Up to €60,000 to Run a GenAI Startup Incubation Cycle
The LLM-BRIDGE 2nd Open Call for Incubators will select one organisation from the EU or a Digital Europe Associated Country to design and deliver a 12-week programme for at least 30 early-stage GenAI, LLM and NLP startups, backed by a fixed lump sum of up to €60,000.
About LLM-BRIDGE
LLM-BRIDGE is a Digital Europe Programme project that connects research, innovation and market deployment around Large Language Models (LLMs). It pairs technical excellence (high-performance computing (HPC) resources, data spaces and benchmark infrastructures) with entrepreneurial capacity-building such as venture incubation and acceleration. The aim is an ecosystem that supports LLMs and strengthens Europe’s technological sovereignty and ethical AI leadership. Its work rests on three pillars: infrastructure access, knowledge transfer and ecosystem integration.
These pillars are delivered through three support programmes:
- The Venture Incubation Programme (VIP) validates products and customers, and more than half a million euros will go to selected incubators and startups.
- The Acceleration Programme prepares startups aiming for Series A funding and ends with investor matchmaking.
- The Entrepreneurial Education Programme offers workshops and one-to-one mentoring to pre-seed and seed startups.
About 2nd Open Call for Incubators
This call covers VIP’s second cohort (2027). Each cohort is delivered by a single selected incubator over a 12-week cycle, supporting at least 30 early-stage startups. The call pursues three objectives:
- Accelerate the commercialisation of LLM technologies through mentoring, HPC access, data infrastructure and regulatory guidance.
- Promote responsible AI innovation aligned with the AI Act, the Data Act, GDPR and the EU Digital Decade targets.
- Foster cross-border collaboration and the participation of under-represented regions and groups.
The programme to be delivered moves through onboarding, an acceleration phase with tailored mentoring and business development, and a closing Demo Day and KPI evaluation. The selected incubator is responsible for:
- Programme delivery: running the 12-week cycle with the consortium, including onboarding, weekly mentoring and the final Demo Day, where startups present MVPs to investors and industry.
- Mentoring and capacity building: providing a multidisciplinary pool of mentors, business advisors and AI technical experts.
- Curriculum: delivering modules on entrepreneurial skills, market positioning, user testing, ethical AI design, legal frameworks (AI Act, GDPR, Data Act) and sustainable business models.
- Technical access: facilitating access to data spaces, LLMs and HPC infrastructure together with project partners.
- Monitoring and reporting: tracking milestones and KPIs and feeding into the consortium’s reporting to the European Commission.
- Ecosystem engagement, ethics and visibility: connecting startups with researchers, investors and industry, ensuring ethical and data-protection compliance, and promoting LLM-BRIDGE.
Activities can run on site, online or hybrid. Note that the funding does not cover travel and accommodation for the startups.
Why apply to the 2nd Open Call for Incubators
The grant is a lump-sum of up to €60,000 to deliver the programme. It can cover staff, mentoring, management, travel, communication and reporting costs.
Payment is performance-based and released in two stages:
- 40% (up to €24,000) at contract signature and approval of the implementation plan, including the onboarding plan.
- 60% (up to €36,000) after the final report is accepted, at least 30 startups have been incubated, at least seven of the eight other performance indicators are met, and mandatory compliance is fulfilled.
The final payment requires 80% or more of the quantitative KPIs (incubated startups, mentoring and training satisfaction, validation of MVPs, investment-readiness, investor interest, events and visibility actions) to be achieved. The 30-startup minimum is a hard condition: falling short blocks the final payment until remedied.
Who can apply?
The call is aimed at incubators, which includes VCs, accelerators, innovation consultancies, and business and technology parks, among others. Applicants must meet all of these conditions:
- Be a legal entity established in an EU Member State or a Digital Europe Associated Country.
- Have at least three years of experience in startup incubation, preferably in AI, NLP or deep tech, with demonstrable experience incubating deep-tech startups.
- Show the operational and financial capacity to run an intensive 12-week programme for multiple startups, including qualified mentors, facilities, networks and digital infrastructure, and the ability to tailor services while meeting the KPIs.
How to apply to the 2nd Open Call for Incubators
Proposals are submitted electronically only, through the online application form on the LLM-BRIDGE website. The template has three parts:
- A mandatory cover page with organisation details, the funding requested, a one-sentence organisation profile and declarations.
- Six questions covering relevance, track record, networks and access, adaptability, the monitoring framework and cost effectiveness.
- A budget summary by category: programme management, mentoring and experts, events and Demo Day, and reporting and coordination.
Important dates
- 28 September 2026: call opens for submissions
- 28 November 2026, 17:00 CET: submission deadline
- Within 15 working days of closure: ineligible applicants notified by email
- Until end of December 2026: evaluation (eligibility check, independent review, consensus and panel ranking)
- February 2027: results notified by email, with the Evaluation Summary Report
- March 2027: Third-Party Agreement signed with 28DIGITAL (within 15 calendar days of notification of selection)
- April 2027: programme kick-off and onboarding
Proposal requirements
A valid proposal must describe how the incubator will deliver the programme, built around eligible activities:
- Mentoring and training based on startup validation and lean startup principles.
- Incubation modules in the GenAI and LLM domains.
- Access to technical resources and specialist advisory services.
- Monitoring and reporting on startup performance.
- The Demo Day and EU-level dissemination events.
Evaluation and selection process
Proposals go through four stages: eligibility check, independent evaluation, consensus meeting and panel ranking. At least two independent external experts review each eligible proposal and submit signed individual reports. They then agree a consensus score in a meeting, where remote clarification sessions with applicants may be held but proposals cannot be modified after the deadline. A panel of evaluators and consortium representatives then verifies the process and sets the final ranking.
Each criterion is scored from 0 up to its maximum, with the “Good” level set as the minimum threshold (with an overall minimum of 26 points):
- Relevance: 10 points (threshold 6)
- Track record: 8 points (threshold 5)
- Networks and access: 8 points (threshold 5)
- Adaptability: 6 points (threshold 4)
- Monitoring framework: 5 points (threshold 3)
- Cost effectiveness: 5 points (threshold 3)
Additional support beyond funding
The selected incubator is backed by the consortium throughout delivery. After contract signature, a kick-off and onboarding session presents the technical, financial and reporting requirements, aligns mentoring standards and introduces the communication templates, KPI tracking tools and reporting portal.
The consortium also helps arrange access to data spaces, LLM models and HPC infrastructure for the startups, and organises the Demo Day with the incubator. An optional mid-term review offers corrective guidance if needed.
Beneficiaries also get a pipeline of high-potential GenAI startups from across Europe and a network that includes ALT-EDIC, 28DIGITAL, national AI coalitions and major HPC providers. Additionally, results and methodologies developed and used under the project remain the awardee property.
Final thoughts on the 2nd Open Call for Incubators
This call funds an experienced incubator to deliver a well-defined programme, and it comes with EU-level visibility, a curated startup pipeline and access to HPC, data and LLM resources through the consortium. It suits VCs, accelerators, innovation consultancies and business or tech parks with at least three years of incubation track record in AI or deep tech that can reliably recruit and support 30 startups in a 12-week cycle. The payment structure and KPIs are demanding, so a solid monitoring setup and the capacity to deliver on time are necessary.
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LLM-BRIDGE Venture Incubation Programme, 2nd Open Call for Incubators
