On the 18th of March 2021, the Commission officially launched the European Innovation Council (EIC) with its very important EIC Accelerator for SMEs and startups. Yesterday's event hosted powerful speakers like Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for 'A Europe Fit for the Digital Age', who said: "The European Innovation Council is Europe's most ambitious initiative to support the breakthroughs Europe needs to recover from the economic crisis and accelerate the transition to a green and digital economy. By investing in visionary research and innovative companies, it will reinforce European technological sovereignty, scale up hundreds of Europe's most promising startups, and pave the way for the upcoming European Innovation Area."
European Innovation Council's History
The EIC pilot was first launched in 2018 under Horizon 2020 Programme (now called Horizon Europe). With just a €3.5 billion budget, it made a significant impact in supporting European Entrepreneurship. During its pilot phase, it supported over 5000 SMEs and startups and 330 research projects.
EIC's mission remains the same but with an even bigger budget of €10 billion (in current prices) for 2021-2027, now looks more ready to financially support Europe's biggest innovators through the EIC Accelerator 2021 calls.
The Applicants' Day
Following yesterday's launch, the 19th of March 2021 was named the applicants' day dedicated to providing information on how the European Innovation Council works, how to apply, and who is eligible for it. The sessions included information on funding opportunities for research, startups, SMEs and investors. EUcalls' team participated in the applicants' day and provides you with all the latest information concerning EIC Accelerator 2021 calls and will be made available in the coming months.
European Innovation Council (EIC) Calls for Funding
For just the year 2021, EIC will launch exciting opportunities for funding worth over €1.5 billion. Since yesterday, EIC is also accepting applications for two prizes, the EU Prize for Women Innovators and the European Capital of Innovation, whose application deadlines are set to expire this summer.
As far funding is concerned, EIC, in its first work programme announced for 2021 the:
- EIC Accelerator 2021 financing of €1 billion for startups and SMEs to develop and scale-up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. Successful applicants can receive grants of up to €2.5 million.
- EIC Pathfinder with a budget of €300 million destined for multi-disciplinary research teams to finance technology breakthroughs. Research teams who apply for EIC Pathfinder can receive funding of up €4 million in grants.
- EIC Transition funding of €100 million will finance the results created by EIC Pathfinder to mature the technology behind and proceed with building business cases for specific applications.
EUcalls provides you with all the latest available EIC calls for funding bundled up together in our directory. Using EUcalls, you can get all the necessary information about those calls, apply easily, and find the reliable partners that you need to form a consortium if required. Finally, if you are new to proposal writing, EUcalls' team can help you write, edit or submit your own.
