EIC Fund requests offers for an AI-based system to support applicants and streamline evaluation

On 17 September 2020 the European Innovation Council's investment arm, the EIC Fund, published an Open Call for Expression of Interest seeking suppliers for an artificial intelligence based system. The stated aim is to enhance support for applicants to EIC funding and to improve the efficiency of the EIC's evaluation and funding process.

What the announcement contains

The public notice referenced two documents: a summary notice and a set of technical specifications. The announcement set a submission deadline of 8 October 2020 at 17:00 Central European Time and provided a contact mailbox for enquiries. No budget figure or detailed procurement timetable was published within the short announcement text.

Context within the EIC and EU innovation ecosystem

The EIC Fund operates under the European Innovation Council, which is part of the European Commission's broader effort to identify and finance high potential deep tech start-ups and scaleups across the EU. The EIC Fund combines grant support from programmes such as the EIC Accelerator with equity investments and co-investments to help companies scale. The commissioning of an AI tool to assist applicant support and evaluation is consistent with member state and Commission interest in automating administrative processes and handling increasing volumes of applications, but it also raises governance and procurement questions specific to the public sector and to high-stakes funding decisions.

What an AI system for applicant support and evaluation might cover

The announcement does not enumerate the tool's functional requirements in the short text. Based on typical needs within application and evaluation workflows an AI system could be expected to perform tasks such as triage of incoming proposals, automated classification of proposals by domain or maturity, semantic search across submissions, automated pre-screening against eligibility rules, support for reviewer assignment, assistance in detecting plagiarism or overlaps, generation of summaries or candidate shortlists for human reviewers and analytics on application pipelines. Any or all of these functions might be part of the technical specifications referenced by the EIC Fund.

Governance, data protection and procurement concerns

The short announcement leaves several important questions unanswered. Public sector procurement for AI that influences funding decisions needs to address transparency, explainability, vendor lock-in, data protection under GDPR and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 for EU institutions, bias and fairness in automated pre-screening, security of applicant data and the allocation of legal responsibilities among the EIC Fund and any chosen supplier. The announcement does not provide budget figures, decision criteria or data governance details in the public notice.

Practical information for interested parties

The EIC Fund listed two documents as part of the Open Call for Expression of Interest: a summary notice and technical specifications. The contact point for enquiries was rtd-eic-fund@ec.europa.eu. The deadline for submitting an expression of interest was 8 October 2020 at 17:00 CET. Respondents should consult the full technical specifications for mandatory eligibility criteria and submission formats.

Implications for the EU innovation ecosystem

If properly specified and governed, an AI tool could improve administrative throughput, reduce routine workload for evaluators and provide analytics to shape future programmes. Conversely, poorly specified systems risk opaque decision support, hidden vendor lock-in and legal friction over personal data. Given the EIC's role as a major funder of deep tech in Europe, the design choices made in this procurement could set precedents for AI use across EU research and innovation programmes, and so merit careful scrutiny from policymakers, civil society and potential vendors.

What the announcement does not say explicitly

The short public notice does not include a contract value or funding envelope, the detailed scoring and selection criteria, whether the AI component would be used for automated decisions or only to assist humans, or the intended hosting and lifecycle management arrangements. These are substantive items that interested suppliers and oversight bodies will want to see in the full procurement documentation.

Bottom line

The EIC Fund's 17 September 2020 call for expressions of interest for an AI-based system signals institutional interest in automating and augmenting applicant support and evaluation workflows. The announcement is brief and lacks key procurement and governance details. For prospective suppliers and stakeholders the next step is to consult the referenced technical specifications, seek clarifications by the stated contact, and assess how the EIC intends to manage data protection, algorithmic transparency and competition in the procurement.