EIC Board welcomes Council milestone on Horizon Europe negotiations but warns implementation could dilute impact

Brussels, September 15th 2026

Summary

›The EIC Board broadly welcomes the Council's Partial General Approach on Horizon Europe 2028-2034 and the European Competitiveness Fund but urges caution on implementation details.
›The Board says many novel elements in the Commission proposal and Council PGA need clarification to avoid weakening the EIC's future impact.
›Key tensions include how new ARPA like Challenge models will be implemented, the role and structure of the EIC Fund and the proposed Scaleup Europe Fund, and rules for defence and dual use support.
›The Board offers to advise further and will monitor the European Parliament's developing position during the remainder of the negotiations.

EIC Board response to Horizon Europe (2028-2034) negotiations

On 15 September 2026 the European Innovation Council Board issued a concise statement reacting to a key procedural milestone in the EU budget and programme negotiations. The Board said it 'broadly welcomes, albeit with some caution' the Council’s adoption of a Partial General Approach on the legislative proposals for the next Horizon Europe framework and the complementary European Competitiveness Fund. The caution is rooted in implementation risks. The Board warned that a range of new elements in the Commission proposal and in the Council text must be clarified and prepared carefully to avoid diluting the EIC’s future impact. The Board also said it stands ready to provide further advice as the European Parliament develops its position.

What the EIC Board actually said and why it matters

Main message from the EIC Board:The Board welcomed the Council PGA as an important negotiation step while stressing that the Commission proposal and the Council text introduce many novel elements that need operational clarity. Without such clarity the reforms risk reducing rather than strengthening the EIC’s ability to support high risk, breakthrough deep tech innovators.

Why this is not only procedural:The legal text and implementing rules will determine whether the EIC remains an integrated instrument covering the full innovation journey, how flexible Programme Managers will be in defining Challenge topics, and how investment capacity will be organised at EU level. Those decisions shape where money, authority and agility land in practice.

Key concepts and how the Board frames them

Partial General Approach (PGA):A PGA is a Council level political agreement on the main lines of a legislative proposal. It is not the final law. For Horizon Europe and the new European Competitiveness Fund the PGA confirms political direction but leaves detailed rules to trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and later to implementing acts.

European Competitiveness Fund (ECF):The ECF is a new instrument proposed alongside the Horizon package to support strategic competitiveness objectives. The EIC Board expects synergies between the EIC and the ECF but cautions that operational links must not limit the EIC’s mandate to support higher risk, early stage activity that may not yet be on an ECF policy agenda.

Programme Managers and ARPA like Challenges:The Commission proposed to give EIC Programme Managers more latitude to run mission or Challenge style portfolios similar in spirit to ARPA models. The Board supports the ambition but insists on procedural clarity that separates political guidance on priorities from the operational freedom Programme Managers need to design calls rapidly and to actively manage funded portfolios.

EIC Fund and Scaleup Europe Fund (SEF):The EIC Fund is the EIC equity arm that provides co-investments to deep tech companies. The Commission proposal and Council text envisage an expansion of EU late stage growth funding including the Scaleup Europe Fund. The Board warns against fragmentation of EU investment instruments and argues for continuity and for reuse of exit proceeds to sustain follow on capacity.

How the EIC ecosystem currently functions

The European Innovation Council is a composite of grant programmes, business acceleration services and an equity investment arm. Its operational agency is the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, abbreviated EISMEA. Core grant tracks include Pathfinder for early stage deep research, Transition for maturation to application, the Accelerator for scaleup grants and blended equity, the STEP Scale Up strand for major growth investments, and a set of challenge pilots and specialised calls. The EIC Fund provides equity co-investments while a Trusted Investor Network and other business acceleration services are organised to crowd in private capital and to connect companies to markets and buyers. The EIC also runs targeted programmes such as the Pre-Accelerator for widening regions and Advanced Innovation Challenges pilots.

Programme or structure	What it does	Notable figures or features from EIC material
EIC Pathfinder	Supports early stage high risk research to develop radical technologies	Open and challenge strands. 2026 Pathfinder budget examples cited in work programme
EIC Transition	Matures technology towards relevant application environments and market readiness	Grants up to €2.5 million, booster grants for complementary activities
EIC Accelerator	Scale up grants and equity support for startups and SMEs	Grant and equity blend. Step 1 and Step 2 selection with business coaching
STEP Scale Up and STEP Scale Up Defence	Equity investments to catalyse rounds of €50 to €150 million for strategic technologies	Equity only investments €10 to €30 million per company. 2026 STEP budgets highlighted in programme
EIC Fund	EU backed venture investment vehicle that co-invests with private partners	Capitalisation reported as over €4 billion. Investment agreements signed figure noted in EIC pages
Scaleup Europe Fund (SEF)	Planned late stage growth fund to attract private anchor investors	Described as multi billion and part of the EIC Fund umbrella subject to selection of fund manager
Business Acceleration Services (BAS)	Coaching, market access, investor readiness, procurement and trade fair support	Claims of thousands of meetings and hundreds of deals in EIC impact material

Numbers the EIC cites and how they should be read

The EIC publishes impact reports and data hub figures that are useful but are self reported and aggregated across multiple programmes and time spans. The Board refers to these broader impacts when pressing for programme continuity. Independent scrutiny matters because headline figures can bundle grants, equity, co invested capital and wider mobilised private money.

Metric	Figure reported in EIC materials	Context and caution
Total EIC investments in Horizon Europe only	€3.60 billion in grants and €1.15 billion in equity for a total of €4.75 billion	This is a cumulative figure in the EIC Data Hub specific to Horizon Europe period. Equity numbers exclude some undisclosed holdings.
EIC Fund capitalisation	Described as over €4 billion	The Fund mixes public capital with co investment and operates managed compartments and external fund managers.
Leverage claim	EIC Fund claims around €3.5 private capital raised per €1 invested via co investment effects	Leverage is self reported. It is useful but sensitive to time frames and deal definitions.
Trusted Investor Network	111 investors representing over €300 billion in assets under management	Network membership signals outreach but it is not a guarantee of committed capital to any single deal.

Negotiation issues the Board highlights and the operational risks

The Board identifies a number of practical fault lines that will need careful treatment during the remainder of the legislative and implementation process. These are not legal niceties. They determine how much freedom Programme Managers have to run high risk portfolios, whether the EIC Fund and new late stage vehicles operate in a coherent manner, and how defence and dual use work will be handled.

Risk 1 Programmatic fragmentation:Creating multiple competing EU funds for scale up risks diluting institutional focus and raising coordination costs. The Board argues that Scaleup Europe Fund should sit naturally under the EIC umbrella if it is meant to follow EIC backed companies to later rounds.

Risk 2 Loss of Programme Manager agility:ARPA like Challenges require fast, curated calls, portfolio management and the ability to follow winners with flexible support. If rules tie Programme Managers too tightly to prescriptive, slow processes the Challenge model will not deliver.

Risk 3 Defence and dual use governance:The Board supports ring fenced defence work with a separate budget and bespoke rules. The operational challenge is to secure sensitive technologies while preserving market access and investment incentives for startups, and to ensure national security clearance and procurement regimes are coherent with EU funding rules.

Risk 4 Budget and capacity mismatch:An expanded mandate without matching administrative resources will slow delivery. The Board stresses that an increased EIC remit needs both commensurate funding and sufficient agency and programme staff to run Challenge portfolios, manage equity instruments and coordinate with national actors.

What the Board recommends and what to watch next

The Board offered concrete directions while reserving further formal advice. Its practical recommendations are relevant for negotiators, implementers and innovation stakeholders.

Recommendation 1 Keep an integrated innovation journey:Retain a single EIC with grant, challenge, BAS and equity functions that can shepherd high risk ideas from research to market rather than splitting responsibilities across competing instruments.

Recommendation 2 Protect Programme Manager autonomy:Adopt a two stage process where policy gives strategic guidance on Challenge priorities and Programme Managers design and operate nimble, mission aligned Challenge calls with active portfolio management.

Recommendation 3 Keep the EIC Fund coherent and reusable:Ensure continuity of investment capacity, avoid unnecessary fragmentation and preserve mechanisms that allow reuse of proceeds from exits to finance follow on investments when compatible with rules and market practice.

Recommendation 4 Ring fence defence funding and build expertise:Defence and dual use activities should have a dedicated budget and bespoke implementation rules while the EIC and national authorities build the necessary security aware investment and programme management capabilities.

Practical next steps to watch are the European Parliament’s negotiating position and the subsequent trilogue with the Council and Commission. The Board said it is prepared to provide technical advice during those stages. Implementation design documents and EIC work programmes will be the test of whether the careful language in the PGA and Commission proposal translates into operational freedom and funding continuity in practice.

A measured appraisal

The EIC Board’s statement is a cautious endorsement. It signals that stakeholders inside the EIC apparatus accept political momentum for expansion while insisting that the hard part comes after the political agreement. The risk is not legislative language alone. The bigger risk is that implementation choices and resource allocations made after the legislative texts become law will either enable or hobble the EIC’s capacity to back Europe’s most uncertain but potentially transformative technologies. Negotiators should therefore move from headline commitments to operational detail while preserving agility, protecting investment continuity and ensuring appropriate safeguards for sensitive areas.

Where readers can follow developments

Key channels to monitor are the European Commission and EISMEA websites for work programmes and guidance notes, the European Parliament negotiations on the Horizon Europe and ECF legislative files, and forthcoming EIC Board commentary and implementation documents. Watch also for the EIC work programme updates and the selection of fund managers for the Scaleup Europe Fund as practical indicators of how the policy will be realised.

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