EIT Digital Summer Schools 2026

This summer, 7 summer schools will be held at locations throughout Europe, during which students and external attendees immerse themselves in real business cases originating from EIT Digital’s accelerators, startups and network of industrial partners.

Summer School Designed for Success

• 2 weeks of intensive workshops
• 7 programmes in digital innovation and entrepreneurship
• Learn from the faculty and staff of our top tech EU partner universities
• Gain hands-on experience through company cases, project work and collaboration
• Earn 4 ECTS credits for your final report (optional)
• Have fun meeting and networking with like-minded students from around the world
• Competitively priced tuition

THE 5 MAIN REASONS TO CHOOSE THE EIT DIGITAL SUMMER SCHOOLS

• Best Portfolio of Deep-Tech Topics: EIT Digital offers a portfolio of programmes to deepdive in emerging digital technologies and learn how to turn technology into business. Each Summer School programme is themed around major societal and industrial challenges in the global digital economy: Digital Cities, Digital Finance, Digital Industry, Digital Tech and Digital Wellbeing.
• Real-World Business Cases: Summer Schools programmes are held at several locations throughout Europe, during which participants immerse themselves in real business case studies originating from our EIT Digital extensive ecosystem made of accelerators, startups and network of industrial partners.
• Community and Ecosystem: Participants will work with the international, high-skilled, cohort of students from the EIT Digital Master School coming from 18 partner universities and 9 EU member states, all of which are academic leaders in the delivery of technical, and innovation and entrepreneurship education. External participants come from various backgrounds, including other students, Ph.D. candidates, and working professionals.
• First Step to Launch Your Own Startup: Participants learn how to develop and evaluate different business models and are challenged by delivering and pitching their ideas. For participants willing to scale their proposal and bring it to the next level, a startup pitch competition will be organized in October. The winner will receive a cash prize up to €5000 to scale the startup and will be considered to join the EIT Digital Innovation Factory.
• Teambuilding Fun! In addition to learning and mastering their innovation and entrepreneurial skills, our participants enjoy many team building activities. Working in teams, forging bonds, and networking with likeminded individuals, are an essential part of our programmes. Activities vary from location to location, such as boat trips, zip-lines, sightseeing tours, etc. Further details are omitted, not to spoil the surprise!

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

OUR SYNTHESISING APPROACH TO APPLIED LEARNING IS PART OF WHAT MAKES US STAND OUT

Each Summer School programme consists of a pre-arrival online assignment (starter kit), two weeks of lectures, project work, customer interviews, site visits to companies, socializing events and a pitch competition.

• Starter Kit: You will receive a starter kit about a month prior to the Summer School. It contains an assignment on business modelling methods and tools. The assignment will take you about eight hours to complete and it should be completed one week prior to the start of the Summer School. The starter kit contains online lessons in innovation and entrepreneurship. The starter kit is meant to level of knowledge of all participants. So when the Summer School starts, you can speed up starting from a similar level as all other participants.  
• Two-Week Summer School: In the two-week Summer School programmes, you will be introduced to the state-of-the-art technologies, you will meet other professionals and be amongst technology-savvy master students. The programme consists of focused lectures and keynotes by academics and practitioners, project work, company visits, customer interviews, and social events. Some of the lectures are oriented to developing your soft skills as well. You will have pitching classes and experienced coaches help you to get out of your comfort zone. An important aspect of the summer school is the interaction with companies and entrepreneurs. You get insights into how the local industry is working on digital transformation or making the new business. Alongside the hard work, each summer school is hosting social activities to enable you to build a firm international network.  
• Business Case: During the two-week Summer School, participants immerse themselves in real business case studies originating from accelerators, startups and our network of 200+ industrial partners. You will work in teams and will be supported by coaches to crack these business cases. Eventually, you and your team will be able to incubate an innovative product or startup. Each team will present their solution on the final day of the Summer School and the jury will appoint one winning team.
• Report: An individual final Report will be completed within 2 weeks after summer school. This is a requirement for gaining the 4 ECTS credits.
• After Summer School: Pitch Competition: For those teams willing to scale their proposal and bring it to the next level, a startup pitch competition will be organized around October. Selected teams will deliver a project/execution plan on how to continue with their initiative in front of a business panel. The winning team will receive a cash prize up to € 5000 to scale the startup and will be considered to join the EIT Digital Innovation Factory.