Established 2026 · Lisbon, Portugal
Europe's professional institute for cannabis compliance, quality, validation, pharmaceuticalisation, education and industry development. Education. Certification. Compliance. Talent. Intelligence. Community.
Our purpose
ECI exists to raise the standard of GMP, regulatory and scientific practice across the European medical cannabis sector. The industry is pharmaceuticalising. Operations acceptable in 2022 will not survive inspection in 2026. ECI provides the knowledge infrastructure to close that gap — systematically, credibly and at scale.
Every programme, certification and consultancy engagement is developed from pharmaceutical-grade execution experience across sterile manufacturing, biologics and advanced botanical facilities — applied to the specific requirements of licensed cannabis operators across Europe and beyond.
Seven divisions
Division I · ECI Academy
Foundation, technical, advanced and masters-level programmes. Online, presencial and corporate formats. CPD certified.
Division II · ECI Certification
Four structured pathways recognising demonstrated competence. Each requires completion of specified ECI programmes, a formal assessment and a panel-reviewed practical submission.
Certification governance
ECI certifications are governed by an independent Certification Panel comprising senior practitioners, academic representatives and regulatory advisors. Continuing education requirements apply for annual renewal. Candidates who do not meet the standard are provided a structured reassessment pathway.
Division III · ECI Consulting
Fixed-price consultancy with defined scope and tangible outputs. Remote delivery across Iberia and Europe. Delivered by GMP Life Sciences Consulting under the ECI framework.
Retained advisory — three service tiers
Division IV · ECI Intelligence
Reports, regulatory maps, salary data, facility tracking and industry benchmarking for operators, investors and policy stakeholders. Potentially the highest-margin ECI division at scale.
Flagship annual publication
State of European Cannabis Compliance — Annual Report
ECI's most important publication. An annual assessment of GMP readiness, regulatory developments and compliance maturity across the European medical cannabis sector. Designed to become the industry's primary reference document — cited by operators, regulators, investors and academics.
Division V · ECI Talent
Cannabis is pharmaceuticalising. It needs pharma-style contractors and specialists. ECI trains, certifies and connects compliance professionals with operators who need their expertise.
Access a vetted pool of ECI-certified compliance professionals. Post roles, hire contractors and build project teams with confidence in their qualification and capability.
Create a verified talent profile, join the ECI contractor pool and connect with cannabis operators across Europe who need your pharmaceutical expertise.
In-demand roles across the European cannabis sector
Division VI · ECI Community
Three membership tiers for individuals and organisations across the European cannabis compliance community.
Community discussion forum — categories
Division VII · ECI Research
ECI Research establishes the Institute as a knowledge body, not just a training provider. Working groups, guidance documents, academic partnerships and policy engagement — advancing the science of cannabis compliance.
Standards working groups
ECI convenes practitioners, academics and regulators to develop industry guidance documents — not binding standards, but best practice frameworks that operators can reference and that regulators recognise. BioPhorum performs this function for biologics. Nobody does it for cannabis. This is ECI's long-term institutional differentiator.
Resource library
Pharmaceutical-grade templates built for cannabis operations. Free tasters, member library and premium packs.
Events and webinars
Monthly webinars, quarterly virtual summits, regional training days and the annual ECI European Cannabis Compliance Conference.
Case studies
Advertising and sponsorship
Reach QA directors, validation engineers, site leads, investors and compliance professionals across the European cannabis sector.
Revenue model
ECI combines training, certification, consultancy, intelligence, talent and community into a single diversified revenue model designed to scale across the European cannabis sector over a ten-year horizon.
Ten-year vision
ECI becomes the largest cannabis professional body in Europe. The leading GMP and pharmaceuticalisation authority. The primary training and certification provider. A recognised recruitment network. A publisher of industry intelligence. A conference organisation. The first place a cannabis company goes when it needs knowledge, people, compliance support, training, or market intelligence. That is when it stops being a consultancy and starts becoming an institution.