Introduction of BAU

DELOVNO-TEHNOLOSHKI AKCELERATOR UKIM DOO Skopje (BAU) is North Macedonia’s first startup and technology accelerator, founded in 2018 through a partnership between University Ss Cyril and Methodius in Skopje (UKIM), private‑sector institutions, and foundations. Nested around UKIM and other co-founders, BAU leverages academic expertise to support innovation‑driven companies and university spin‑offs through tailored acceleration services and direct investment.

BAU accelerates the growth of startups and scale‑ups by providing business capacity development, product and service development support, market linkages, networking, and fundraising assistance. Since its establishment, BAU has delivered more than 15 acceleration and incubation programmes, evaluated over 400 ideas, and supported more than 150 entrepreneurial teams across sectors including deep tech, mobility, circular economy, health, energy, and manufacturing.

BAU also manages a €533,000 early‑stage investment fund, through which it has invested in ten high‑potential startups and helped portfolio teams raise more than €2 million in additional funding. In 2023, BAU became the Community Officer of the EIT Community Hub, connecting Macedonian’s innovation ecosystem with EIT’s European network to support access to knowledge, funding, and scaling opportunities. In 2026, BAU became a founding member of European Digital Innovation Hub (eDIH Digitmak), thus expanding the activities towards digital transformation of the local industry from Smart Specialization Strategy domains.