EIC 2023 work programme: €1.6 billion for deep tech, new challenges and pilots

Brussels, December 7th 2022

Summary

›The European Commission adopted the European Innovation Council 2023 work programme opening about €1.6 billion in funding for breakthrough technologies.
›Funding is split across EIC Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator with €525 million earmarked for eight strategic challenges for startups and SMEs.
›Key instruments are Pathfinder (€343 million for early stage research), Transition (€128.3 million to mature results) and Accelerator (€1.13 billion combining grants and equity).
›The EIC Impact Report cites a portfolio valuation above €40 billion, 12 unicorns, and more than €10 billion in follow-on investment but attribution and reporting caveats apply.
›The programme introduces pilots to increase talent flows into deep tech, more support for women innovators, procurement testing, and deeper cooperation with the EIT.

EIC 2023 work programme adopted

On 7 December 2022 the European Commission adopted the 2023 work programme for the European Innovation Council. The programme opened funding opportunities totalling roughly €1.6 billion for 2023 aimed at turning visionary science into scalable deep tech and creating new markets. The allocation mixes grants for early stage research, follow-on funding to mature inventions, and a large accelerator instrument that combines grants with equity investments through the EIC Fund.

Headline numbers and where the money goes

Instrument	Budget (2023)	Primary purpose	Typical financial support
EIC Pathfinder	€343 million	Support for multidisciplinary early stage research and radically new technologies	Grants up to €3 to €4 million, TRL 1 to 3 to proof of concept
EIC Transition	€128.3 million	Mature research results into concrete innovation opportunities and build business cases	Grants up to €2.5 million; dedicated Transition Challenges
EIC Accelerator	€1.13 billion	Fund and scale high impact startups and SMEs that can create or disrupt markets	Grants below €2.5 million and equity investments from €0.5 million up to €15 million via the EIC Fund
EIC Accelerator Challenges allocation	€525 million	Targeted grants and investments to develop next generation strategic technologies for Europe	Focused calls and challenge tracks within the Accelerator

Over half a billion euro is specifically earmarked to push start-ups towards leadership in technologies the Commission views as strategically important for the Union. The list of priorities includes energy storage, quantum, semiconductors, resilient food supply chains, biomarkers for cancer, pandemic decontamination technologies, New European Bauhaus related construction innovations, and space technologies and services. The programme is explicitly aligned with policy initiatives such as REPowerEU, the Chips Act and Horizon Europe Missions.

Programmes explained

Pathfinder

Pathfinder funds high risk, high reward interdisciplinary research at early Technology Readiness Levels. The intention is to back ideas that could lead to radical breakthroughs rather than incremental advances. In 2023 the programme allocated around €343 million. Calls open on set dates with Pathfinder Open launching on 7 December 2022 and Pathfinder Challenges featuring a cycle on 20 June 2023.

Pathfinder target TRLs:Pathfinder focuses on early research roughly at TRL 1 to TRL 3 up to proof of concept. That means fundamental science and the first experimental demonstrations rather than products or prototypes ready for the market.

While the bulk of Pathfinder funding is open to any visionary idea, the 2023 work programme earmarked €163.5 million to five thematic Pathfinder Challenges including clean and efficient cooling, construction digitalisation, precision nutrition, responsible electronics and in-space solar energy.

Transition

EIC Transition supports projects that already have promising scientific results and need coordinated work to mature the technology and build a commercially viable proposition. The 2023 allocation was €128.3 million and the calls focus on results from EIC Pathfinder projects and ERC proof of concept projects. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with cut-off dates recorded for the year. A portion of Transition funding, about €60.5 million, was set aside for Transition Challenges on topics such as micro-nano-bio devices, environmental intelligence and chip-scale optical frequency combs.

Accelerator

The Accelerator is the EIC's principal instrument for startups and SMEs that have marketable deep tech and a high growth ambition. In 2023 the Accelerator budget was roughly €1.13 billion. Funding mixes direct grants with equity investments implemented by the EIC Fund. Grants are typically used for non-dilutive funding of early scale-up activities. The EIC Fund provides equity ranges from roughly €0.5 million up to €15 million to co-invest with other investors after due diligence.

Accelerator process element	Notes
Step 1 short proposal	Applicants submit a short online proposal including a pitch deck and a short video. A Participant Identification Code and EU Login are required.
Step 2 full proposal	Selected Step 1 applicants prepare a full application with EIC business coach support if requested.
Interviews	Successful Step 2 candidates are invited to a face to face or online interview with an EIC jury which acts as the final selection stage.
Grant and investment negotiation	Selected projects enter grant agreement preparation and negotiation for any equity component. Due diligence for EIC Fund investments follows established processes.
Cut-off dates 2023	Accelerator Open only 11 January 2023, and further cut-offs 22 March, 7 June and 19 October 2023

Seal of Excellence and coordination with national funds:Proposals that perform well but are not funded at EU level can receive a Seal of Excellence that allows national or regional authorities to consider them for local funding. With applicant consent selected proposal information may be shared with national contact points, Enterprise Europe Network members or regional funding authorities to increase alternative financing opportunities.

New elements and pilots in the 2023 programme

The 2023 work programme introduced a set of novelties designed to strengthen talent flows and ecosystem support. The main additions were a package of eight Accelerator Challenges with a combined budget of €525 million, a pilot to channel researchers into deep tech startups through internships, enhanced links to Women TechEU and additional measures to support women innovators, mechanisms to test EIC innovations with public and private procurers, and closer cooperation with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology including a joint EIC-EIT women innovators prize. The work programme was later amended on 11 August 2023 to reflect operational changes and updates.

Governance, management and the EIC Fund

The EIC was launched as a full initiative under Horizon Europe in March 2021 after a pilot phase. It is funded within the Horizon Europe framework which runs to 2027 with an overall EIC envelope of over €10 billion for 2021 to 2027. The EIC Board is composed of independent members drawn from the innovation ecosystem. EIC Programme Managers play an active role in shaping thematic portfolios and steering investments.

EIC Fund role and partners:The EIC Fund was restructured to enable equity investments alongside grant funding. Investment activity is supported by partners and contractors that perform advisory and operational roles. The European Investment Bank acts as an investment adviser to the EIC Fund for due diligence. Service providers mentioned in official documents include a fund administrator and paymaster for the EIC Fund and platforms that support investor outreach and dealflow. These partners receive personal data as part of the investment and due diligence processes under contractual safeguards.

Impact claims and what to keep in mind

The EIC Impact Report accompanying the 2023 programme underlines several headline achievements. The Commission reports that the EIC portfolio has a combined valuation above €40 billion, includes 12 companies that reached unicorn status and 112 'centaurs', and that EIC-backed companies attracted over €10 billion in follow-on investments. The report also notes that the EIC Fund completed 92 investment agreements and that co-investments alongside the Fund amounted to roughly €500 million, a leverage ratio described as about 2.6 euro of additional equity for every euro invested via the EIC Fund.

Caveats on impact reporting:These are important metrics but they require context. Valuation figures are often based on privately reported data and market conditions. High portfolio valuations reflect successful cases but do not directly show distributional outcomes or counterfactuals. Follow-on investment totals can be influenced by a small number of outsized deals and do not alone prove causality between EIC support and later financing. Independent evaluations and transparent methodology are needed to interpret these claims reliably.

The report also highlights gender indicators such as around 20 percent of Accelerator funding going to women led companies and more than 30 percent of researchers in Pathfinder being women. The programme includes explicit measures to increase female participation but persistent gaps remain in deep tech venture funding and scaling support.

Operational detail and data handling

EISMEA, the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, manages implementation of the EIC instruments. Applications use the EU Login authentication service and applicants must obtain a Participant Identification Code. The application path for the Accelerator includes a short proposal with a video and pitch deck, a full proposal stage that can be supported by an EIC business coach, and a final interview stage where legal and identity checks are performed for representatives attending in person.

Who processes applicant data:Beyond EISMEA and Commission services, official notices name several processors involved in investment and due diligence such as the EIB acting as investment adviser and private contractors that run know your company checks, valuation support and investor outreach. These actors handle personal data under contractual terms and data protection rules applicable to EU institutions.

Practical implications for applicants and the ecosystem

For startups and researchers the 2023 work programme offered multiple entry points depending on maturity. Research teams with radical ideas could apply to Pathfinder. Teams with demonstrable scientific results could seek Transition funding to de-risk technology and prepare business cases. Startups with market traction could apply to the Accelerator to combine grant support and equity to scale.

The targeted Challenges are intended to channel resources into strategic priorities where Europe seeks technological sovereignty or faster deployment. In areas such as semiconductors, quantum and energy storage this is as much an industrial policy intervention as it is an R and D support programme. Success depends on the quality of the pipeline, the ability to deploy equity at scale, coordination with national policies and follow-on commercial and regulatory support.

Risks, gaps and what to watch

The EIC expands a valuable funding pathway for deep tech in Europe but it is not a silver bullet. Key risks to follow include potential bottlenecks in converting grants into investable companies, geographic concentration of winners, and the limited ability of a single EU-level fund to cure structural venture capital shortages in later stages. The leverage multiple cited for the EIC Fund is positive but modest relative to venture ecosystems in other regions. Assessments of value for money require transparent, independent evaluations that look beyond headline valuations.

Where to find more and next steps

The Commission held an information day on 13 December 2022 to explain how the EIC works, who is eligible and how to apply. The EIC published factsheets and the EIC Impact Report 2022 with further detail. Applicants should consult the Funding and Tenders Portal and the EIC pages managed by EISMEA for the specific calls, deadlines and implementation rules. The work programme was subsequently amended in August 2023 to reflect operational changes.

In short, the 2023 EIC work programme reinforced EU efforts to concentrate public innovation funding on deep tech that is seen as strategically important. It combines research grants, transition funding and blended grant plus equity instruments. The new pilots and challenge tracks attempt to build stronger pipelines of talent and startups but the long term systemic effects will depend on implementation, coordination with national actors and transparent measurement of outcomes.