What the EIC Impact Report 2023 claims and why it matters

The European Innovation Council published its Impact Report 2023 presenting headline figures intended to show the EIC as a major investor and accelerator of European deep tech. The report aggregates outcomes for the Horizon Europe EIC portfolio funded since 2021 and places those results in the context of the full EIC portfolio that includes the pilot phase and predecessor instruments running back to 2014. Key numbers include a near €70 billion total portfolio valuation for EIC supported companies, over 100 investments by the EIC Fund in 2023 worth around €1.2 billion, and claims that each euro invested by the EIC Fund leverages more than €3.5 of additional capital from other investors.

Policymakers and ecosystem actors will welcome evidence that European deep tech companies supported by public instruments are growing in value and attracting follow on capital. The report is also intended to show the EIC as an investor of choice and a builder of a European deep tech investment community. At the same time the headline metrics require careful interpretation. Valuations rely on private market data and fundraising rounds. Leverage ratios can be sensitive to timing and attribution. The report does not remove the need to examine selection effects, survivorship bias and how much of the reported growth can be causally linked to EIC interventions.

Core findings reported by the EIC

How the EIC is structured and what the report covers

What the numbers mean and what to watch for

The EIC report bundles a range of metrics that are useful to benchmark progress. Still these numbers are not a full causal evaluation of programme impact. The difference between correlation and causation matters. The EIC supports a selected group of high potential firms which already have stronger growth prospects than the average small company. That selection effect will boost headline averages for employment and revenue growth among beneficiaries. Survivorship bias will also inflate metrics if firms that fail are underreported or excluded from public tallies.

Selected outcomes reported by the EIC

Beyond financial aggregates the report flags concrete outputs such as innovation generation and commercial linkages. It reports 1,686 unique innovations from EIC research projects, and says EIC companies and projects that were matched with corporates, public procurers and investors signed over 125 deals. The EIC also reports portfolio companies averaged 35 percent employment growth and 68 percent revenue growth in the first two years following support. The programme counts more than 150 companies valued over €100 million and identifies eight unicorns above €1 billion.

The EIC frames these results as evidence that it is becoming the investor of choice for European deep tech entrepreneurs and as a tool to build a community of deep tech investors across Europe. Commissioner Iliana Ivanova is quoted saying that the EIC 'has emerged as a game-changer in supporting deep tech innovation in Europe' and that the EIC report shows the programme supports startup growth while building a European investor community.

Context and policy implications

The EIC operates within a broader EU strategy to boost technological sovereignty and increase the number of global scaleups in Europe. Public funding aims to correct recognised market failures for deep tech such as long development timelines, capital intensity and early technical risk that private investors often avoid. The headline results are consistent with an intervention that helps firms grow faster and attract outside capital. The remaining question for policymakers is whether the scale, scope and targeting of EIC interventions produce the broader systemic effects the EU needs, such as stronger late stage funding markets, more serial deep tech entrepreneurs and resilient industrial adoption pathways.

Operationally the EIC still faces common challenges. Building deep tech 'unicorns' requires patient capital and a functioning ecosystem that links grants, equity, late stage capital, corporate customers and industrial scale. The EIC Fund's ability to catalyse co-investment is important but it does not by itself guarantee that an appropriately sized private capital market will emerge across all member states. Regional disparities in venture capital and the limited number of later stage funds in Europe remain structural constraints.

Methodological caveats and calls for more transparency

The report provides useful headline data but it would benefit decision makers to see more transparency on methods. This includes the exact definition of portfolio value and the date used for valuation snapshots, the methodology behind the leverage calculation, details about how innovations were counted and classified, and the extent to which unsuccessful or delisted companies are tracked. Independent evaluation using counterfactuals and longer term follow up would strengthen claims about causal impact.

Bottom line

The EIC Impact Report 2023 presents a strong narrative backed by headline figures that point to growth in the value of the EIC portfolio and increasing private co-investment. These are important outcomes for an EU instrument focused on high risk deep tech. At the same time the figures should be read as indicators rather than definitive proof of programme causality. For policymakers the next step is to pair these headline metrics with rigorous, transparent evaluation on attribution and distributional effects. That will help determine whether public support is not only producing a handful of high profile successes but is also building a durable European ecosystem for industrial scale deep tech.

Where to find the full report

The EIC Impact Report 2023 and related EIC publications are available from the European Innovation Council and EISMEA websites. The report focuses on the Horizon Europe EIC portfolio funded since 2021 and assesses longer term impacts that include the EIC pilot and predecessor actions since 2014.