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Discover Vienna: Manufacturing Edition 2025
powered by EIT Manufacturing East
Call for scaleups: Discover the industry ecosystem in the city
Apply by 4 April 2025, 23:59 CEST
Building on the success of its previous editions, Discover Vienna: Manufacturing Edition returns for its fifth year in 2025. Organised by EIT Manufacturing East in collaboration with the Vienna Business Agency, the programme takes place during ViennaUP 2025, Central Europe’s largest decentralised startup festival.
Since its launch in 2021, the programme has brought together over 50 startups from 15+ countries and connected them with more than 30 leading Austrian manufacturing companies, resulting in numerous business collaborations, long-term partnerships, and successful deals. Past participating corporates include Infineon, NXP, Borealis, AVL, Bosch, voestalpine, KTM, A1, and many others, making Discover Vienna: Manufacturing Edition a premier platform for collaboration between startups and leading industrial corporations.
What’s in it for you?
- Five-day programme with accommodation included;
- A comprehensive access-to-market programme designed to familiarise you with the dynamics of the Austrian and Viennese markets, provided by the Vienna Business Agency and EIT Manufacturing East;
- Deep-dive sessions and introductions to leading Austrian industrial corporations;
- Participation in leading networking events: aws Connect Day and Manufacturing Day;
- Mentoring and coaching support focused on business development, provided by EIT Manufacturing East
- Increased visibility and international publicity
- Fast-track access to EIT Manufacturing’s business development services
Preliminary agenda
- 8 May: Official launch & networking dinner
- 9 May: Manufacturing Day
- 10 May: B2B sales workshop
- 11 May: Optional social programme
- 12 May: Corporate sessions (participating corporates to be announced soon)
- 13 May: aws Connect Day incl. EIT Manufacturing corporate reverse pitches
Agenda subject to change.
Eligibility criteria
- Company should not be older than 8 years;
- Company must be incorporated in one of the following European Union member states (EU27) or countries associated with Horizon Europe: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia;
- Submissions need to fit one of the EIT Manufacturing strategic focus areas;
- Applicants have to prove revenue traction (existing reference customers);
- The go-to-market strategy (incl. financial aspects) shall be disclosed.
This is what previous participants have to say
EIT Manufacturing East & Vienna Business Agency did a great job in bringing together startups and corporates. They are aware that it is crucial to stay on top of the decision makers’ inboxes and are willing to go the extra mile to assist with requests for help. Well done.
Konrad Schreiner, CEO, Plasmics GmbH
“Discover Vienna: Manufacturing Edition 2022 motivated us to speed up the development of our company. It was amazing to meet other start-ups and share our experience in product development, certification process, go-to-market strategy etc. We made connections to great people not only during the Discover Vienna: Manufacturing Edition program but also at the other ViennaUP’22 events, which together made a really full and inspiring program. The highlight for us was the Manufacturing Day with clear focus and many valuable insights into the hardware start-up world.”
Megi Mejdrechova, Co-founder and CTO of RoboTwin s.r.o.
Exclusive supporters
Selected corporate partners of previous editions
How can I participate?
Submissions will be accepted from the opening of the call until the deadline on 4 April 2025 at 23:59 CEST.
Apply by 4 April 2025!
Explore the Austrian manufacturing and startup ecosystem!
For any questions, please reach out to:
About the organisers
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EIT Manufacturing is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union. It is one of eight innovation communities within the EIT. EIT Manufacturing’s main goal is to bring European stakeholders focused on manufacturing together in innovation ecosystems that add unique value to European products, processes and services and inspire the creation of globally competitive and sustainable manufacturing. EIT Manufacturing brings together more than 170 organisations (universities, research institutes and business).
EIT Manufacturing East GmbH is one of the five Impact Centers (IC) of EIT Manufacturing, located in the Technology Center Seestadt in Vienna, Austria. IC East serves seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, of which six are EIT RIS eligible countries, being considered emerging and moderate innovators according to the European Innovation Scoreboard. IC East works in close cooperation with its eleven full members from industry, research and academia: the Czech Technical University in Prague, Industry Innovation Cluster (IIC), Jožef Stefan Institute, Kolektor, Magna, Pannon Business Network, the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, the Technical University Vienna, and voestalpine High Performance Metals, and its network partners Additive Manufacturing Austria, EuroCC Austria, invest.austria, Platform Industry 4.0 Austria, Start:up Slovenia, Vestbee and the Vienna Business Agency. EIT Manufacturing East is additionally supported by three Austrian Ministries (Federal Ministry Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology; Federal Ministry Digital and Economic Affairs; Federal Ministry Education, Science and Research) as well as the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
EIT Manufacturing — Making Innovation Happen!
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The Vienna Business Agency supports local and international companies in all phases of their business development, providing advice on all corporate issues and helping expats get up and running in Vienna. Anyone wanting to found a company, start-ups, sole traders, domestic and international small and medium-sized enterprises or corporations will receive all the information they need. As the location agency of the City of Vienna, the Business Agency helps with funding, business premises, an office, free advice, workshops, networking, and the search for new partnerships.
The Vienna Business Agency was founded in 1982 as the Vienna Economic Development Fund (Wirtschaftsförderungsfonds) by the City of Vienna, the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, the UniCredit Bank Austria AG (formerly the Zentralsparkasse) as well as the Erste Bank der Österreichischen Sparkassen AG (formerly the Erste Österreichische Sparkasse).
Initiated by the Vienna Business Agency, ViennaUP 2025 is a decentralized community-driven festival in the heart of Europe, shining a light on what the future of technology holds. Together with its contributing partners, ViennaUP creates a unique interconnected experience for start-ups, investors, tech enthusiasts, creatives, and visionaries. ViennaUP’23 is about creating meaningful connections and starting first conversations with smart minds. Participants have the opportunity to dive into hotly discussed topics across different industries, expand their international network, and get inspired by the Viennese start-up scene – one of the most diverse and fastest-growing start-up communities in Central Europe.