DUBLIN BUSINESS INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED LBG

Their core work

Dublin Business Innovation Centre (DBIC) is a non-profit business support organisation that helps SMEs and early-stage companies become investment-ready and access funding. Their core work involves coaching entrepreneurs through investor pitch preparation, connecting them to crowdfunding platforms, and guiding them through the fundraising process — including deep-tech SMEs with long commercialisation timelines. In H2020, they contributed their practitioner expertise in SME development to European-scale projects, serving both as a third-party service provider and as a direct project participant. They are part of the pan-European BIC (Business Innovation Centre) network, which gives them reach into SME ecosystems across multiple EU countries.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

DBIC's H2020 participation is compressed into a narrow 2014–2016 window, which limits meaningful trend analysis. Their early project (InvestHorizon) focused on the full investment readiness journey — training, mentoring, pitching, and crowdfunding — aimed broadly at SMEs and small midcaps. The later project (FUNDCELERATOR) narrowed to a specific niche: SMEs with long time-to-market paths, suggesting a move toward more specialised fundraising support rather than generalist coaching. The overall arc is from broad SME enablement to targeted fundraising for hard-to-finance innovation-intensive companies.

DBIC appears to be moving toward specialised support for SMEs with complex funding profiles — particularly those in sectors with long commercialisation timelines — rather than generic startup coaching; however, their H2020 record ends in 2016, so any post-2017 direction is not visible in this dataset.

How they like to work

DBIC never led a project as coordinator — they contributed as a participant or third-party expert, bringing their SME network and business support know-how to consortia designed by others. Their 25 unique partners across 12 countries in just 2 projects suggests they join large, multi-stakeholder initiatives — typical of EBN-connected BICs that aggregate national SME ecosystems into European programmes. Working with them means accessing their practitioner relationships with Irish SMEs and their links to the broader European BIC network, rather than expecting them to drive project management.

DBIC has worked with 25 unique consortium partners spread across 12 countries — a broad European footprint for just two projects, reflecting the collaborative structure typical of BIC-affiliated organisations. Their network is likely skewed toward other innovation agencies, BICs, and SME support bodies across the EU.

What sets them apart

As Dublin's dedicated Business Innovation Centre, DBIC brings a specific and hard-to-replicate asset: direct, operational relationships with Irish SMEs and startups, plus connectivity to the EBN (European Business Network) ecosystem of BICs across the EU. For a consortium that needs to recruit, train, or pilot with real SMEs — particularly in Ireland — DBIC offers a shortcut that no university or research institute can match. Their value is not technical research capacity but trusted access to the SME community and practical knowledge of what prevents small companies from accessing investment.

Highlights from their portfolio

• InvestHorizon
  A pan-European initiative to boost investment readiness across SMEs and small midcaps, where DBIC contributed as a third-party service provider — their most direct expression of core BIC expertise within H2020.
• FUNDCELERATOR
  Addressed the specific funding gap for SMEs with long commercialisation paths (e.g., deep-tech or regulated sectors), showing DBIC's capacity to support innovation beyond quick-turnaround startups.