EU funded initiative: We identify industry challenges, fund groundbreaking women-led startups, and facilitate collaboration with corporate partners.

Joined March 2025
๐ŸŽง #FounderTalks is now also available on YouTube Each episode brings a different founder story with the aim of informing, inspiring and showing what women can build when the right support, opportunities and ambition are there. โ–ถ๏ธ youtube.com/@OpenHorizons-EU
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Two dates for the #deep-tech community this November ๐Ÿ‘‡ Our friends at @Hard2Scale are bringing their startups in front of investors, corporates and innovation ecosystem players through two upcoming events. Find more information and register here: hard2scale.eu/category/articโ€ฆ
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๐Ÿ‘•โ™ป๏ธ In our second #FounderTalks episode, we talk about textile recycling with enzymes, circular materials, microfactories, piloting with @LGUS together with Revital Nadiv and Urte Zahn, co-founder and CEO of Re-Fresh Global. ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Get inspired: tinyurl.com/4kcy49pu
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๐Ÿงต In our first Founder Talks podcast, Ana Pires, co-founder of Dimera takes us from her work in circular economy research to building a company that uses AI and material science to rethink how products are developed. ๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Get inspired from Anaโ€™s journey: lnkd.in/eZx9T3hnhttps://openโ€ฆ
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๐ŸŽ™๐๐ž๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ. With #FounderTalks, weโ€™re going beyond the technology to meet the women building the successful female-led deep-tech startups behind Open Horizons. ๐ŸŽง First episode drops tomorrow.
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๐Ÿ  When technology is designed for older adults, convenience is only part of the equation. Privacy, trust and control matter too. Hestia, @tendertec โ€™s product was successfully tested in the pilot with @LGUS ๐Ÿ‘‡ Discover the full story: openhorizonsproject.eu/succeโ€ฆ
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โšก As renewables, electric vehicles and heat pumps change how electricity moves through the grid, operators need a clearer view of where pressure is building. Thatโ€™s where Negatonn comes in. ๐Ÿ‘‡Dive into their success story after their pilot lnkd.in/epGEHhAK
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Cohort #3 is now in Inception, getting ready for the next big step. Who are the founders? What are they building? And which real corporate challenges are they trying to solve? ๐Ÿ‘‰ Discover all this in our new article: tinyurl.com/3u7xs6u5
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๐Ÿค” One idea raised at the official side-event of #StartupFair2026 on startup ecosysyem & scale-up: what if deep-tech startups could rely on longer-term, continuous support, instead of moving between fragmented, time-limited programmes? ๐Ÿ‘‡Let us know in the comments!
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๐Ÿ˜ฎLess than a week to meet us at the EU Startup Summit in Vilnius! ๐Ÿ‘‡๐ŸผIf you dream of a more innovative, gender equal and supportive startup ecosystem in Europe, you can't miss this session. ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿผ
๐Ÿš€INNOVATE-EU, WE RISE and EPIC-X sister projects invite you to the official side event of the EU Startup Summit in Vilnius. ๐Ÿ“… 16 September 2026 ๐Ÿ“ Tech Park, Vilnius, Lithuania Learn more and register: lnkd.in/d4kMgDFs
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๐ŸšฉToday in Pamplona we looked at what worked, what didnโ€™t and what we can improve next: 3 Open Calls,929 applications from 52 countries,30 women-led deep-tech startups selected. The goal: better programmes, wider impact and a more gender-equal innovation ecosystem.
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๐Ÿ’ญ Over the past weeks, we have shared selected stories and practical insights from the Open Horizons Founder Spotlight Session, showing with real founder stories that there is no single pathย to build a successful company. โ–ถ๏ธ Watch the full talk: youtu.be/87LPGxOMVAk
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๐Ÿ˜ถโ€๐ŸŒซ๏ธ ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ? Dr Ceri Morgan, partner at Dalloway Partners, shares her investor advice covering much more than how to pitch. โ“ ๐Ÿ“ฝ๏ธ Learn it here: youtu.be/lYx0fAe0-Yk?si=DVXzโ€ฆ
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๐ŸŒŸ Today, Cohort #3 officially starts Inception Phase. In the coming weeks, weโ€™ll introduce the 11 winning startups: the founders, ideas, technologies. ๐Ÿ‘€Follow their journey for fresh deep-tech ideas, inspiring founder stories and perhaps your next investment opportunity.
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During our Founder Spotlight session a founder asked: โ€œ๐‘€๐‘ฆ ๐ด๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘›โ€™๐‘ก ๐บ๐‘’๐‘›๐ด๐ผ. ๐ป๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐ผ ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘ฃ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ?โ€ ๐ŸŽฅLearn what our experts suggested in this video: youtube.com/shorts/bdCRNoqicโ€ฆ
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๐ŸคฏMedtech startups need funding early to pay for clinical studies, regulatory work and specialist expertise. Investors often want the technology de-risked first,and may not be prepared to wait years for returns. ๐Ÿ‘‡Learn how Oxailis shares how they overcame this funding dilemma.
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Building a startup can be one of the most rewarding experiences But it can also be one of the loneliest. That's why founder communities matter: they remind founders they don't have to build alone. ๐Ÿ‘‡Insipiring Female Founders, by @profpinar, was created for this reason.
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๐Ÿ’ก What do investors really want to understand about a deep-tech startup? According to Dr.Ceri Morgan, partner at Dalloway Partners, the technology is only one part of the answer. Some strategic questions can help better approach investors. Be ready to answer๐Ÿ‘‡
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They say startups never restโ€ฆbut founders and ecosystem builders still deserve a little summer resetโ€ Whether youโ€™re switching off for a few days or building straight through August, donโ€™t forget to plan your trip to the EU Startup Summit, in Vilnius. ๐Ÿ‘‡Register here
๐Ÿš€INNOVATE-EU, WE RISE and EPIC-X sister projects invite you to the official side event of the EU Startup Summit in Vilnius. ๐Ÿ“… 16 September 2026 ๐Ÿ“ Tech Park, Vilnius, Lithuania Learn more and register: lnkd.in/d4kMgDFs
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๐Ÿ”„ ๐’๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐›๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ'๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ. For Stephanie Lesage, the idea behind OSPT Ltd started with listening to patients. ๐ŸŽฅThe story: tinyurl.com/bdfxbj4f
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