Got a Deep Tech Innovation? 28DIGITAL Wants to Put It to the Test

The Co-Creation Accelerator pairs early-stage ventures with industry partners to validate technology — and backs them with up to €250,000 to make it happen.

28DIGITAL has launched the Co-Creation Accelerator 2026-2027, a program built for one specific type of founder: someone who has working technology and needs industry behind them to prove it.

The premise is straightforward. Early-stage deep tech startups are matched with established corporate partners around concrete challenges. Over four months, they co-develop solutions together — with real access to data, expertise, and operational context that most startups can't get on their own. The goal is to exit the program with validated technology, a stronger product-market fit, and the foundation of a real commercial relationship.

Selected startups receive up to €250,000 with no co-investment required, plus mentorship, expert training through 28DIGITAL's SpeedMaster and MentorMe programs, and visibility across a network of over 270 European partners spanning industry, investment, and academia. In exchange, 28DIGITAL takes a small equity stake.

The program offers two ways for startups to participate.

If you don't yet have a corporate partner, you can apply to the Industry Challenge Track — where 28DIGITAL has already developed a set of defined challenges with industry, all reflecting real business needs ready to be addressed.

If you do have a corporate partner in mind, the Open Challenge Track lets you apply jointly, defining the challenge together. Either way, the focus is the same: building something that matters to industry, not just something that looks good in a pitch deck.

Challenges must connect to one of three areas where 28DIGITAL focuses its bets: deep technologies (AI, robotics, advanced computing), digital security and dual-use applications, and the sustainable digital transition.

The program is designed for early-stage digital startups — small teams, incorporated within the last five years, with a working prototype already validated in a controlled setting. You need to be operating past proof-of-concept. If you're still in the idea phase, this isn't the right fit.

Teams must be based in the EU or a Horizon Europe-associated country, and should have clear ownership of their core technology.

The Co-Creation Accelerator is part of a broader program stack that supports founders from their first idea through to international growth — making 28DIGITAL one of the few European institutions that can genuinely accompany a venture for the long term.

As 28DIGITAL’s CEO, Federico Menna, points out, "For fifteen years we've been building the connections between research, industry, and capital that deep tech ventures need to scale. The Co-Creation Accelerator puts all of that to work at the moment it matters most: when a startup has something real but needs the right partners to prove it."

The application deadline is 8 September 2026. Selected startups begin the program on 16 November. A public information webinar runs on 16 July at 15:00 CEST — worth attending if you're considering applying.

Full details at 28digital.eu/co-creation-accelerator-2026-2027.