Connecting sustainable innovation across borders: the success of SustainableSolutionsMatch 2026

Companies working in sustainability often face a common challenge: how to identify the right international partners, investors and business opportunities in an increasingly competitive market. This is precisely where SustainableSolutionsMatch makes a difference.

Designed as an international matchmaking event dedicated to sustainable innovation, the initiative helps companies find the right business contacts and turns them into practical opportunities for collaboration and growth. The 2026 edition brought together 1,629 registered participants from 62 countries worldwide. With more than 1,675 business and technology opportunities published, 156 companies presented their solutions in 22 pitching sessions.

For participating companies, the event offered direct access to potential clients, commercial partners, investors, technology providers and innovation ecosystems from across Europe and beyond.

Helping companies connect with the right partners

Among the main reasons companies decide to join SustainableSolutionsMatch is the opportunity to make relevant business connections. Through curated matchmaking and thematic pitching sessions, the event helps them meet contacts aligned with their specific needs and objectives.

Companies join with different goals in mind. Some are looking to enter new international markets or find technology and commercial partners. Others want to connect with investors or develop collaborative innovation projects.

With participants coming from all over the world and the support of 123 co-organisers, SustainableSolutionsMatch also helps companies increase their international visibility and reach a wider network of potential partners.

A European network working for SMEs

Behind the event stands a strong collaborative effort coordinated by the Enterprise Europe Network.

A dedicated organising committee managed pitches and B2Bs across countries and sectors, while the Network advisers throughout Europe actively supported companies before and during the event. This support included helping them create effective profiles, identifying the most relevant contacts and opportunities, preparing startups and SMEs for pitching sessions and facilitating high-quality matchmaking meetings.

As Silke Schleiff, one of the event coordinators from the German branch of the Network, highlights: "SustainableSolutionMatch 2026 has given high visibility to the Enterprise Europe Network’s work while putting key topics for Europe’s green transition firmly on the agenda. Coordinated by the Group of experts working in sustainability with contributions from experts across the Network, the event also strengthened cross-sector collaboration and reinforced our shared commitment to supporting sustainable innovation."

The high level of engagement during the event clearly illustrates the value of this collaborative approach. Participants arranged 563 accepted meetings, exchanged 6,804 messages through the platform and generated 191,400 profile views. Together, these figures show that participants were not only browsing the platform, but actively connecting and starting conversations that could lead to new partnerships. 

Beyond the numbers, these interactions generated meaningful conversations that often continued outside the platform itself, demonstrating that the event successfully facilitated genuine business relationships.

This hands-on approach is particularly valuable for SMEs and startups that may not yet have established international networks or dedicated business development resources. By combining local support with access to a global ecosystem, the Network helps companies accelerate their international outreach in a practical and accessible way.

A success story: connecting CleanTech startups with investors

One of the strongest examples of the event’s impact comes from a dedicated CleanTech pitching session organised during SustainableSolutionsMatch 2026 (SSM2026).

The session connected around 40 CleanTech startups with five investors specialised in clean technology innovation and scaling sustainable solutions. As Nivedita Mahida-Königsdörfer, one of the organisers of the session and German Network adviser, explains: "It is hard for start-ups and scale-ups to attract venture capital funding, especially coming from cleantech, where the investment in prototypes can be considerably high. Therefore our SSM2026 focus was connecting cleantech start-ups with investors and venture capitalists from the Greentech area and give them the initial spark for further talks and negotiation. With great investors pitching from Germany, Belgium and internationally, we could support the start-ups to take a break from pitching and be on the receiving end for once during the ‘reverse pitching’ session."

The results highlighted the concrete value of this targeted matchmaking:

• the pitching session generated 10 qualified leads for the participating investor
• one startup was accepted into an accelerator programme
• the investor expanded its network through contacts with more than 25 startups

The success of this session demonstrates how international cooperation within the Enterprise Europe Network ecosystem can accelerate sustainable innovation by helping startups and investors find the right connections more efficiently.

More than an event: a gateway to international growth

For many SMEs and startups, internationalisation can seem complex and difficult to access, especially in fast-evolving sectors linked to sustainability and green innovation.

SustainableSolutionsMatch 2026 demonstrates how the right combination of visibility, expert support and targeted matchmaking can help companies accelerate this process in a practical and accessible way.

Companies looking to expand internationally through innovation and sustainability can discover many other matchmaking and brokerage events organised by the Enterprise Europe Network to help SMEs connect with partners, explore markets and grow internationally.