European Innovation Council (EIC)
The EIC is Europe's flagship innovation programme for the identification, development and dissemination of breakthrough technologies and innovations.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) was set up as part of the EU's Horizon Europe programme. It has a budget of EUR 10.1 billion to support breakthrough innovations throughout their lifecycle - from early-stage research, proof of concept and technology transfer to funding and scaling up start-ups and SMEs.
EIC-Funding opportunities
In the EIC Work Programme 2025, funding is divided into four main programmes:
EIC Pathfinder (EUR 262 million) for multidisciplinary research teams conducting visionary research that can lead to technological breakthroughs (grants of up to EUR 4 million). The calls for proposals are both open (open) and topic-specific in the form of challenges: EIC Pathfinder challenges
EIC Transition (EUR 98 million) for the translation of research results into innovation opportunities following the results of EIC Pathfinder projects, ERC Proof-of-Concept projects and open for project results from Horizon Community projects in Pillar 2/Societal Challenges (grants of up to EUR 2.5 million).
EIC Accelerator (EUR 634 million) for start-ups and SMEs to develop and scale up innovations that have the potential to create new markets or change existing markets (grants of less than EUR 2.5 million, investments of EUR 0.5 to 10 million). The calls for proposals are both open (open) and topic-specific in the form of challenges: EIC Accelerator challenges
‘Strategic Technologies for Europe (STEP) Scale Up (EUR 300 million), the EIC platform that provides promising companies (SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs and small mid-caps) driving innovation in critical areas with additional equity capital to help them secure larger private co-financing for the further expansion of their businesses (investments of EUR 10 to 30 million).
EIC Prizes - Take up the challenge and apply for an EIC Prize, which recognises Europe's leading innovators.
In all cases, direct financial support for innovators is complemented by access to a wide range of business acceleration services, providing access to leading experts, companies, investors and ecosystem players.