EIT Manufacturing is Europe’s leading innovation ecosystem for the manufacturing sector. As part of the EU-funded EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community, it brings together key stakeholders across the industry, such as startups, corporates, researchers, and educators to accelerate sustainable industrial transformation across the continent.

But navigating its offer had become increasingly difficult for internal teams and external audiences alike. Over time, the organisation had developed dozens of initiatives, platforms, tools, and events across Europe. Many had emerged independently, with different names, tones, and visual treatments, each shaped by the priorities of local teams or funding frameworks. Some had grown from EU projects, others were strategic programmes; but none sat within a clearly defined system.

This fragmentation was beginning to limit EIT Manufacturing’s ability to communicate as a single platform. Internally, it led to duplication, inefficiency, and blurred ownership. Externally, it made the organisation hard to understand, especially for priority audiences like startups and corporates. And strategically, it risked weakening the brand at the very moment it needed to strengthen: preparing for increased commercial activity, platform visibility, and long-term strategy as an independent brand.

EIT Manufacturing is a complex but powerful platform. Unlike many other innovation actors – whether private-sector consultancies, national accelerators, or policy-led initiatives – it supports the full journey from education to adoption. From building skills and funding pilots, to scaling ventures and convening ecosystems, it offers continuity few can match.

Offers were being organised based on internal structures rather than what made sense to external audiences. Different teams had developed their own initiatives, visual identities, and ways of communicating. Potentially high-value services were being presented in isolation, making the brand feel fragmented rather than connected.

Our discovery work – including stakeholder interviews, ecosystem analysis, and competitor mapping – surfaced a shared ambition: to move toward a clearer, more unified brand identity. The opportunity wasn’t just to simplify. It was to reorganise the brand around user journeys, highlight its full-lifecycle offer, and set the foundations for scale, visibility, and credibility in a competitive landscape.

We worked closely with the EIT Manufacturing team to define a brand architecture that reflects the organisation’s true scope and mission, while remaining practical, flexible, and future-ready.

Following a full audit of the offer landscape, we created a modular classification system based on initiative type and maturity, clarifying what was a long-term platform, a time-bound programme, a tool, a call, or an event. This gave structure to the existing ecosystem and enabled more consistent decision-making going forward.

We landed on a masterbrand-led approach with selective endorsement, meaning that all initiatives now reinforce the EIT Manufacturing brand, while still allowing high-equity platforms to retain visibility where it makes sense. For example, instead of running standalone names like Agora or BoostUp!, these are now framed as Agora by EIT Manufacturing or BoostUp! powered by EIT Manufacturing, helping connect everything back to the core brand without losing individual recognition.

To support this, we introduced naming conventions, messaging guidance, and clear rules around endorsement. The aim wasn’t to rename everything, but to equip internal teams with a system they can use to manage future growth with more clarity, consistency, and brand alignment.

The full system was delivered as a brand architecture playbook, accompanied by governance principles, decision-making matrices, and training for internal leads.

The new brand architecture gives EIT Manufacturing a platform to grow on, internally and externally. It improves audience understanding, supports consistent delivery across teams and regions, and strengthens the organisation’s credibility as a single, scalable innovation platform. Strategically, it helps EIT Manufacturing move closer to a future where its name stands confidently on its own: recognised, respected, ready for what’s next.