The Rise Europe Startup–Corporate Collaboration Playbook

At HighTechXL, our mission has always been to turn breakthrough technologies into high-impact startups that solve complex societal challenges. Today, we are proud to announce that our venture-building model is being shared with the broader European ecosystem as a featured best practice in the newly released RiseEurope Playbook: Startup-Corporate Collaboration Blueprint.

A Blueprint for European Innovation

Developed by Rise Europe, an alliance of 20 leading innovation hubs across 14 countries—this playbook serves as a practical guide to powering Europe’s new economy. It highlights how the agility of startups can be combined with the resources and market reach of established corporates to strengthen European technological sovereignty.

The HighTechXL Approach: Venture Building

The playbook provides a deep dive into our Deep Tech Venture Builder Program here in Eindhoven. It explores how we act as a critical intermediary, bridging the gap between research institutions like CERN, ESA, and TNO and the commercial market.

By assembling high-performing founding teams around protected intellectual property, we provide a structured, one-year path to market readiness. Our success is reflected in the numbers:

• 102 ventures created.
• €171M raised in funding.
• 3,000+ new jobs generated.

Proven Success Stories

The playbook features several of our success stories that illustrate this model in action:

• Aircision: Utilizing laser technology from CERN and TNO to create secure, high-capacity wireless communication.
• InPhocal: Transforming concentric laser beam technology from CERN into industrial-scale marking solutions.
• Veridis: Developing thermal analysis technology to solve critical bottlenecks in plastic recycling.

Strategic Synergy with Industry Leaders

A key highlight of the playbook is our strategic alliance with ASML. Since 2015, ASML has been a cornerstone partner, contributing expertise from its pool of over 25,000 employees to support our startups. This collaboration serves as a “blueprint for deep tech synergy,” showing how corporates can gain early exposure to breakthrough technologies while strengthening the regional innovation ecosystem.

7 Guiding Principles for Success

Beyond our specific case study, the playbook distills seven guiding principles for successful collaboration, such as maintaining founder-led agility, establishing clear shared value propositions, and leveraging physical proximity to build trust.

We invite all innovation hubs, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs to use this playbook as a catalyst for strengthening their own collaboration efforts.