Strong demand at first 2023 EIC Transition cut-off: 180 proposals, Open call requests exceed available annual allocation
- ›The European Innovation Council received 180 proposals for the first 2023 EIC Transition cut-off.
- ›EIC Transition Open drew 131 proposals from 26 countries requesting €317.65 million.
- ›Three Transition Challenges attracted 49 proposals from 21 countries, with a combined requested budget of about €41.88 million.
- ›EIC Transition grants offer up to €2.5 million to mature proof-of-principle results toward market readiness.
- ›Demand in this single cut-off substantially outstrips the EIC Transition 2023 annual allocation, implying strong competition and tighter selection.
EIC Transition first 2023 cut-off: demand, distribution and what it means
The European Innovation Council (EIC) opened 2023 with a strong wave of applications to its Transition funding. For the first cut-off of the year the EIC received 180 proposals. These applications aim to take technologies that have reached experimental proof of principle in the lab and move them towards validation in application-relevant environments and market readiness. Grants of up to €2.5 million are available per project to support validation, demonstration and business case development.
How EIC Transition fits the innovation pipeline
Submissions, country spread and headline sums
The 180 proposals are split between an Open call and three targeted Transition Challenges. The Open call dominated numerically and in requested funding. The Challenge calls attracted fewer but more targeted applications. The EIC published the national spread alongside counts showing that applications to the Open call came from 26 countries while the Challenge calls drew proposals from 21 countries.
| Call | Number of proposals | Number of originating countries | Total budget requested |
| EIC Transition Open | 131 | 26 | €317.65 million |
| EIC Transition Challenges - total | 49 | 21 | €41.88 million |
| - Full scale Micro-Nano-Bio devices for medical and medical research applications | 31 | 21 (included above) | €2.98 million |
| - Chip-scale optical frequency combs | 12 | 21 (included above) | €28.5 million |
| - Environmental intelligence | 6 | 21 (included above) | €10.4 million |
| Total first cut-off | 180 | 26 (max across calls) | €359.53 million |
Those requesting figures matter because they indicate the pressure on the Transition instrument. For context, the EIC Transition allocation in the 2023 EIC work programme was reported at roughly €128.3 million for the year. The sums requested in this single cut-off exceed that annual allocation by a substantial margin. That does not mechanically translate into a funding shortfall for successful projects in this cut-off, since budgets are allocated across multiple cut-offs and priorities, but it does mean selection will be stringent and many good proposals will not receive funding from EIC Transition alone.
What the Transition Open call supports
The three Transition Challenges: focus and technical context
Evaluation timeline and next steps
According to the EIC, these 180 proposals have moved to evaluation and projects selected from this cut-off were expected to start in autumn 2023. The EIC runs multiple cut-offs during the year and the next Transition cut-off in 2023 was scheduled for 27 September. Applicants should expect a rigorous two-stage evaluation focusing on both the maturity of the technology and the strength of the business case. The EIC also provides Business Acceleration Services to selected projects to help with coaching, investor matchmaking and scaling.
Implications for innovators and the wider EU innovation ecosystem
Two messages are visible from these numbers. First, there is a healthy and perhaps unmet appetite among deep tech teams to move laboratory breakthroughs toward market translation. That is a positive sign for Europe’s deep tech pipeline. Second, demand for Transition funding far outstrips the instrument’s annual envelope in 2023. That creates a competitive environment where selection will favour projects with strong technical evidence of readiness, realistic validation plans in relevant settings, credible regulatory and IP strategies, and demonstrable market pathways or partnering plans.
Funding is only one part of successful transition. Converting lab prototypes into demonstrators that can attract follow-on investment requires additional capabilities. These include business development, investor relations, clinical or field validation, manufacturing scale-up and regulatory navigation. The EIC offers acceleration services and the EIC Fund can co-invest in scaling companies, but regional ecosystems and national programmes will also need to absorb and support many projects that do not receive EIC Transition funding.
Practical advice for applicants and would-be applicants
Teams considering Transition applications should: clearly map the remaining technical risks and how grant activities will de-risk them; present validation plans in application-relevant environments; include regulatory and IP strategies when relevant; demonstrate market understanding and a credible path to future financing; and use EIC business acceleration services if selected. They should also be aware of the competitive landscape and consider parallel routes for follow-on funding at national, regional or private levels.
Finally, the EIC’s publication of these submission statistics is useful transparency. It is also a reminder that demand indicators can guide policy makers and ecosystem actors to plug gaps, whether in late translational funding, clinical validation facilities, or investment readiness services.
Key dates and links
Proposals from this first cut-off moved to evaluation with an anticipated project start in autumn 2023. The next EIC Transition cut-off in 2023 was set for 27 September. Applicants should consult the EIC and EISMEA websites and the EIC 2023 Work Programme for exact process details and for information on Business Acceleration Services and the EIC Fund.