The EIT AI Community becomes the EIT AI & Robotics Community and opens its first call for founders

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The EIT AI Community becomes the EIT AI & Robotics Community and opens its first call for founders

*Leuven, September 15, 2026, The EIT AI Community is evolving into the EIT AI & Robotics Community, a pan-European initiative of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, for 2026-2028. As part of this new direction, the initiative opens its first call - the AI Entrepreneurs Lab - for Europe's next generation of AI and robotics founders. A second call, FactoryX, will open in Autumn 2026.*

*You can access the call here (📅 Applications close 21 October 2026, 17:00 CET): https://lnkd.in/ebj5Mf-2*

This initiative exists to scale Europe's most ambitious AI and robotics ventures - from first idea to global scale - and to strengthen the continent's competitiveness and technological sovereignty in frontier and applied AI. It brings together multiple EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), led by 28DIGITAL with EIT Food, EIT Health and EIT Culture & Creativity, to turn Europe's research excellence into globally competitive companies across healthcare, manufacturing, food systems, biotechnology and robotics. Reflecting the current three-year EIT funding cycle, the initiative will run until 2028 and aims to launch 14 innovations, support more than ten high-potential scale-ups and help participating ventures leverage over €80 million in investment.

An evolution: why robotics is now part of it

The EIT AI & Robotics Community builds directly on the EIT AI Community. The change of name reflects the increasing convergence between artificial intelligence and robotics across Europe's innovation landscape, and a sharper focus on the journey from strong research capabilities to scalable, market-ready solutions.

"Adding robotics responds to a specific gap. Europe produces world-class robotics research but struggles to turn it into deployed, commercial systems - particularly intelligent, AI-driven robotics operating in real industrial and physical-world environments. As AI and robotics increasingly converge, we support them together in the full path from research to market in exactly the applications where Europe's competitiveness and strategic autonomy are most at stake: from manufacturing and health to food systems and advanced sensing. In practical terms: we support AI and robotics founders with launching, scaling and funding their innovation.", Orestis Trasanidis, Head of the AI & Robotics Community

Access the call here: https://lnkd.in/ebj5Mf-2

Open now: the AI Entrepreneurs Lab

The AI Entrepreneurs Lab is a five-day founder bootcamp for Europe's next applied-AI and robotics founders, designed to move promising technical talent from the lab bench to the founder's seat. It is open to Master's and PhD students, graduates and early-stage founders with a strong AI or robotics idea (i.e. one where AI or robotics is central to the venture, such as industrial AI deployment or autonomous robotic systems). The cohort takes up to 15 participants, who may apply individually or as a team.

Applicants are expected to show a clear problem, a credible technical direction and a plausible path to market, and to submit an application form, CV(s) and a short pitch. A full business plan is not required at this stage.

Over five intensive, fully in-person days across Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam (9-13 November 2026), participants work with experienced founders on customer discovery, commercial-model testing and pitch development, and gain direct feedback from industry contacts and introductions to investors. Selected participants may receive travel and accommodation support, and up to five prizes of €10,000 are awarded on merit at Demo Day.

Applications are open from 1 September to 21 October 2026 (17:00 CET). Full details and the application form are at ai.eitcommunity.eu/entrepreneurs-lab.

One connected pipeline, from first idea to global scale

The initiatives' programmes form a connected pipeline, with different entry points and pathways for founders and ventures. The AI Entrepreneurs Lab builds talent, the Growth Studio funds and scales it, FactoryX proves it in industry, and the Founders Club opens global markets.

• AI Entrepreneurs Lab (open now) activates new founders and early teams. The strongest go on to receive prizes and progress into the AI Growth Studio, and the most promising are invited into the Founders Club, whether or not they win a prize.
• Growth Studio is the central venture-building engine, scaling the strongest early ventures with €100k-€200k tickets for pre-Series A core AI and robotics companies.
• FactoryX (opening Autumn 2026) brings startups together with industrial partners in co-funded consortium projects to validate advanced solutions in real operational settings. Its innovation owners feed into the Growth Studio.
• Founders Club connects Europe's top founders - many drawn from the Growth Studio and the Lab - to capital, corporates and global markets. More info at ai.eitcommunity.eu/ai-founders-club.

Both the AI Entrepreneurs Lab and FactoryX therefore act as complementary entry points into the same pipeline - one bringing in new founders at the idea stage, the other bringing research-industry consortia at the validation stage - with the Growth Studio as the shared engine that scales what comes through.

Turning Europe's regulatory leadership into an advantage

The EIT AI & Robotics Community treats Europe's regulatory leadership as a competitive edge rather than a constraint, helping founders build trustworthy, compliant-by-design AI and robotics from the outset. For AI, that means designing to meet the EU AI Act from day one; for robotics, it means preparing for the regulatory frameworks that govern intelligent machines, such as the EU Machinery Regulation, which explicitly addresses AI-enabled machinery. This work aligns with EU priorities including the Apply AI Strategy, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) and the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy.

About the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) strengthens Europe's ability to innovate by bringing together business, education and research to develop solutions to global challenges, nurture entrepreneurial talent and create sustainable growth. The EIT is a body of the European Union and an integral part of Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.