EIC and EIT sign memorandum to align support for European innovators
- ›The European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen cooperation.
- ›The agreement aims to coordinate advisory services, networks and data sharing to help startups, SMEs and research organisations scale faster.
- ›The two bodies will set up a permanent structured collaboration with a joint working group, regular reviews and joint communications.
- ›Priority areas include fast tracking support to high potential start-ups, increasing support for women innovators and outreach to less represented regions.
- ›The MoU follows a September 2020 letter of intent and a set of pilot actions between the EIC and several EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities.
EIC and EIT commit to closer cooperation to support Europe’s innovators
On 8 January 2021 the European Commission announced that the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding to reinforce cooperation between the two innovation actors. The declared goal is to make it easier for entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, higher education institutions and research organisations to receive better quality advisory services and network access so that innovations can be deployed and scaled faster and with greater impact.
Core commitments in the Memorandum of Understanding
The two organisations agreed to a set of practical measures to coordinate support across the EU innovation ecosystem. These include mutual access to advisory services and networks, shared data and intelligence on supported start-ups and SMEs including impact measurements, fast tracking of support to highly innovative start-ups and coordinated efforts to improve access for women innovators and innovators from less represented regions. Governance arrangements include a permanent structured collaboration through a joint working group, regular reviews and joint communications, supported by implementing agencies and Commission services.
Why the partnership matters for the EU innovation ecosystem
The Commission frames the MoU as part of a broader effort under Horizon Europe to construct a coherent set of European innovation instruments. The EIC brings finance and risk capital orientation while the EIT contributes networked capacity and regional reach through its hubs and KICs. The cooperation is intended to reduce fragmentation in support services and to help scale up more companies across the single market, complementing other EU initiatives on industry, SMEs, digitalisation and the European Research Area.
Practical mechanisms and prior activity
To make the cooperation operational the EIC Advisory Board and the EIT Governing Board will set up a joint working group, hold regular reviews and coordinate communications. The implementing agencies and Commission services will support these structures. The MoU formalises and expands earlier work that included a September 2020 letter of intent and a number of pilot actions between the EIC and several EIT KICs.
| Feature | European Innovation Council (EIC) | European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) |
| Primary mission | Identify and support breakthrough, high-risk, high-impact innovations and scale-ups | Strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity by building partnerships across education, research and business |
| Main instruments | Grants, blended finance, and an equity instrument via the EIC Fund | Knowledge and Innovation Communities, hubs, entrepreneurial education and acceleration services |
| Network reach | Evaluators, juries, coaches, investors and corporate partners across EU ecosystems | Over 2,000 partners and more than 60 innovation hubs across Europe |
| Stage focus | From deep tech founders and entrepreneurial researchers to start-ups and scaleups | Education to business creation, with an emphasis on building regional capacity |
| Role under Horizon Europe | Component focused on breakthrough innovation, to be fully launched as part of Horizon Europe | Longstanding EU body delivering pan-European innovation partnerships and capacity building |
Opportunities and open questions
The MoU presents practical opportunities. Closer alignment could speed up routes to market for promising technologies, improve access to coaching and investment, and strengthen outreach to underserved regions and to women entrepreneurs. Data sharing and coordinated networks can also reduce duplication of effort and improve tracking of impact across instruments.
At the same time the arrangement raises governance and implementation questions that matter for accountability and effectiveness. These include how data sharing will respect confidentiality and data protection rules, how impact metrics will be standardised across programmes, and how overlap in mandates and funding instruments will be managed to avoid duplication. The success of the collaboration will depend on concrete KPIs, transparent governance of joint activities and clarity about resource allocation between the two organisations and their agencies.
Implications for innovators and regional ecosystems
For start-ups, SMEs and research teams the practical effects to watch for are faster access to advisory services, more coordinated acceleration offers, smoother linkage with national and regional support networks, and clearer pathways to blended funding or equity investment where appropriate. Regional innovation actors and public funders may see more referrals, and an expectation that proposals that received support from one ecosystem actor can be more easily escalated into EIC funding or into EIT-backed programmes.
Background: EIC pilot phase and EIT’s network role
At the time of the MoU the EIC was operating in a pilot phase with an explicit emphasis on disruptive innovations that respond to the European Green Deal and the Recovery Plan. It supplies direct financial support, investment opportunities and coaching across a range of technology areas. The EIT operates as a distributed innovation actor focused on building lasting regional capacity through its KICs and hubs. The Commission positions the two organisations as complementary parts of the wider Horizon Europe innovation ecosystem.
European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel was quoted saying that Europe needs to work together to compete globally on innovation and that the EIC joining forces with the EIT will contribute to accelerating the twin green and digital transition while creating jobs and opportunities for innovators across Europe.
What to watch next
Stakeholders should look for the first outputs of the joint working group, for any published implementation plan and for agreed performance indicators that make the MoU’s commitments measurable. Observers should also track how the cooperating bodies handle practical issues such as data governance, confidentiality during due diligence and clarity about who funds what when a start-up moves from education and prototyping into investment and scale up.