- Do you have a high-impact innovative technology, product, service or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide?
- Are you a start-up or a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) with the ambition and commitment to scale up?
- Are you looking for substantial funding but the risks involved are too high for private investors alone to invest the full amount needed?
If your answers to the above questions are ‘yes’, then the EIC Accelerator may be the right funding scheme for you.
Why should you apply?
The EIC Accelerator supports companies (principally SMEs, including start-ups) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. The EIC Accelerator provides a unique combination of funding from
EUR 0.5 to EUR 17.5 million and Business Acceleration Services.
The EIC Accelerator focuses in particular on innovations building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’) and where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’). Such innovations often struggle to attract financing because the risks and time period involved are too high. Funding and support from the EIC Accelerator is designed to enable such innovators to attract the full investment amounts needed for scale up in
a shorter timeframe.
Applicants to EIC Accelerator can submit proposals through:
EIC Accelerator Open, which has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of technology or application
EIC Accelerator Challenges in predefined thematic topics in areas of emerging and strategic technologies
EIC Accelerator Open
EIC Accelerator Open has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of technology or application.
If an application falls within the scope of the Challenges topics below, grant funding is subject to eligibility in accordance with the specific conditions applicable to those topics:
- Human centric generative AI made in Europe
- Emerging quantum technology components
EIC Accelerator Challenges
The Accelerator Challenges have been identified in areas where breakthrough technologies or game-changing innovations developed by start-ups or SMEs can have a major impact on EU objectives.
This Challenge aims to support the development of:
- Human Centric Generative AI
- Virtual worlds and augmented interaction
- Enabling the smart edge & quantum technology components
- Food from precision fermentation and algae
- Monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for emerging viruses
- Renewable energy sources and their whole value chain
Can you apply?
To be an eligible applicant to EIC Accelerator, you must apply as one of the following eligible entities:
- a single company classified as a SME, and established within a Member State or an Associated Country; or
- a single company classified as a small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country, but only for exceptional cases for rapid scale up purposes; or
- one or more natural persons (including individual entrepreneurs) or legal entities, which are either:
- from a Member State or an Associated Country intending to establish an SME or small mid-cap (as defined above) in a Member State or Associated Country by the time of signing the EIC Accelerator grant agreement or, in case the equity only is awarded, at the latest at the date of signature of the agreement on its investment component;
- intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap established in a Member State or an Associated Country and may submit a proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap, provided that a prior agreement exists with the
company. The grant agreement and/or the investment agreement will be signed with the beneficiary/ final recipient of funding company only; or - from a non-associated third country intending to establish an SME (including start-ups) or to relocate an existing SME to a Member State or an Associated Country. Your company must prove its effective establishment in Member State or an Associated Country at the time of submission of the full proposal.
What support will you receive if your proposal is funded?
The total indicative budget for this call is EUR 675 million. EUR 375 million of the total indicative budget will be allocated to EIC Accelerator Open and EUR 300 million to EIC Accelerator Challenges. The total indicative budget for each Accelerator
Challenges is provided in Challenge descriptions below.
The indicative budget for investment components is EUR 405 million and is managed by the EIC Fund. This budget may be increased by unused amounts allocated to the EIC Fund under previous EIC Work Programmes.
The EIC Accelerator provides:
grant component only ('Grant Only') that will take the form of a lump sum contribution via a grant agreement. Grant only shall be provided only once to any legal entity for the duration of the Horizon Europe program (2021-27)
blended finance support which is composed of:
An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans via an investment agreement
A grant component, that will take the form of a lump sum contribution via a grant agreement
investment component only (Equity-Only) support to non-bankable SMEs, including start-ups, which have already received an eligible grant support, via an investment agreement
How do you apply?
The application process consists of a number of steps:
- Short proposals which may be submitted at any time and which will be evaluated remotely by EIC expert evaluators on a first come, first served basis;
- If successful, you will be invited to prepare a full proposal, where you will have access to support from EIC business coaches to develop your business plan;
- Full proposals will first be assessed remotely by EIC expert evaluators. If successful, you will be invited to an interview with an EIC jury as the final step in the selection process;
- If selected for (potential)funding, you will be invited to negotiate a grant agreement for the requested grant component (if you have applied for it) and the due diligence for the investment component (if you have applied
for it).
Submission of short proposals
You may submit a short proposal at any time as from the 1st January 2024 via the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal. The short proposal consists of:
- A short form where you summarise your proposal and respond to questions on your company and team, your innovation and the potential market;
- A pitch-deck of up to ten slides in pdf format;
- A video pitch of up to three minutes where the core members of your team (up to three people) should provide the motivation for your proposal.
Submission of full proposals
If your short proposal is successful, then you will be entitled to receive coaching support to prepare a full proposal from one of the business coaches from the EIC Business Acceleration Services.
If you succeeded with your short application under the 2024 Work programme, your full proposal can be submitted to any of the following cut-offs during 2024. Applicants who succeeded with a positive evaluation of their short proposal under the 2023 EIC Work Programme may apply to any of the following cut-offs in 2024.
The remaining cut-off date for 2024 is:
- 3 October 2024 at 17h00 Brussels local time;
Once you submit your full proposal, it will be assessed remotely against award criteria evaluation elements (set out in the next section) by three EIC expert evaluators. Within approximately six-weeks you will be informed about the result of the remote
evaluation and will receive feedback. If successful, you will be invited to attend an interview (which may be in person or online) with an EIC Jury.
