The first Innovation Exchange, in 2025, was powered by the EIT Community Office, funded by the European Union. Here's what the office did while HATCH housed it, and how it helped the Exchange get started.
What the EIT Community Office did
The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) is an EU body that brings business, research and education together to strengthen Europe's ability to innovate. Much of its work runs through Knowledge and Innovation Communities: Europe-wide partnerships that each focus on one challenge area, such as climate, energy, health, food, manufacturing, digital or urban mobility.
The EIT Community Office connected Maltese founders, researchers and organisations with those communities, and with the opportunities they offer in education, business creation and innovation.
What it made possible
The clearest example is The Innovation Exchange 2025. The EIT Community Office powered it, and ran the exploratory workshops with BusinessLabs and HATCH. A European network and a local incubator worked on the same question: what helps innovation in Malta, and what holds it back?
The EIT in the room. The EIT's Head of Operations joined the opening ceremony, and EIT Community Officer Diana Miceli opened each of the day's three parts.
A method that joined Europe and Malta. The exploratory workshops paired EIT innovation community areas with Malta Vision 2050 pillars, so European expertise met local priorities.
Startups on stage. Six urban mobility startups gave live demos alongside the EIT Urban Mobility solution showcase, facilitated by Malta Accelerate.
An address at the Villa Arrigo podium during the opening.
What comes next
HATCH has since stepped back from the office contract to focus on other areas of its work. The Innovation Exchange carries on: in October 2026, HATCH organised an Innovation Exchange panel at the Urban Mobility Mixer, and the next edition is in November 2027, with exact dates and venue to be announced. Explore The Innovation Exchange.
