What the launch announced

On 18 March 2021 the European Commission presented the European Innovation Council, a flagship element of Horizon Europe aimed at identifying, funding and scaling breakthrough innovations originating in Europe. The Commission set the EIC budget at more than 10 billion euros in current prices for the 2021 to 2027 period. The EIC is billed as an integrated instrument that combines three strands of support into a single offering. These are long range exploratory research, a fast track accelerator for start ups and SMEs, and an equity investment vehicle named the EIC Fund.

The Commission published the EIC's first annual work programme at launch. The work programme opens calls and funding opportunities that total more than 1.5 billion euros for 2021. In parallel the Commission opened competitions tied to wider innovation recognition, including prizes for women innovators and for innovative cities.

How the EIC is organised and why it is framed as unique

The Commission and the executive agencies emphasise that the EIC differs from many national or regional programmes because it seeks to bridge research and market scaling in one integrated instrument. It builds on a pilot under Horizon 2020 and packages experimental research, business acceleration and direct investment together. The EIC is implemented through multiple components that target different stages in the innovation chain.

Beyond these core funding instruments the EIC provides Business Acceleration Services intended to help beneficiaries with coaching, mentoring, investor matchmaking and corporate partnerships. A new role of EIC Programme Managers is introduced to develop technology visions for strategic areas such as cell and gene therapy, green hydrogen and tools to treat brain disease and then to coordinate portfolios and stakeholders around those visions.

Targeted priorities and prizes

The Commission highlighted several priorities for EIC spending. About half of the 2021 Accelerator envelope is reserved to support innovations that contribute to the European Green Deal and to strategic digital and health technologies. The Pathfinder will continue to fund open curiosity driven science and channel part of its budget into five challenge areas. The EIC also integrates recognition mechanisms that aim to raise the profile of innovators and local innovation ecosystems. These include the EU Prize for Women Innovators, the European Capital of Innovation Awards or iCapital and awards for social innovation and innovative procurement.

Background and pilot results

The formal EIC builds on a pilot launched under Horizon 2020 that ran between 2018 and 2021. The pilot phase supported more than 5 000 SMEs and start ups and around 330 research projects with a budget of approximately 3.5 billion euros. The Commission frames the new EIC as an upscaled and more integrated successor intended to translate those pilot lessons into a sustained capability to back risky deep technology across Europe.

How applicants move through the system

The published work programme sets out the application flow that applies to the Accelerator and associated services. The process is staged and can involve coaching, remote assessment, the preparation of a full proposal, interviews or pitching before jury panels and then the grant or investment negotiation and signature. Applicants may also opt to have their proposals shared with national or regional funding bodies in order to secure complementary financing through the Seal of Excellence mechanism.

Governance, management and partners

The EIC is implemented under Horizon Europe rules. The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, known as EISMEA, plays a central role in delivery. The EIC Advisory Board composed of leading innovators advises on strategy and implementation. The EIC Fund will operate alongside the EIC programme and is intended to channel public equity into scale ups alongside private co investors. Implementation details such as fund governance and the role of co investors were signalled as part of the work programme and related documents.

What to watch and implementation caveats

The EIC launch sets out an ambitious architecture to back high risk deep tech and to help European companies scale internationally. The ambition is significant, but the model faces practical tests that are common to public innovation finance initiatives. These include the difficulty of deploying equity at scale into early stage deep tech where exit horizons are long, the need to attract private co investment and to manage conflicts of interest in co investment decisions, and the operational complexity of running an integrated grant and investment programme across multiple agencies and jurisdictions.

Other risks and constraints are political and structural. The Commission and EIC have signalled measures to widen participation from less represented regions and to increase the representation of women led teams. Those objectives require sustained outreach and adaptation of selection processes if they are to overcome longstanding disparities across the European innovation landscape. Measuring theprogramme's success will require clarity on metrics that go beyond grant counts and headline investment figures, such as the ability to generate industrial scale deployments, sustained job creation and technology sovereignty in critical areas.

Next steps and how to engage

The EIC work programme and the calls announced at launch opened new opportunities. The Commission organised an applicants day on 19 March to explain the new procedures and to guide potential applicants on eligibility and how to apply. The women innovators prize and the iCapital competition were open for applications at launch. Researchers, start ups and investors interested in engaging with the EIC should consult the official EIC portals and national contact points for the most recent application guidance and deadlines.

Bottom line

The European Innovation Council represents a step change in the European Union's attempt to close the gap between research and market success for high risk deep technology. The combination of grants, acceleration services and a dedicated equity fund is a logical response to known market failures. The scale of the budget is material, but the ultimate test will be how efficiently the EIC directs capital and attention to genuinely disruptive innovations and how it addresses regional and demographic imbalances in access to support. Observers should track deployment rates, co investment leverage and indicators of commercial scale up to judge whether the EIC delivers on its promises.