Commission amends EIE work programme and announces new targeted funding

On 11 May 2022 the European Commission adopted an amendment to the European Innovation Ecosystems 2021–2022 Work Programme under Horizon Europe and announced additional funding of €11.7 million. The revision adds targeted measures designed to shore up parts of Europe’s innovation ecosystem that have lagged behind in investment, gender balance and investor networks. The changes include the formal renewal of Women TechEU at a materially larger scale, a new tender to boost women’s representation in angel investing, and clarifications and adjustments to several forthcoming open calls.

What the amendment funds and when the calls open

The package mixes direct grants, co‑funding instruments and contracts. Key items announced are Women TechEU, a new tender for angel investing, and two CONNECT COFUND calls that will open in mid June. A SCALEUP call also received administrative adjustments and will open in late June.

Women TechEU: expanded but still early stage support

Following a positive pilot, the Commission renewed Women TechEU for 2022 and increased the dedicated budget to €10 million. Under this scheme each selected women-led deep‑tech start‑up receives a fixed grant of €75,000 together with coaching and mentoring via EIC Business Acceleration Services, networking and pitching opportunities and links to other services such as the Enterprise Europe Network and InvestEU. The Commission projects the enlarged budget will support roughly 130 companies compared with 50 in the pilot.

New €2 million tender to foster women in angel investing

The amended work programme also creates a new tender worth €2 million aimed at strengthening women’s representation across innovation and investment ecosystems by supporting angel investors and their syndicates in countries where these activities remain weak. The action is designed to incentivise cross‑border collaboration with countries that have more developed angel communities so that promising deals can be identified and co‑funded across borders.

COFUND calls and the SCALEUP lump sum change

The amendment explicitly clarifies the COFUND rate in the context of forthcoming EIE CONNECT calls. Two COFUND calls were highlighted: HORIZON-EIE-2022-CONNECT-02-01 (Implementing co‑funded action plans for interconnection of innovation ecosystems) with a budget of €8 million and HORIZON-EIE-2022-CONNECT-02-02 (Stimulating innovation procurement) with a budget of €4.5 million. Both calls were due to open for submission on 14 June 2022.

Governance and content changes

The amended work programme also introduced two governance updates. First, independent experts will now monitor EIE actions. Second, the action HORIZON-EIE-2022-JRC-01 was withdrawn. The Commission made the full work programme document available with the amendment.

How this fits into the broader Horizon Europe agenda

European Innovation Ecosystems is a part of Horizon Europe and its stated aim is to create more connected, inclusive and efficient innovation ecosystems that support company scale‑up, innovation deployment and cooperation among national, regional and local innovation actors. EIE actions are designed to complement the European Innovation Council, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and other Horizon Europe activities as well as national and regional initiatives.

Context and critical perspective

The additional €11.7 million is a targeted top up within the EIE remit. It is important to keep scale in perspective. Horizon Europe as a whole received a larger revision in May 2022 that added several hundred million euros to Mission budgets and researcher support after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The additions to EIE are small relative to the structural gaps the Commission highlights: patchy angel markets, asymmetric regional capacity, the gender gap among founders and investors and limited channels for late stage capital for scaling deep tech.

Practical takeaways for applicants and stakeholders

Applicants preparing responses to the upcoming calls should do the following: align proposals with COFUND co‑financing expectations and demonstrate committed co‑funders; if responding to lump sum calls, make conservative but realistic budgets and show how outputs will be delivered under fixed financing; if applying to Women TechEU, emphasise scale‑readiness and how coaching will be turned into measurable business development; and for the angel investor tender, consortia should document concrete pathways for cross‑border syndication and measurable indicators for increasing women investor participation.

Bottom line

The Commission’s amendment adds targeted resources and clarifications that address real frictions in Europe’s innovation landscape: gender gaps among founders and investors, weak angel markets in some countries, and the need to interconnect regional ecosystems. The resources are catalytic rather than transformational. The success of these measures will depend on implementation detail, the quality of co‑funding partnerships and whether member states and private actors marshal matching resources and policy change to scale the impact.

Key terms explained

Further reading and contacts

Relevant sources include the EISMEA and EIC pages for the European Innovation Ecosystems programme, the Funding & Tenders Portal call pages for the CONNECT and SCALEUP topics, and the amended Horizon Europe work programme document. For enquiries and practical support applicants should contact EISMEA or their national Horizon Europe contact point.