EIT Manufacturing West turns five
26 February 2025
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Five years walking together, let’s celebrate every step.
Five years may not seem a long time, but in the world of manufacturing and innovation, every year counts. In May 2025, EIT Manufacturing West turns five. Five years of growth and milestones, but also challenges, hard moments and failures. Five years pushing boundaries, learning from mistakes and walking this journey with you. And now, it’s time to look back, celebrate together and share this milestone, because you are part of our story!
What it started as a small group of two—Antoni Pijoan and Mirari Zaldua—on a shared mission, quickly turned into an amazing team and a growing network of partners, innovators and experts across Spain, France and Portugal. From our headquarters in the Basque Country, a region with deep industrial roots, we expanded connecting ecosystems, supporting startups and helping manufacturers adopt cutting-edge solutions that make a real difference. In 2021, we took a big step forward, moving into the iconic building Palacio Miramar in Donostia-San Sebastián, that connects a network of 24 employees and up to 60 entities.
Looking back now, we see a journey filled with challenges and inspiring collaborations. We see people, entrepreneurs, researchers, engineers, policymakers, all working together to build a more competitive and sustainable European industry. But today is not only about the past. It’s about celebrating the people who made it all happen. The stories behind the milestones and the moments that shaped who we are today. And, above all, it’s about gratitude, about thanking all of you who have been part of this adventure.
FIVE YEARS, FIVE STORIES… and much more to come!
When we started, it was only 1 employee at EIT Manufacturing West, now we are a team of 25 people. Our community has grown from 12 members to 40 partners, roughly 25% of the entire European community. This commitment from our partners in developing solutions that generate impact, not only economically but also on the environmental and societal challenges Europe is facing, drives our success.
Antoni Pijoan, Managing Director of EIT Manufacturing West
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In 2020, the world was facing an unprecedented challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed healthcare systems to their limits, with hospitals running out of many facilities unable to afford the complex, high-cost equipment needed for critically ill patients. The situation called for urgent action.
This is where EIT Manufacturing West and InnoVentilator came in.
As part of the EIT Crisis Response Initiative, a €60m fund launched by the European Institute of Innovation a Technology (EIT) to support high-impact solutions, this project set out to develop a low-cost, easy-to-use ventilator that could help address the crisis effectively.
The goal was to create a ventilator that could be quickly manufactured and deployed in emergency situations or regions facing shortages. The result was a device that was:
- Fully pneumatic, requiring no external power source
- Equipped with battery-supported alarms for patient safety
- Designed for simplicity, with easy maintenance and no complex electronics
- Built using standard, off-the-shelf components
- Cost-effective, staying under €2,000
InnoVentilator device
This innovative design ensured that medical professionals, paramedics, nurses and even patients could use it with ease, making it a practical solution for healthcare providers in critical situations.
From concept to reality
The project moved forward rapidly:
In 2020, clinical requirements were defined by leading anesthesiologists. The first fully functional prototype was developed and successfully tested on mannequins.
During the next two years, the device evolved into an advanced prototype, underwent clinical trials with human patients and progressed toward certification and commercialisation.
Trials with the mannequin
A collaborative European effort
The success of InnoVentilator was driven by a strong European partnership facilitated by EIT Manufacturing West, with Tecnalia leading the project and bringing together experts in medical technology, healthcare and innovation. Key partners—including Carl Reiner GmbH, the Technical University of Graz, Osakidetza-BioCruces, Universitätsklinikum Köln and WILD Group—contributed their expertise to transform an urgent healthcare need into a pioneering solution. InnoVentilator was a rapid, collaborative response to a global health crisis. By combining innovation, expertise and teamwork it demonstrated how technology can make a real difference when it’s needed most.