The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), together with Xjenza Malta, has launched the EIT Regional Innovation Booster in Malta during an event held at the Esplora Planetarium Hall in Kalkara. The programme is designed to support high-potential startups in expanding into international markets whilst helping to strengthen innovation ecosystems in emerging and moderate innovator countries across Europe. Malta is the second country to join the initiative, following a successful pilot in Poland in 2025.

The EIT Regional Innovation Booster is a flagship pilot initiative that addresses Europe’s innovation gap by providing tailored support to startups with strong commercialisation potential. The Malta edition focuses on startups with solutions at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 or higher across sectors including climate, culture and creativity, digital, energy, food and agritech, healthcare, raw materials and urban mobility.

In his opening remarks, Dr Melchior Cini, Director of R&I at Xjenza Malta, said that, “Malta is actively shaping its future as a hub for innovation, entrepreneurship and talent-driven growth. This requires creating the right pathways for researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to transform knowledge into applicable solutions, sustainable enterprises and scalable opportunities.”

Addressing the conference, Adam Rottenbacher, Head of Operations at the EIT, remarked that, “This is not just another accelerator, but a scheme co-created with national partners to tackle the real needs of local innovation ecosystems. Europe doesn’t lack innovation – it lacks scale. With the EIT Regional Innovation Booster, we help startups move faster from strong ideas to real market presence. Malta shows how smaller ecosystems can play a big role when given the right tools, connections and locally grounded support to grow internationally.”

The programme will support startups through a structured scale-up process focused on market readiness, internationalisation and investor access. Participants will receive mentoring, strategic guidance, networking opportunities and access to the wider EIT innovation network. Selected startups may also qualify for financial support to assist with commercial expansion and market entry.

Through the Xjenza Malta Go To Market Programme, startups may also benefit from the Malta Development Bank’s (MDB) Loan Assistance Scheme, implemented with Xjenza Malta. The scheme facilitates access to blended finance through commercial banks, with MDB providing up to 80% guarantee on eligible loans to help innovative startups commercialise their solutions. Additional support includes interest rate subsidies and measures to aid the beneficiary with any upfront contributions and collateral required by the bank.

Eligible applicants must be SMEs legally registered and operating in Malta before the launch of the call, applying as a single entity, with a solution at TRL 7 or higher and ownership of, or full rights to exploit, the intellectual property.

The call for applications opens on 14 May 2026 and closes on 15 July 2026 at 23:59 CEST. Applications must be submitted in English through the online application form. More information about the programme is available here: https://eit-ris.eu/regional-innovation-booster/

The EIT Regional Innovation Booster forms part of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS), launched in 2014 to improve innovation performance in countries classified as emerging or moderate innovators under the European Innovation Scoreboard.