On April 2–3, 2025, the European Innovation Council gathered over 1,300 innovators, investors, and policymakers at Tour & Taxis, Brussels for two days of high-stakes workshops, networking, and strategy. The message? We’ve built the early-stage muscle. Now it’s time to scale.
From over €1 billion invested in climate tech to 150+ investment rounds and €1.5 billion in co-investments, the EIC is shaping up to be Europe’s most powerful early-stage investor. But as Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva warned in her keynote—“we cannot afford to hit the pause button.” The real test is whether these startups grow, stay, and thrive in Europe.
Why lomarlabs showed up
Nikol Konstantaropoulou, Legal & Policy Specialist at lomarlabs, joined the Summit to share what it takes to bring innovation from blueprint to deployment.
“We don’t just support innovation—we help steer it.”
In her interview, Nikol laid out the lomarlabs model:
We don’t wait for polished products. We back deep-tech startups early, offer them a safe space to develop their tech in the real world, and deploy on commercial vessels. We provide access to a fleet, data, and—crucially—industry experience and collaboration.
Building trust, breaking barriers
Throughout the summit, one theme kept surfacing: Europe is excellent at turning money into knowledge—but struggles to turn knowledge into market-ready ventures.
That’s where strategic partners like lomarlabs come in. Nikol put it plainly:
“Innovation thrives where there’s mutual trust, a common goal, and very good partners.”
We see EIC as more than a funder—it’s a platform to open doors, test technology in context, and connect startups to stakeholders who matter. But the system still has friction. As highlighted during the Summit’s fireside chat and deep tech panels, many partners across Europe—especially those with infrastructure and deployment capacity—still face barriers when trying to plug in.
That’s not just a missed opportunity. It’s a growth bottleneck.
What’s at stake
- Europe is still losing too many startups to the US and Asia in search of capital, market access, or scale.
- Fragmented regulations across 27 member states make expansion harder than it should be.
- The cultural stigma around failure is holding founders back from experimenting and growing with resilience.
As Carlos Moedas said during the fireside session, we need to “misbehave in the right way”—take risks, rethink regulation, and back ideas that seem too bold at first glance.
At lomarlabs, that’s our core operating mode. We’re proud to be part of an EIC network that dares to think bigger and act faster.
Where we go from here
Scaling Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem doesn’t just mean deploying more capital. It means deploying the right capital with partners who bring more than money.
“We’re not an industry in ourselves,” Nikol said. “We’re a bridge—between maritime know-how, startup innovation, and public funding ecosystems like the EIC.”
If Europe is to become the best place in the world for startups to scale—not just start—we’ll need more of that: bold collaboration, deep alignment, and hands-on execution.
And for us at lomarlabs, it’s only the beginning.
