Synergy of innovations: Seeds of Bravery and LUkraine asbl connect the potential of Ukraine and Luxembourg
Seeds of Bravery and LUkraine asbl signed a memorandum of understanding in August 2024 to join efforts in fostering collaboration between Ukrainian, Luxembourgian and European innovation ecosystems.
Seeds of Bravery is a €20 million project of the European Innovation Council (EIC), funded by the European Union, to support Ukrainian technology start-ups and bring them closer to the EU.
The project’s aim is to foster diversity, develop the high-tech industry and stimulate Ukrainian innovation that benefits end users in Europe, Ukraine and beyond by bringing together corporations and governments for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual customers.
LUkraine asbl is a Luxembourg-based nonprofit with a public interest status that unites the Ukrainian Community in Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to increase awareness about Ukraine in Luxembourg and contribute to the humanitarian crisis relief in Ukraine.
The areas of collaboration include:
- Mutual communication activities and promotion about LUkraine asbl and Seeds of Bravery;
- Supporting startups delegations to conferences in Luxembourg, including LUkraine’ events;
- Sharing the knowledge, expertise and case study on Luxembourg market for UASEEDs beneficiaries and potential applicants who are interested in expanding and/or establishing the business in Luxembourg;
- Supporting UASEEDs in identifying, engaging and maintaining a pan-European network to interconnect Ukrainian startups and SMEs with key innovation stakeholders.
As part of the cooperation between LUkraine asbl and Seeds of Bravery, an info session about Seeds of Bravery European project was organised on Thursday, 21 November 2024. This event took place at LUkraine asbl premises in Luxembourg and gathered over 20 participants, most of them Ukrainian entrepreneurs displaced in Luxembourg after the beginning of the war.
The session opened with a welcome word from Nicolas Zharov, President of LUkraine asbl, followed by a presentation about Seeds of Bravery granting program, including step-by-step application process, done by Olena Malchyk, Project Manager at Luxinnovation, representative of Seeds of Bravery consortium.
Myroslav Gebura, Founder of Poly Diagnostics, based in Luxembourg, and a recipient of the DeepTech Scale-Up & Acceleration programme within Seeds of Bravery shared his journey as Ukrainian research and startup founder in Luxembourg. Poly Diagnostics developed and validated state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic kits, this startup is currently a unique Luxembourg-based company to be enrolled in Seeds of Bravery acceleration program.
Hakam Agha, leading the Trace Crystal startup, also based in Luxembourg, shared with the Ukrainian audience his personal story and an inspiring example of spin-off creation. Trace Crystal provides a means of incorporating a unique, uncloneable and untransferable fingerprint directly onto the surface of any solid physical product, to reestablish trust in authenticity and quality. This startups has applied to Seeds of Bravery Deep Tech Incubators program.
All participants were encouraged to get involved with Seeds of Bravery project.
As a reminder, next deadlines to apply to Seeds of Bravery grants:
- by 23 December 2024, Brussels Time – this may be the last opportunity for you to apply for the Business and Innovation Services programme!
- by 27 January 2025, 17:00 Brussels Time – this may be the last opportunity for you to apply for the Innovative Entrepreneurship, Deep Tech Incubators, Rebuild Ukraine, Deep Tech Scale-up and Acceleration programmes!