European Innovation Council (EIC)

Under Horizon Europe the first European Innovation Council (EIC) work program will be implemented. Previously, the EIC pilot has been tested and evaluated under Horizon 2020. The EIC aims at identifying and supporting breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations with the potential to scale up internationally and become market leaders. 70% of the entire budget is ear-marked for SMEs, which shows the focus of EIC on SMEs.

European Innovation Council (EIC) subprograms

3 subprograms form the basis of the EIC program:

1. EIC Pathfinder – open

Funding research projects of consortia with a mix of partners from academia and companies, advancing research to develop the scientific basis to underpin breakthrough technologies.

2. EIC Transition – open

Funding consortia of academia and companies, to validate technologies and develop business plans for specific applications. This is a newly added instrument to the EIC program. Only grantees of ERC Proof of Concept or EIC Pathfinder or FET are eligible to submit an application to this instrument.

Read more about EIC Transition

3. EIC Accelerator – open

Focusing on supporting companies (SMEs, start-ups, spin-outs and in exceptional cases small mid-caps) to bring their innovations to market and scale up.

Read more about the EIC Accelerator programme

Another novelty in this program is the addition of open topic calls, without a focus on a specific challenge as in the challenge-driven calls. The challenge-driven approach provides funding to address specific technological and innovation breakthroughs. The challenges focus on EU priorities for transitioning to a green, digital and healthy society, as well as the overall strategic planning for Horizon Europe. Each instrument is divided over Open calls and Challenge-driven calls.

Visit the official EIC website

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Staying up-to-date on funding programs is important, but takes a lot of time. With Catalyze Alerts you will receive all relevant updates on upcoming funds, including EIC 2021, but also Horizon Europe or Eurostars. Our experts will notify you when new grant information, deadlines or requirements are available. So you will have plenty of time to prepare your EIC 2021 application.

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