The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator is an EU-funded initiative supporting digital innovation and business collaboration between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Funded with €14 million under the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, the initiative has operated since 2023 and runs until 2027. It brings together established companies and digital start-ups from the two regions to develop open innovation partnerships addressing concrete business challenges.
Through its challenge-driven acceleration model, companies identify operational or innovation needs and the Accelerator scouts start-ups with relevant solutions across the two regions. Selected partnerships receive matchmaking and acceleration support, including mentoring, grants and travel support, with the aim of developing joint proofs of concept and testing solutions in real business environments.
CSIL carried out the independent mid-term external evaluation of the initiative, assessing its relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. The evaluation examined programme implementation and governance, the performance of the challenge-driven acceleration model, partnership development mechanisms, stakeholder engagement and progress towards expected outputs and outcomes. It was designed both to inform the remaining implementation period and to provide evidence for decisions concerning the possible future development of the initiative. The study adopted a theory-based evaluation approach, combining desk research and document review with reconstruction of the intervention logic and Theory of Change. Quantitative analysis of programme monitoring data and key performance indicators (KPIs) was complemented by partnership pipeline analysis, surveys, semi-structured interviews, benchmarking, case studies and evidence triangulation.
CSIL developed the evaluation framework and reconstructed the programme’s Theory of Change, analysed implementation and monitoring systems, and assessed partnership formation and acceleration processes. The work also considered regional and gender inclusion, value for money, return on investment and the programme’s emerging socio-economic effects.
Early evaluation evidence indicated that the model addresses a relevant gap in international innovation cooperation. Beneficiaries reported high levels of satisfaction with the services received, partnerships across the two regions progressed to collaboration agreements, and some participating start-ups were able to enter new markets faster than initially planned. The evaluation translated these findings into operational recommendations to strengthen programme implementation, monitoring, sustainability and the potential scalability of the Accelerator model.