Development of a blueprint approach for a successful cross-border matchmaking of start-ups with midcaps : final report.

This final report for “development of a blueprint approach for a successful cross-border matchmaking of startups with midcaps”, describes the process of engaging mid sized companies to collaborate with startups as customers, suppliers and innovation partners. The 25 participating midcaps went through an innovation needs assessment and were matched with almost 100 startups for 1:1 meetings. The matchmaking methodology resulted in 30% follow up meetings and 8 signed deals (monitored from Oct 2018 to Oct 2019). The main insights are: - Midcaps are unfamiliar with open innovation and the benefits of startup collaboration - attracting midcaps to these activities is difficult; - On the other hand, participating midcaps are faster at making decisions and signing deals when compared with larger companies. To scale this initiative further, the following is recommended: - Promote awareness raising and capacity building for midcaps on the topics of open innovation through trusted third parties (e.g.: business support organizations) - Replicate the cross-border matchmaking in more geographies and industrial sectors Concluding, there is a huge opportunity in bringing mid sized companies to successful collaborations with innovative and agile startups. Cross-border matchmaking proves to be an efficient approach to stimulating such interactions and creating more European innovation