Summit in Brussels marks the launch of the ACE Acceleration Programme

On 29 April over 85 companies from across Europe met with 22 mentors and 18 investors at the Accelerating Cross-border (ACE) programme Summit in Brussels for the ‘New Frontiers for European Entrepreneurs’ event.

The ACE programme, which is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), was launched in September 2013 with partners from Belgium, Italy, Czech Republic, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, France, Portugal, Germany and Sweden with Coventry University Enterprises Ltd representing the UK. The programmes aims to support the top 100 ICT companies across Europe identified with international growth potential. 

The ACE Summit marked the formal launch of the ACE acceleration programme. Companies had been selected through an open application process with over 300 applications whittled down to just 100 companies that are now being supported with 1-2-1 business mentoring support and other services.

The ACE Companies from the UK were:

• Agewell Biometrics
• I'm Not A Machine Music
• Imobisoft
• Incyte International
• My Campus Ride
• Netshield Enterprise Services
• Ortelio
• RNF Digital Innovation
• Smarterkey

During the ACE Summit in Brussels, companies were provided with the opportunity to complete investor readiness training and pitch directly to a panel of cross-border investors. One to one meetings were organised for each company in advance with mentors providing practical advice on entering new markets from introductions to potential clients to ‘soft landing’ supports.  The ACE Companies also had the opportunity to meet with their peers and potential collaborators from among the over 400 participants at the New Frontiers for European Entrepreneurs event.

Further information about the project is available at www.europeanace.eu/ or by contacting Lindsey Martin  at Coventry University Enterprises Ltd on 07974 984070 or via email lmartin@cad.coventry.ac.uk.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 610925.