EIC Pre-Accelerator backs 70 deep tech SMEs from widening countries with €32.5 million

Brussels, April 23rd 2026

Summary

›The European Commission selected 70 early-stage deep tech companies for EIC Pre-Accelerator support worth about €32.5 million.
›Awards are up to €500,000 per company and target widening and associated countries as well as outermost regions.
›Winners come from 22 countries with Portugal, Estonia and Turkey having the highest numbers; 24% of projects are coordinated by women.
›A further 320 unfunded applications receive a Seal of Excellence to seek alternative EU or national funding.
›The next call is planned with a €40 million budget and up to €1 million per company, subject to adoption under the 2026-2027 WIDERA work programme.
›Funding is confirmed only after grant agreements are signed and technical claims by companies remain to be independently validated.

A targeted push to strengthen deep tech capacity where it is weakest

The European Commission has selected 70 companies under the EIC Pre-Accelerator call. The instrument aims to strengthen the capacity of early-stage deep tech SMEs and start-ups in Horizon Europe widening and associated countries and in outermost regions. The selection spans 22 countries. Portugal, Estonia and Turkey recorded the highest number of successful proposals. Collectively the cohort is set to receive around €32.5 million in EU funding, with a ceiling of up to €500,000 per company. According to the Commission, 24% of selected projects are coordinated by women. All selected applicants have been informed and are now preparing their grant agreements. Funding will be confirmed upon signature.

Budget limitations left 320 additional high-quality applications unfunded. These will receive a Seal of Excellence to help them access alternative or complementary support from EU or national sources. The programme’s stated purpose is to help beneficiaries improve business, investor and technology readiness so they can compete for EIC Accelerator funding, attract private investment, and tap national or regional schemes that recognise the Seal of Excellence.

What the selected companies are building

The set of examples highlighted by the Commission ranges across biotech, industrial sensing, ocean energy and space electronics. These illustrate the breadth of technologies present in widening ecosystems, though their ultimate market viability remains to be tested at scale.

Company	Country	Focus as described by the programme or company sources	Context and notes
Biotts	Poland	Multifunctional transdermal carrier technology for non-invasive delivery of insulin	Company materials claim a semi-solid carrier can transport large molecules up to about 6,000 Da. Clinical validation and regulatory pathways will be decisive.
ENMOS	Turkey	Smart optical sensor for water and energy efficiency	An industrial automation supplier in textiles that builds sensors and control systems. The challenge is deployment beyond niche process lines and demonstrating measurable savings.
Frenesim das Ondas (Wave To Energy)	Portugal	Breakthrough technology for wave energy commercialisation	Team advances a dual-chamber oscillating water column approach and links it to hydrogen production. Wave energy commercialisation remains technically and financially challenging in Europe.
Skylabs	Slovenia	Fault-tolerant, low-power microcontroller for smart sensing and control in space	Targets radiation resilience and low power. Space heritage and qualification will be key hurdles before supply-chain uptake.
Myceen OÜ	Estonia	Listed in the selection; known for mycelium-based materials and automation of bio-manufacturing	Commission example text attributes an mRNA cancer vaccine to Myceen. That attribution aligns with Vectiopep OÜ in the same country and appears to be a mismatch in the examples.
Vectiopep OÜ	Estonia	First-in-class mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccine	A separate Estonian company in the cohort focused on therapeutic mRNA. Confusion in the example list underlines the need to verify company descriptions case by case.
Orbital Matter	Poland	In-space 3D printing to create deployable solar arrays	Aims at high power-to-volume arrays. In-orbit demonstration and reliability will define relevance for satellite primes.
Resquant	Poland	Minimalist IP for next-generation quantum-safe security	A post-quantum cryptography play that faces a crowded standards-driven market where interoperability and certification matter.
EXOGENUS Therapeutics	Portugal	Exosome therapy for drug-induced hearing loss	Advanced therapy medicinal products face high regulatory and manufacturing barriers. Strong translational partnerships will be important.
UP Catalyst	Estonia	Surface-treated graphite materials for batteries	Materials scale-up must show consistent quality and integration into cell manufacturing lines at competitive cost.
ReCatalyst	Slovenia	Advanced catalysts for hydrogen production	Competes on durability and cost in electrolyser supply chains under strong global competition.
Haiqu	Ukraine	Middleware for early fault-tolerant quantum computing	Software layer targeting noisy intermediate-scale and early fault-tolerant eras. Commercial traction depends on vendor partnerships and benchmarks.

Policy mechanics and where this fits in the EU toolbox

The EIC Pre-Accelerator is a joint initiative between the European Innovation Council and the Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area programme, known as WIDERA. It is funded under the WIDERA Work Programme 2025. By design it directs resources to ecosystems with structurally lower participation and success rates in EU research and innovation calls. The intent is to improve the pipeline and readiness of deep tech ventures to compete in later instruments like the EIC Accelerator and to unlock national or regional matching that recognises the EU Seal of Excellence.

Widening countries and associated regions:Widening actions under Horizon Europe target Member States and associated countries that lag behind in research and innovation performance. The goal is to build capacity and enhance participation through networking with stronger ecosystems, talent circulation and institutional upgrades. Outermost regions are also included to reduce geographic concentration effects.

EIC Pre-Accelerator versus EIC Accelerator:The Pre-Accelerator provides grants and hands-on support to strengthen business, investor and technology readiness at early stages. The EIC Accelerator is a later-stage, highly selective instrument that funds individual companies with larger grants and equity through the EIC Fund. The Pre-Accelerator is meant to help applicants reach the maturity level needed to compete in the Accelerator’s demanding selection process.

Seal of Excellence:A Seal of Excellence is an EU quality label given to proposals that passed evaluation thresholds but could not be funded due to budget constraints. It signals fundable quality and can be used to seek support from other EU programmes or national and regional schemes that recognise the Seal. It does not guarantee funding and local implementation conditions vary widely across countries.

Funding, numbers and the next call

Item	2025 call outcome	Next call plan (subject to WIDERA 2026-2027)
Companies selected	70	To be determined by future call
Countries represented	22 with Portugal, Estonia and Turkey leading by count	To be determined
Women coordinators	24% of selected projects	No target stated in the announcement
Per-company funding cap	Up to €500,000	Up to €1,000,000
Total budget	About €32.5 million	€40 million
Unfunded quality proposals	320 receive a Seal of Excellence	Not applicable
Key dates	Selection announced 23 April 2026; funding upon grant signature	Companies will be invited to apply by November 2027 according to the notice. Timelines are indicative and depend on adoption of the work programme.

The timeline language in the Commission notice places the next call under the 2026-2027 WIDERA work programme with applications invited by November 2027. Work programmes are approved on a rolling basis, so precise dates, budgets and conditions may still shift. Companies planning to apply should track the official Funding and Tenders portal for final details.

What €500,000 can and cannot do for deep tech

Pre-accelerator grants of up to €500,000 can fund critical early work such as proof-of-concept prototyping, regulatory mapping, IP consolidation, small-scale trials and investor readiness. They are not a substitute for multi-million euro product development or pilot line investments that many deep tech fields require. The programme is explicit about its role as a capacity booster rather than a full financing solution.

Country concentration and ecosystem effects

Portugal’s presence reflects national focus on blue economy niches and a maturing venture support fabric backed by EU and national funds. Estonia’s digital-first ecosystem yields a steady flow of software-inflected deep tech, but domestic scaling space is limited which pushes companies to internationalise early. Turkey participates as an associated country and brings strong industrial engineering capabilities. However currency risk, standards alignment and cross-border go-to-market complexities can slow adoption. Country counts are not outcomes and do not guarantee survival or scale.

Gender representation shows progress with remaining gaps

Women coordinate 24% of selected projects. That is notable for deep tech where leadership skew is persistent, but still short of the broader EIC’s public emphasis on increasing the share of women-led companies. The quality of support offered and the availability of follow-on funding will influence whether this representation is sustained at later stages.

Technology claims will need rigorous validation

The programme surfaces ambitious claims that require third-party verification and market testing. A few examples illustrate both potential and uncertainty.

Transdermal delivery of large molecules:Biotts promotes a semi-solid carrier system that it says can transport molecules up to roughly 6,000 Daltons through the skin. If substantiated in clinical settings this would push beyond conventional transdermal limits which historically favour small, moderately lipophilic molecules. However, efficacy, safety, dosing control and manufacturing reproducibility must be independently demonstrated and pass regulatory scrutiny.

Wave energy via oscillating water columns:The oscillating water column concept captures wave energy by driving air through a turbine as water oscillates in a chamber. It is a well-studied approach with shoreline and floating variants. Commercial deployments in Europe have been limited by survivability in harsh seas, maintenance costs and levelised cost of energy. Marketing references that wave devices can capture energy up to 90% of the time describe resource availability rather than bankable capacity factors. Any scale-up will depend on credible lifetime performance data and port integration.

Fault-tolerant microcontrollers for space:Skylabs aims to deliver low-power microcontrollers that remain operational under radiation and single event upsets. Space-grade reliability entails rigorous testing, component screening and mission heritage. The route to adoption runs through small satellite integrators and eventually primes that demand long qualification cycles.

What happens next for awardees and Seal of Excellence holders

For the 70 companies, the immediate task is to finalise grant agreements. Only then is funding confirmed. Recipients can expect intensive support aimed at business, investor and technology readiness, plus guidance on securing follow-on funding. For the 320 Seal of Excellence holders, outcomes depend on whether national or regional schemes choose to back Seals at scale. This varies by country and by budget year. A Seal is a quality mark, not a guarantee of money.

Potential pathway	What it offers	Caveats
National or regional Seal of Excellence schemes	Streamlined routes to public co-funding that recognises EU evaluation	Availability and ticket sizes vary widely across countries and years
EIC Accelerator	Larger grants and equity for scale-up and market deployment	High competition and long due diligence; requires strong technology, team and traction
Private investors and corporates	Co-investment, pilots and market access	Risk appetite in deep tech remains selective; milestones must be credible
Other EU instruments under WIDERA	Networking, talent circulation and institutional upgrades	Project-centric and not a substitute for venture funding

Governance, safeguards and the role of EISMEA

The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency implements the call under the Horizon Europe framework. The Agency’s processes are subject to EU data protection rules, audit and anti-fraud oversight. The programme indicates that artificial intelligence may be used to facilitate data processing but not for automated decision making. Oversight bodies such as the European Court of Auditors, OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office can access relevant data if needed. These layers are standard for EU-funded schemes and aim to balance speed with accountability.

Bottom line

The Pre-Accelerator directs modest but useful resources to ecosystems that underperform in EU innovation programmes. It can improve the pipeline of investable companies from widening countries. Yet it remains an enabling step rather than an outcome. The health of this cohort will be measured less by selection announcements and more by how many reach product-market fit, obtain significant follow-on funding and navigate regulatory and manufacturing hurdles. The planned increase to €1 million per company would help, but budgets and timelines remain to be finalised under future work programmes.