We want to promote innovation across borders; helping bring new products to new markets, accelerating the adoption of health products, services and concepts and, ultimately, improving the lives of citizens in Europe and beyond.
EIT Health Bridgehead: Take your healthcare business abroad
EIT Health’s Bridgehead programme brings together European health entrepreneurs who want to grow their business beyond their home market with the world’s top incubators and accelerators who have the expertise and resources to make it happen.
We help match your scale-up with an incubator or accelerator from EIT Health’s approved network – we call these organisations our Catalysers. Together, you will plan how to access new markets quickly and decisively, tap into local networks of partners and clients, access infrastructure and understand new regulatory systems. You’ll be given the seasoned expertise, insight and support needed to help realise your business ambitions.
If your company has a focus on active ageing, this year you will also have the opportunity to enter into the 2022 Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards, a global innovation competition founded by the United States National Academy of Medicine (NAM) aiming to extend health later in life.
Applications closed on 14 March 2022.
Our vision
Our programmes
Bridgehead offers you three different options to apply for:
BRIDGEHEAD EUROPE
Driving the expansion of your scale-up venture from one European market into another through partners with local knowledge
BRIDGEHEAD GLOBAL
Helping you expand your European health scale-up to markets, outside of Europe such as the US, Canada, China, Japan and South Korea amongst others
BRIDGEHEAD INBOUND
Supporting non-European ventures gain access to the European market
Why get involved
FLEXIBLE
Using our matchmaking process, choose where to work and with which Catalyser to best achieve your goals
TAILOR-MADE
Make the most of a bespoke, personalised service created for you to work in partnership with our Catalysers
SOFT-LANDING
A unique opportunity to be introduced to potential partners and access expert knowledge of the local health ecosystem in participating countries
RESULTS-ORIENTED
Progress with setting up local sales teams, getting distribution agreement signed-off, developing pricing strategies and more
FUNDING
A grant of €30,000 (Europe) or €40,000 (Global) to use with our network of handpicked and trusted Catalysers
GLOBAL COMPETITION
If selected present your innovation at the NAM Annual Summit and compete for up to $1M USD in awards
UNIQUE ECOSYSTEM
Embed and raise the visibility of your scale-up in a unique and vibrant EIT Health ecosystem of more than 140 partners
How Bridgehead works
Our Catalysers
EUROPEAN CATALYSERS
Accelerators, incubators and clusters with a proven track record in building, accelerating and scaling-up healthcare companies.
The experts connect industries, corporates, entrepreneurs, specialists, commercial partners and mentors to provide unique access to knowledge, infrastructure and resources to accelerate growth across an interconnected continent.
GLOBAL CATALYSERS
An EIT Health-vetted network of committed European partners strongly networked and operating within markets outside of Europe.
The experts offer the same level of enthusiastic and engaged collaboration and support with the difference of providing the opportunity to expand into global markets including the USA, Canada, Israel, China, Japan and others.
Catalysers Catalogue
Each of our Catalysers have unique expertise and experience. You can find out more about each of them and where they operate in our Catalysers Catalogue. Here you can find the 2021 edition of the catalogue. We will soon update this with the 2022 catalysers.
DownloadWho should apply?
To qualify for Bridgehead Europe or Global, your company must:
- Be registered in Europe
- Sell a product or services in at least one market in Europe and be ready to open up a new market
- Deliver innovative, transformative products or services in biotech, medtech or digital health
- Have fewer than 250 full time employees
For companies registered outside of Europe, to successfully qualify for Bridgehead Inbound your company must:
- Be registered outside Europe
- Sell your product or services in at least one market outside Europe and be ready to open up a new market in Europe
- Deliver innovative, transformative products or services in biotech, medtech or digital health
- Have fewer than 250 full time employees
Please note: To be eligible for the NAM Catalyst Award competition, your innovation should focus on innovative ideas that fit the Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge objectives. Companies applying to Bridgehead Inbound are not eligible for the Catalyst Awards of the NAM Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge.
Financial obligations
Bridgehead Europe and Global: There is a 6% success fee of your company’s revenue in the new market, capped at three times the amount of the grant amount or three years after completing the programme, whichever comes first.
Bridgehead Inbound: Once you are selected, you will need to cover a participation fee of €500 and the cost of your soft-landing services. Those costs depend on the services requested by you and delivered by the Catalyser(s) of your choice but should amount to a total of €10,000.
"Going after the German healthcare market is tough. That's why having EIT Health to support you with best-in-class market experts, like Medical Valley, makes things easier. They helped us a lot with application support, the introduction to hospitals and KOLs, and great support with our economic budget impact strategy."
Camil Moldoveanu
CEO & Co-Founder, Re.flex Knee OA
"Thanks to the support of EIT Health and Medical Valley, we were able to detect and execute on an opportunity in the US market and use the Bridgehead Global program to obtain the 'FDA Breakthrough Device Designation' for our medical device. This is a huge step for MOWOOT towards the US market"
Dr. Markus Wilhelms, PhD
CEO & Co-founder, MOWOOT
"We are very satisfied with the results from Bridgehead. We have gained very valuable insights into our target markets, and were able to identify KOL and Stakeholers, which we can build on."
Jaume Puig
CEO and Co-founder, Biel Glasses
"Bridgehead enabled us to focus on the development of our business in the innovative South Korean market. We initiated contacts with KOL and stakeholders that will enable us to have a smooth access to the market and raise awareness of our product"
Celia Belline
CEO and Founder, CILcare
"Without Bridgehead we would have not made contact with key players in the UK market, in addition to the preparation for growth in the US. The programme has given greater credibility to our product offering and we have been in contact with senior officials in organisations that we would have not known they existed."
Mike Redford, MBA
CEO, Add Movement AB
"Bridgehead was a new experience for us. We met a lot of interesting people, made some contacts with which we could reach out if needed. It was really inspiring and motivating to get out there to the world."
Kristina Laukaitytė
Project manager, OpenG: EMS Software
“Bridgehead opens doors – giving you access to the right people and right organisations who can have the biggest impact in developing a market entry plan for a new market.”
Dr. Aida Nazarikhorram
Co-founder and CCO, Lux AI
“Through the collaboration with EIT Health's Bridgehead programme, our company was able to scale up and investigate the Dutch market in depth and to make plans for collaboration with potential partners.”
Nikolay Todorov
Marketing and Customer Relations Director, Smart Sort
Want to find out more?
If you have questions about the EIT Health Bridgehead, we can help you. Reach out to a member of our team in your region who can guide you in your entrepreneurship journey at EIT Health.
You can also watch our informational webinar to hear from programme organisers and alumni.
Ready to apply?
Applying is simple. All you need to do is submit an application through our portal by the deadline. Get your company’s information ready as you’ll need it to apply.
Applications for the 2022 programme are now closed.
