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During the EIT Roundtable of Entrepreneurs Richard Pelly, CEO of the European Investment Fund, and Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT ICT Labs, signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) to jointly boost the access to finance for European SMEs and start-ups. The collaboration will connect the EIF financing instruments to the EIT ICT Labs business acceleration activities. 

Key ingredients of the collaboration are connecting the EIF supported financial community to the  EIT  ICT Labs innovation ecosystem, joint raising of fund capital, and joint development of future early stage financing instruments. It is generally accepted that Europe needs to strengthen its investment instruments compared to other parts of the world and this collaboration is an important step to make that happen. 

"I am very happy to sign this MoC after the intensive preparation work of both the EIF and the EIT ICT Labs team. Today we have made a significant step for the start-ups and SMEs in the EIT ICT Labs ecosystem, since they are important drivers of innovation and access to finance is crucial for their development" says Willem Jonker. Richard Pelly added "We are delighted to demonstrate through this MoC our commitment to improve the availability of early stage finance for innovation in Europe. EIF is now a confirmed partner with the EIT through EIT ICT Labs".

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