​​The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator invites business partnerships to apply to its open call #5. Partnerships must involve a corporate entity facing a digital challenge and a startup or SME developing a solution to address it.    

• ​For open call #5, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator opens a new opportunity area: sustainable mobility. However, applications from all industries are welcome.    

• ​EU-LAC partnerships must include at least one corporate and one startup from two of the following regions: the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean.     

• ​Selected candidates will receive acceleration services valued at up to €30,000 (€40,000 if a Caribbean partner is involved), organised around three pillars: proof of concept, business case, and investment and scaling.  

Corporates and startups look for each other, but don’t know how to make it work 

According to the MIT Sloane Management Review, 7 out of 10 corporate-startup collaborations fail to achieve the expected results. A wide range of factors can explain this high failure rate: misaligned cultures and objectives, limited flexibility in the corporate’s legacy systems, lack of product validation, etc. ​  

​Through a dedicated corporate-startup acceleration programme, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator supports international partnerships from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean to achieve their digital innovation goals.  

​“Startups allow corporates to explore innovative solutions to their unsolved needs and problems. They provide unique insights that have not been considered or tested. It ultimately has a real impact on the profit and loss statement, generating new revenue streams or saving costs.”  Miguel Rodríguez, Open Innovation Consultant, EU-LAC Digital Accelerator

Open call #5 at a glance 

​Open call #5 for corporate-startup partnerships is open from 6 February 2026 to 12 June 2026.   

​​Applying partnerships must include: 

1. A corporate facing a product or process-related challenge.   
2. A​ startup or SME providing a digital solution to this challenge

​Applying partnerships must be located in distinct regions (either the European Union, Latin America, or the Caribbean). ​For example, a Caribbean startup can only apply alongside a European or Latin American corporate entity.  ​  

​To help corporates and startups without a partner find an innovation partner, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator has launched a matching platform.  ​  

​With over 40 corporate challenges and close to 1,900 startups willing to bring their digital expertise, the matching platform has grown into a robust marketplace where corporates and startups can connect and agree on a partnership before applying together to the open call.  

Once selected, partnerships will receive tailored acceleration services 

Taking a close look at the common challenges corporates and startups face when they work together, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator designed a 6-month¹ acceleration programme with a dozen acceleration services around three pillars:  

• Proof of concept: Validate the tech feasibility of the solution and ensure it answers a real need. 
• ​Business case: Build a business model that generates revenue and establish a winning international global expansion strategy.  
• ​Investment & Scaling: Produce and sell at scale, and position the partnership to attract investment to improve the newly built solution.

In a matter of months, through a supervised collaboration process, corporate-startup partnerships can bring a solution closer to commercialisation, whereas without supervision, such a process can take years and offer a lower likelihood of success. 

Up to €10,500 in grants for startups to support proof-of-concept development and execution  

A proof of concept is an essential line on a startup’s resume for long-term collaboration with corporates. 

It validates technical feasibility before investing further into a prototype and, at a later stage, an MVP. 

The proof-of-concept service is the most popular offering for corporate-startup partnerships. For this reason, the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator unlocked grants of up to €10,500 per startup:  

• 7,000 for proof-of-concept development.  
• ​Up to €2,000 to travel to the corporate’s premises to run a proof of concept experiment.  
• ​Up to €1,500 to transport the necessary equipment to test the solution.  

Startups can check their eligibility and apply for the grant by contacting their assigned mentor at the beginning of the programme.  ​  

​The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator has already onboarded 45 corporate-startup partnerships  

‘’We applied because the EU-LAC programme provides the right framework to validate our technology in real regional contexts, while enabling us to advance our PoC in a structured, focused, and impact-driven way.’’  Morten Wolter, CEO at Wimesa  

More than 45 corporate-startup partnerships have either completed the acceleration programme or are currently participating in it. Interested corporates and startups can review the product and market impact delivered by the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator, with more than 20 case studies published on the accelerator’s website under the Success stories page.  

Partnerships can submit their application form in 10 minutes via the open call page, where they can also download the “Guidelines for Applicants,” which detail, in particular, eligibility requirements and evaluation criteria.