The EIC Accelerator supports companies (principally start-ups and SMEs) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones.

The EIC Accelerator can support your company to scale up if you

  • Develop high risk / high impact innovations;
  • Have the potential to create new markets , disrupt existing ones and contribute to societal innovation;
  • Build on scientific discovery, radical thinking or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’);
  • Requires ignificant funding over a long time frame before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’).

The EIC Accelerator provides blended finance to support development (TRL5/6 to 8), deployment and scale-up (TRL9). The blended finance is composed of an investment and grant component. The support consists of a grant component of up to EUR 2.5 million and an investment component in the form of equity financing or guarantees between EUR 0.5 million and EUR 15 million. Successful applicants have access to a range of Business Acceleration Services.

Quick Summary

Type of Action: Innovation Action
Funding Rate: 70% Eligible costs for grant.
Eligibility Conditions:

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 time-frame.

You can apply for EIC Accelerator either as:

  • A single company classified as a SME and established within a Member State or an Associated Country.
  • A single company classified as a ‘Small mid-cap’ (up to 500 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country, but your application can only be for rapid scale up purposes (e.g. Technology Readiness Level 9) and only for the investment component;
  • One or more natural persons (including individual entrepreneurs) or legal entities, which are either:
  1.     from a Member State or an Associated Country (for Associated Countries other than EEA, this possibility will be subject to the related association agreements) 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 Accelerator contract or, in the case blended finance is awarded, at the latest when agreeing on its investment component;
  2. intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap in a Member State or an Associated Country and who may submit a proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap, provided that a prior agreement exist with the company. The contract will be signed with the beneficiary company only.
  3. 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, by the time of submitting a full application. Your company must prove its effective establishment in a Member State or an Associated Country. The Commission may set specific conditions and milestones in the contract to ensure that the interest of the Union is met.

Proposal Template:

You must prepare your application (Short and Full application) on the EIC artificial intelligence-based IT platform via on-line forms, by answering a series of questions:

Short applications:

  • An on-line form where you must summarise your proposal and respond to a set of questions on your innovation, your potential market and your team.
  • A pitch-deck of up to 10 slides following a set format.
  • A (link to a) video pitch of up to 3 minutes where the core members of your team (up to three people) should provide the motivation for your application.

Full applications:

  • An on-line form that follows a methodology embedded in the EIC artificial intelligence-based IT platform that produces a full and detailed business plan with information on you company’s finances and structure.
  • A pitch-deck to be used if invited to the interviews

Evaluation Form: Specific

Relevant document: EIC Accelerator open and Challenge Guidelines, available under Topic Conditions and Documents section of the Call for Proposals or via the EIC website dedicated webpage.

The link for EIC Accelerator opportunities can be found at Search Funding & Tenders (europa.eu).