What is funded?

The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale-up of technological breakthroughs (deep tech). The approach of the call is bottom-up, with emphasis on the specific challenges.

What support is available?

There are two types of funding available: Grant (grant component) and investment component. 

Grant component: In the grant component EUR 2.5 million is granted for 24 months to cover eligible costs of the project. Maximum of 70% of total costs are reimbursed. Grant may be used to cover development activities between TRL levels 5/6 to 8.

Investment component: Investment component is usually in the form of equity. The minimum investment component is EUR 0.5 million and the maximum is EUR 15 million. It is intended to finance market deployment and scale up but may also be used for other purposes (including co-financing or even fully-financing innovation activities). In the case of investment component, investments will not exceed 25% of the voting shares of the company and  will normally be made with a long average perspective (7-10 years) with a maximum of 15 years.

How to apply?

The application process includes three stages (1) Short application, (2) Full application. (3) Face-to-face interview (or video interview when COVID-19 travel restrictions apply).

Short applications: Short application can be submitted at any time via the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. It consists of (1) A 5-page form where you must summarise your proposal and respond to a set of questions on your innovation, your potential market and your team. (2) A pitch deck of up to 10 slides following a set
format provided by the EU commission. (3) 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: If your short application is successful, you will be invited to prepare a full application which can be submitted to one of the cut-off dates within the next 12 months from the date of the response to your short application. You may decide which cut-off to apply to. The cut-off dates are published in the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. You must prepare your full application on the EIC artificial intelligence-based IT platform, which includes a number of automatic checks and feedback to guide you through the process. The full application consists of a full business plan and full information on you company’s finances and structure. You will also need to propose a set of milestones to be used as a basis for the EIC to manage the funding for your innovation.

Face-to-face interviews with an EIC Jury: All the companies that pass the full application phase are invited to face to face interviews. At the interview, you will be assessed by a panel with a maximum of six jury members. Detailed information about the format of the face-to-face interview will be communicated to you in the invitation. 

Evaluation

Short applications: First, the eligibility of your application is validated by EIC staff. After that, the application is sent to the EIC expert evaluators whose competence will match the area of technology and market application of your innovation. The evaluators will essentially look at the innovativeness / disruptiveness of your idea, its impact and your team.

Full applications: After each cut-off date the full applications will be evaluated by three expert evaluators, matched against the are of technology and application of your innovation, who will assess your application more in depth against the criteria.

Face-to-face interviews: The EIC jury members will have prior access to your short and full application and the evaluation results. Jury members will decide based on your interview and their overall assessment whether your proposal should be funded (GO) or not (NO-GO).