Speaker
Description
The European Innovation Council (EIC) has been established under Horizon Europe as Europe’s flagship innovation programme to identify, develop and scale up breakthrough technologies and game changing innovations. With its budget of €10.1 billion for the period 2021-2027 it focuses mainly on high-risk innovation throughout the lifecycle from early stage research, to proof of concept, technology transfer, and the financing and scale up of start-ups and SMEs. A majority of the funding is awarded through ‘open’ calls with no pre-defined thematic priorities. This enables support for any technologies and innovations that cut across scientific, technological, sectoral and application fields or represent novel combinations. This is complemented by a ‘challenge’ driven approach informed by the work of EIC Programme Managers. The programme has three main instruments such as Pathfinder (supporting research and development on high-risk emerging technologies), Transition (pushing ideas from lab to business) and Accelerator (supporting start-ups’ development and scaling up incl. through the EIC Fund providing investments from seed to early growth). The support from the EIC goes beyond funding. All beneficiaries receive access to tailor-made Business Acceleration Services. This facilitates connections and support that can help scale-up EIC-supported companies and enable researchers to take the first steps towards commercialising their results.
