3 September marked a major celebration for the EIC Scaling Club, bringing together member companies to the Ambition Forum for a chance to connect in person, network, share knowledge, and highlight each other’s milestones and achievements.
The Club's third Forum took place in Riga, the still sunny and green capital of Latvia, gathering around 200 participants from across Europe at the historic University of Latvia building. The program featured contributions from senior policymakers and leaders, reflecting the event’s relevance on a European level, with speakers including:
Attendees had the opportunity to meet in person the evening before at the kick-off Riga Welcome Reception, hosted by LIAA in the historic and strikingly beautiful Mazā Ģilde [Small Guild] building.
Opened by the mayor of Riga, Viesturs Kleinbergs, together with Stéphane Ouaki and Ieva Jāgere, the event gave a lively and heartfelt welcome to all participants who had come to Riga for the Ambition Forum.
The main day of the Ambition Forum on 3 September opened with an inspiring kickoff, setting the tone for a day of learning and sharing. After insightful opening speeches in the University of Latvia’s Main Hall, several company scaling success stories were showcased on the main stage, featuring Club members such as PLD Space, Vivici, sensiBel, and Kezzler.
After the opening session and a networking break, the Ambition Forum moved into four interactive workshops, where participants could choose the topics most relevant to their current challenges. Sessions ranged from Effective Board Management and Market Traction & Growth to Overcoming Scaling Production Bottlenecks and Enhancing Company Visibility.
The networking lunch offered not only excellent food but also fresh opportunities for partnerships and connections. Throughout the day, participants had multiple dedicated networking sessions, allowing them to exchange ideas, explore collaborations, and lay the groundwork for future partnerships.
The second part of the event featured high-impact workshops focused on investment and policy. Towards the end of the Forum, experts shared insights on major funding rounds in European deep tech from a lead investor perspective. Several additional Club success stories were also highlighted, including Naco Technologies, H2Site, and Focused Energy.
The Ambition Forum in numbers:
What a day! It’s no wonder the Forum left such a strong impression on participants. We also managed to catch up with some company representatives for video interviews. Here’s what some of them said.
Roope Takala, Chairman & President of Aurora Propulsion Technologies told us that meeting possible future investors was one of his main goals for the Forum, acknowledging the importance of meeting potential partners face to face. He added:
“We have also made some new contacts. We are also trying to find partners in new areas where we haven’t been before. Ambition forum with 12 different industries represented gives a fresh insight into even our own industry.”
Ivar Kruusenberg, CEO & Founder of PowerUP Energy Technologies shared his impressions:
“It’s a successful event. Many people from around Europe are gathered here, in Riga for one event – decision makers, investors, and policy makers from Brussels. For us [who are] working with regulations and trying to solve the resilience challenge of Europe, it’s a perfect event.”
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date!