Today, we are thrilled and extremely proud to announce that vorteX-io is among the 32 laureates, from 14 European countries, of the prestigious European Innovation Council (EIC) award.
This represents a major milestone for vorteX-io, which is now officially recognized as a leading European company in the field of hydrology.
The EIC Accelerator Program
EIC Accelerator is a European Union funding program that aims to support innovative start-ups and SMEs in Europe. It is managed by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises (EASME) on behalf of the European Commission.
The program provides non-repayable funding of up to €2.5 million to support the development of innovative products and services, with the aim of helping companies grow in the European and global market.
To be eligible for EIC funding, candidate companies and startups must demonstrate a high degree of innovation, scalability, and potential for impact. The companies must present projects that have a high commercial potential and have already been validated in the market.
The application process is competitive and involves several stages of evaluation and selection by a panel of experts.
The EIC focuses on supporting disruptive innovations in key areas such as health, digital technology and environment. It aims to help European companies compete globally and contribute to the EU’s economic growth and competitiveness.
- 476 applications submitted from all over Europe
- 159 applications pre-selected for the oral presentation phase
- 32 winning companies from 14 European countries
- 2 French winning companies (including vorteX-io)
The WHYLD project
Beyond the strong recognition that this award represents, the associated 2.5M€ grant will allow vorteX-io to accelerate the deployment of its WHYLD project (Worldwide Hydrological Large-Scale Database) throughout Europe.
We will complete this ambitious project by breaking it down into 2 distinct phases. The first is to deploy 1,000 innovative hydrological micro-stations on rivers in France and Croatia over the next two years.
Then, during the following year, the second phase of the project will consist of installing 2,000 additional micro-stations to reach the number of 3,000 in situ sensors across the entire European territory.
To achieve this, the EIC Accelerator funding will soon be complemented by a fundraising campaign.
The WHYLD project represents a major step towards our goal of creating the first hydrological database at the European level.
A hydrological network with a European focus.
Regarding the management of hydrological data, and as you may already know, in addition to the data from our own network, our online platform Maelstrom® continues to integrate data from in-situ sensors of the main European public networks.
It is precisely this unique in the market hybrid approach of “field sensors + online services”, that has been recognized and validated by the European Commission as particularly relevant and adapted to current environmental issues.
Conclusion
The grant provided by the EIC Accelerator will be a crucial foundation for making our new generation of innovative and intelligent services a reference solution for large-scale hydrology.
In the coming years, our services will enable us to address, at a governmental level, the major societal challenges related to the sustainable management of water resources and the prevention of floods and droughts.
In particular, the WHYLD project will provide a solid foundation to contribute to the “Early Warnings For All Initiative” officially launched by the United Nations in November 2022 at the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh.
Of course, we will keep you informed of the progress of this beautiful project.
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