How the EIC mobilised €20 million and related measures to support Ukrainian tech after February 2022
- ›The European Innovation Council launched a €20 million Horizon Europe call to support Ukrainian tech start-ups and SMEs with grants and services.
- ›The targeted action aimed to deliver up to €60,000 each to at least 200 Ukrainian tech companies plus nonfinancial support via a pan-European network of partners.
- ›By the 7 September 2022 submission deadline 12 eligible proposals were received and the evaluation completed in late 2022 with results promised for early March 2023.
- ›Ukrainian organisations also engaged directly in mainstream EIC programmes with applications to the Accelerator, Pathfinder and Hop On facility.
- ›EISMEA and the Single Market Programme supported parallel measures through the Enterprise Europe Network, cluster platforms, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and other programmes.
- ›The measures are useful but modest relative to the scale of need and implementation complexity creates risks for timely impact.
How the EIC mobilised €20 million and related measures to support Ukrainian tech
In the first year after the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine the European Innovation Council and the European Commission’s executive agency EISMEA put in place targeted measures to help preserve and scale Ukrainian innovation capacity. The most visible intervention was a dedicated €20 million Horizon Europe amendment to fund a Ukraine-specific action under the EIC work programme. That action was intended to combine small direct grants with business support and network building to help Ukrainian start-ups survive, relocate temporarily if needed and connect to European markets and investors.
The €20 million Ukrainian tech call: structure, aims and status
The Commission amended the EIC 2022 work programme to open a targeted call (HORIZON-EIC-2022-UKRAINIANTECH-01) allocating €20 million to a pan-European consortium to support Ukrainian tech start-ups and SMEs. The call combined direct small grants with business acceleration services. It was framed as emergency and resilience support but implemented through standard competitive proposal processes.
| Item | Detail |
| Call identifier | HORIZON-EIC-2022-UKRAINIANTECH-01 |
| Total budget | €20,000,000 |
| Per-company grant | Up to €60,000 (innovation grants) |
| Targeted beneficiaries | At least 200 Ukrainian tech start-ups/SMEs |
| Deadline for proposals | 7 September 2022 |
| Number of eligible proposals submitted by deadline | 12 |
| Evaluation timing | Evaluated in Q4 2022; results to be announced early March 2023 |
How Ukrainian actors engaged across EIC instruments
Beyond the specific €20 million call, Ukrainian organisations applied to mainstream EIC funding streams. Participation included applications to the multi-stage Accelerator, to Pathfinder research grants, and to the Hop On facility that allows widened participation in ongoing projects.
| EIC instrument | Applications involving Ukrainian participants | Selected / invited |
| EIC Accelerator (three-step process) | 31 applications in Step 1 (short), 7 applications in Step 2 (full) from 5 distinct applicants | Final interviews were ongoing at the time of reporting |
| EIC Pathfinder | 45 applications with Ukrainian participants | 4 projects selected for funding |
| Hop On facility (Pathfinder first call) | 7 applications received | 1 Ukrainian research institute invited to join an ongoing Pathfinder project |
Outreach, visibility and ambassadorial support
The EIC worked to raise awareness of its funding streams inside Ukraine. A practical effort was the online workshop “The European Unicorn Factory: Funding Opportunities for Ukrainian Innovators” held on 21 April 2022 with the Ukrainian Start-up Fund and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. A full recording was made available. The EIC also appointed a Ukraine-based entrepreneur, Sergey Sereda, as an EIC Ambassador in September 2022 to help reach local founders and feed experience back to the EIC.
Other EISMEA and Single Market Programme measures supporting Ukraine
EISMEA coordinated several actions under the Single Market Programme, notably through the Enterprise Europe Network, the European Cluster Collaboration Platform and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. The aim was to combine financial support with practical market access, supply chain matchmaking and people mobility measures.
Wider policy context and complementary EU support
The EIC measures sat alongside a larger set of EU commitments to Ukraine. Following Ukraine’s ratification the EU-Ukraine association to Horizon Europe and Euratom entered into force, enabling Ukrainian institutions to participate on equal terms. The Commission also announced temporary waivers of Ukraine’s financial contribution for 2021 and 2022 estimated at around €20 million and launched schemes such as ERA4Ukraine, Horizon4Ukraine, ERC for Ukraine and MSCA4Ukraine with a dedicated €25 million fellowship scheme for displaced researchers.
Assessment and risks: what to expect and what to watch
The EIC and EISMEA responses included pragmatic and relevant measures, but several caveats are worth emphasising. First, the scale of the programmes is modest relative to likely needs for reconstruction and for preserving an innovation ecosystem under stress. €20 million aimed at 200 companies is useful but limited. Second, competitive processes and complex eligibility rules create friction and can slow delivery in crisis conditions. Third, centralised EU instruments can have limited reach if national and local business support channels are not well connected. Finally, relocations, IP ownership, and investor confidence are longer term issues that small grant programmes alone will not resolve.
Recommendations and indicators for monitoring impact
To judge effectiveness policymakers and stakeholders should monitor both outputs and outcomes. Short term metrics should include number of grants disbursed, time from selection to payment, numbers of beneficiaries receiving Business Acceleration Services and participation in matchmaking events. Medium term indicators should track survival and revenue growth of beneficiary companies, follow‑on investment raised and jobs retained or created. Given the potential for fragmentation the Commission and EISMEA should publish clear process milestones and coordinate with national schemes to avoid duplication.
| Recommended short term indicators | Recommended medium term indicators | Why it matters |
| Number of microgrants paid; time to first payment; number of companies reached by BAS | Follow-on private investment raised by beneficiaries; survival rate at 12 and 24 months | Shows whether funds reached intended recipients quickly and whether the support catalysed private capital and business continuity |
| Number of introductions to investors and corporates; number of trade missions | Revenue growth and jobs retained/created among beneficiaries; technology transfer or IP deals | Measures market integration and the role of EU support in enabling commercialisation |
Where to find results and follow developments
Formal information and updates were published on the EIC and EISMEA websites and the Funding and Tenders Portal. The EIC published a press release in June 2022 announcing the setup of the call and its objectives, and later public updates stated the number of proposals received and the timetable for evaluation. For those tracking impact, the EIC Data Hub and EISMEA communications are the official sources for award lists, follow‑on investment and programme evaluation.
Bottom line. The EIC and EISMEA moved quickly to design targeted support for Ukraine’s innovation community and to adapt existing SME and ecosystem programmes to the emergency. The measures were relevant and pragmatic but modest in scale and dependent on multi‑layered implementation chains. The real test is whether grants, coaching and matchmaking were delivered fast enough and whether they helped firms secure follow‑on investment, preserve IP value in Europe and plug into supply chains during and after the conflict.