EU Digital Europe Programme

Building a European EdTech accelerator.

EkoHacks is forming a consortium to bid for the Digital Europe Programme EdTech accelerator call. We are looking for three partner organisations, each in a different EU or associated country, to apply with us before the 1 October 2026 deadline.

Join the consortium Read the call on the EU Portal

€2.7M

Grant, 100% funded

36 mo

Project duration

Partners, 4+ countries

20+

Startups funded via open calls

Cohorts and open calls

The opportunity

An accelerator for European EdTech

The winning consortium will build and operate an EdTech accelerator that selects, mentors, pilots and scales European EdTech startups and SMEs. At least 60% of the budget is passed directly to those startups, up to €150,000 each, through open calls, as financial support to third parties (FSTP).

The programme puts a strong focus on the ethical use of generative AI in education, in line with the GenAI4EU initiative, and on extended reality. It is a Coordination and Support Action under the call DIGITAL-2026-SKILLS-10-EDTECH, funded at 100% with no co financing required.

Partners we are looking for

Three roles complete the consortium

EkoHacks covers the technical and pedagogical core. The roles below complete the rest, and we welcome additional technical and software companies who want to collaborate.

Coordinator, priority

Accelerator or innovation operator

Runs the programme operations and manages the cascade funding passed to startups: open calls, compliance, transparency and reporting. Prior EU FSTP or accelerator experience is essential, and a natural candidate to lead the consortium.

Evidence and pilots

Education or research institution

Designs the pilots in real educational settings and collects the quantitative and qualitative evidence on usability and learning impact. A university, research institute or education network with reach into schools, vocational training and lifelong learning.

Go to market

Market or investor network

Leads the go to market work after piloting: investor readiness, navigating procurement, matchmaking events and connections to buyers and capital. A venture fund, business network or scale up agency.

Already on the team

EkoHacks, the technical anchor

EkoHacks is a working software engineering studio and a coding institute, teaching professional engineering through real projects. In the consortium it owns the acceleration curriculum, hands on technical mentoring, technical due diligence in selection, build and integration support for the pilots, and AI and XR engineering support.

See how we build and how we teach.

Technical and software companies

The call actively encourages companies to join. If you build software, AI or XR and want to mentor cohort startups, help run expert clinics or add technical depth, there is room to collaborate alongside the core roles.

Other relevant partners

NGOs, public bodies and education or training providers are also encouraged. If your organisation can strengthen the programme or its European reach, we would like to hear from you.

Why join

A funded vehicle to grow European EdTech

Fully funded participation

Your work in the project is reimbursed at 100%, with no co financing.

European reach and visibility

A flagship Digital Europe project, with annual events and outputs published on the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform.

Deal flow and network

Direct access to more than 20 vetted EdTech startups and a pan European network of ministries, institutions and investors.

Clear, complementary roles

Each partner owns a clear work package, with balanced effort and budget.

Practical details

What we ask, and the timeline

We ask each partner to

Be a validated legal entity in an eligible EU or associated country.
Register in the EU Participant Register early, validation can take weeks.
Co author the work package section of the proposal that you will own.
Confirm interest by early July 2026, so we can finalise the consortium and budget.

Key dates

Now to early July 2026: Confirm partners, agree roles and the budget split
July to September 2026: Co write the proposal, register and validate all entities
1 October 2026: Submission deadline, 17:00 Brussels time
December 2026: Evaluation results
February 2027: Grant agreement signature, project start

Interested in joining?

Get in touch to discuss your role, work package and budget. We are happy to share the full proposal outline and answer your questions.

Start the conversation See how we build