow. A recording of the EIC ACCESS+ Info session #1 is available for reply on the EIC YouTube channel. More details, news and milestones, can be accessed on the EIC ACCESS+ project website.
A dynamic hackathon held on June 15-16, 2024, brought together passionate individuals and teams to address the pressing issue of food waste. It was organised together with Impact Hub Bucharest in partnership with EIT Climate-KIC, and supported by Raiffeisen Bank and Rebel Dot. The main challenge was to find effective ways to reduce food waste in Cluj-Napoca, a city facing the dual challenge of ecological crisis and food scarcity. Over the course of two days, 27 participants formed 8 teams, all working together to develop practical solutions that could benefit both the local community and the environment.
The teams received guidance from mentors and experts in sustainable food systems. The event culminated with the selection of a winning solution, which received a €5,000 funding prize and a chance to pitch at the 2024 Romania ClimAccelerator Pitch Day. The success of the event highlighted the importance of local synergies, combining academic expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and regenerative agriculture to create lasting change in food sustainability.
New initiatives
Spherik is a founding member of the ROStartup Association, founded in July 2024. ROStartup is the representative and cohesive force of the Romanian startup ecosystem. Acting as an umbrella for the ecosystem, it brings together Romanian startup enablers and grassroots organisations. The association aims to facilitate collaboration, foster strategic alignment, enhance communication, and leverage synergies to magnify the collective impact, nationally and internationally.
The ROStartup association envisions Romania as a leading European Startup Hub, offering an ideal environment for startups to thrive. Its mission is to cultivate a supportive ecosystem where stakeholders can collaborate, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a vibrant and globally recognised startup community.
Spherik is a founding member of the ED TECH RO Association, founded in December 2024. The primary objective of ED TECH RO is to support the establishment, growth, and expansion of EdTech startups in Romania. It aims to facilitate communication and collaboration among organisations in the education sector while fostering partnerships with national and international entities.
The association seeks to create a direct communication channel with authorities and the business community, encouraging their involvement. Additionally, it aims to map and monitor the evolution of Romania’s EdTech industry, facilitate access to research for testing and innovation through pilot programs, and ensure access to essential resources, including human and financial capital.
A fruitful year coming to an end is a great opportunity to take a break, to process and recharge, to make room for new adventures and creative endeavors in the year to come.
Spherik team wishes everyone Happy Holidays and a New Year filled with beautiful experiences and magical moments.
