EIT Digital Champions is the European competition for deeptech scaleups. The new edition will see the finalists present their innovative solutions in January 2025 to a jury of international investors, while the winners will receive customised support through EIT Digital’s Growth Services programme.
The 12th EIT Digital Champions is supported by GEA Digital, an Italian company operating in digital transformation and innovation consulting, and focuses on scaleups developing artificial intelligence solutions in the defence sector.
GEA Digital is looking for scaleups working on AI solutions such as autonomous drone identification, real-time threat detection, edge computing and communication disruption techniques.
Andrea Teja, Head of GEA Digital, comments in a note: ‘The defence industry is technologically advanced and has AI capabilities. However, it often struggles to adopt open innovation approaches. Through this competition, we aim to bring the best AI solutions to the forefront, helping defence organisations understand the value of collaboration within a broader innovation ecosystem. The need for efficient and scalable technologies has never been more urgent in today’s complex geopolitical landscape.”
As part of GEA Digital’s sponsorship, the selected scaleups will also gain access to one-to-one meetings with key Italian defence customers and companies in the industry. In addition, GEA Digital will offer the winners a basket of mentoring hours, providing strategic and digital transformation guidance to help scaleups refine their technology and business approach.
Federico Menna, CEO of EIT Digital, adds: “We are excited to welcome GEA Digital as a sponsor of this year’s competition. Their deep experience in the defence sector and commitment to fostering innovation will offer European scaleups unique opportunities to bring their AI solutions to market.”
In the area of digital transformation, GEA Digital focuses on artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and immersive experiences such as virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (XR) and augmented reality (AR).
GEA Digital’s sponsorship of the EIT Digital Champions competition (here is the link for scaleups wishing to apply) reflects its mission to support the Italian defence industry at a critical time, when the need for technological efficiency is increasing in tandem with the dwindling human resources in the defence sectors. GEA Digital’s involvement is also linked to the open innovation concept, which aims to connect high-level scaleups with key defence customers, promoting cross-pollination between industries. (photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)
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