The European Investment Bank will allocate EUR 70 billion to finance new technologies under the TechEU program, EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska told PAP. She added that the money will be spent by the end of 2027 and will be available to, among others, startups.
Czerwińska was a guest at the European Industry Days, which took place on Thursday and Friday in Jasionka near Rzeszów.
In an interview with PAP, the EIB vice-president emphasized that the new TechEU program is intended to finance new technologies. She noted that this concerns new technologies in various areas.
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“Both in the areas of clean energy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, robotics or quantum computers and many, many others. Through these EUR 70 billion, also involving private capital, we want to mobilise as much as EUR 250 billion of new investments in European technologies,” she said.
All entrepreneurs who conduct highly innovative activities can apply for funding.
As Czerwińska pointed out, these can be startups, developing companies, but also entrepreneurs who are already looking for capital for further development.
“TechEU is a support program from the startup level to the IPO, i.e. the first public issue and raising capital on the financial market,” she said.
According to the EIB vice-president, there is a gap in the EU when it comes to financing scale-up companies, i.e. those that are no longer start-ups and are looking for money to grow.
“As the EIB Group, we are able to offer financial instruments that can successfully finance this stage of development of companies that need capital to continue to grow,” she said.
As announced by the EIB vice-president, a platform will also be created as part of the TechEU programme, where companies looking for capital for development will be able to present themselves.
“We see that this is missing in the EU. We want to do this to encourage private capital to enter into such initiatives. This platform will also be a source of information for investors, so that one can simply enter and see where one can currently invest without any barriers, without any problems,” Czerwińska noted.
The EIB also plans to create an exit platform for investors – this is to be an instrument for exiting investments. As the EIB vice-president explained in an interview with PAP, thanks to this, the initial capital invested in developing companies will circulate and can be used to finance subsequent ventures.
“This capital invested in a given project should be resold on the exit platform after some time and reinvested. The Nasdaq stock exchange plays this type of role in the US. We want to create something similar in the EU,” said Czerwińska.
As assured by the EIB Vice-President, the applications that entrepreneurs will have to submit to benefit from the TechEU programme will be simplified as much as possible.
Through TechEU, the EIB wants to reach 1,000 innovative companies per year. (PAP)
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