EIC Transition first 2022 cut-off: what the numbers show

The European Innovation Council reported 165 proposals in the first 2022 cut-off for EIC Transition. The call targets technologies that have passed experimental proof of principle in the lab and aims to finance further maturation, validation in application relevant environments, and the development of market readiness. Grants of up to €2.5 million are available to support these activities.

What EIC Transition funds and who is eligible

EIC Transition is a Horizon Europe instrument that takes research outcomes that have reached experimental proof of principle and invests in the work needed to demonstrate the technology in application relevant environments and to prepare a business case for market entry. Awards are non-dilutive grants intended to raise the technology and market readiness of innovations and are aimed at single applicants or small consortia. Importantly, proposals must build on results generated by eligible earlier projects such as EIC Pathfinder, Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) projects, or European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept grants.

Breakdown of the challenge strands and their objectives

Alongside the open strand that accepts proposals from any scientific or technological domain, the 2022 cut-off included three targeted Challenges. The submission statistics and a short description of each Challenge follow.

Green digital devices for the future

Two proposals under this challenge requested a combined €2.98 million. The challenge targets demonstration of novel digital devices or architectures that offer clear, quantified advantages in energy efficiency, reduced e-waste, or lower reliance on scarce or heavy metals compared with existing alternatives. The goal is demonstrable gains for relevant applications and reduced environmental impact across device lifecycle.

Process and system integration of clean energy technologies

The largest share of challenge interest came here. Seventeen proposals from 17 countries asked for about €144 million in total. The Challenge finances projects that develop energy technologies, including renewable fuels, designed to decarbonise the energy sector. Emphasis is on selecting appropriate use cases and integrating sustainable technologies into existing and new energy systems at component, process or infrastructure level.

RNA-based therapies and diagnostics for complex or rare genetic diseases

Three proposals requested €6.7 million. This Challenge funds technologies for more effective and safer RNA delivery methods applicable to non-infectious diseases. Projects are expected to leverage RNA as tools to molecularly classify tumour sub-types and stratify patients, supporting more precise treatments for diseases with high unmet medical needs.

Applications, budgets and an eyebrow-raising observation

Across the first cut-off applicants requested approximately €482.2 million for 165 proposals. The open strand’s average request per proposal is close to the stated grant ceiling of €2.5 million. The challenge submissions show a different pattern. For example, the process and system integration of clean energy technologies strand averages more than €8 million per proposal. At face value these figures sit above the advertised EIC Transition ceiling.

Possible explanations include that: the requested sums represent total project costs for multi-beneficiary consortia with several partners; applicants may have listed aggregate budgets while expecting EIC to fund a portion; or applicants are signalling larger, system-level ambitions that would naturally entail higher total budgets even if the EIC grant forms only a part of the financing. Whatever the combination of reasons, the mismatch between some requested totals and the typical per-grant maximum is a useful data point for reviewers and applicants alike and will influence selection decisions.

Evaluation and next steps

According to the EIC statement, the 165 proposals were under evaluation at the time of publication and projects were scheduled to start in autumn 2022. The Transition selection process involves expert evaluation and, for higher maturity cases, jury interviews. Successful projects receive grants and access to EIC business acceleration services designed to help with coaching, investor readiness and market connections.

EIC Transition awardees can also explore fast track routes to the EIC Accelerator and may be eligible for additional small 'booster' grants for complementary activities. The Programme Manager model used by the EIC aims to shepherd promising projects through transition to market by combining grant funding with tailored non-financial support.

Context and implications for the European innovation ecosystem

Two points matter in context. First, the Transition call is an explicit attempt to bridge high-risk research and commercial application. The policy logic is to preserve Europe’s edge in deep tech by funding the risky work needed to turn proofs of principle into demonstrators that investors or industry can take forward. Second, demand is clearly strong. High numbers of proposals signal both scientific vitality and the appetite among researchers and start-ups to pursue commercial pathways for advanced research results.

From a pragmatic standpoint the volume of requests increases pressure on the selection process and on complementary financing ecosystems. EIC grants are not large enough—nor intended—to scale every promising idea into a global business. The EIC relies on follow-on investment from private sources, co-investors and other public instruments to scale winners. That dependence is why EIC transition projects are evaluated not only on technical merit but also on market readiness and credible scaling strategies.

Caveats and a cautious reading of the results

Numbers do not equal success. High submission volume signals interest but not outcomes. The EIC has to make hard trade offs. A programme that tries to support everything risks spreading public money too thinly. Conversely, a selective programme can concentrate support but must manage the political and economic consequences of exclusion for applicants and regions. The EIC’s broader commitments include gender balance, geographic spread and contributing to strategic goals such as the green and digital transitions. Transparency on how priorities are balanced during evaluation is important to maintain trust across the research and innovation community.

Applicants should also be realistic about the EIC grant role. Transition funding is typically one leg of a financing journey that includes private capital, public co-financing and national or regional instruments. Projects that demonstrate credible co-financing paths and market pull are more likely to clear selection hurdles.

Practical signposts and documents

The EIC points applicants to several documents relevant to this call including the EIC Transition funding pages, the EIC Work Programme 2022 and the list of eligible upstream projects that can be used as the basis for Transition proposals. These pages also explain application rules, eligibility and the evaluation and interview processes. Applicants and observers should consult the original EIC guidance for full procedural detail.

Publication date for the EIC announcement: 13 May 2022. Proposals were under evaluation at the time and projects were due to start in autumn 2022.

Bottom line

The first 2022 EIC Transition cut-off shows a healthy number of submissions and clear sectoral interest, especially in clean energy system integration. The requests indicate robust ambition but also surface a tension between the scope of applicants' ambitions and the published per-grant ceiling. Evaluators and Programme Managers will need to reconcile technical merit, market readiness and budget realism when deciding which projects to fund. For applicants, the takeaway is straightforward. Build your proposal on demonstrable prior results, be explicit about what EIC funding will achieve toward demonstrator and market readiness, and articulate realistic follow-on funding or deployment paths.