What the European Innovation Council Tech Report 2023 Reveals and Why It Matters
- ›The European Innovation Council published its second Tech Report highlighting early stage technologies and innovations submitted under Horizon Europe.
- ›The report focuses on early stage, expert-reviewed projects across digital technologies, industry and space, cleantech and health.
- ›It maps EIC internal data against global indicators such as patents, publications, funding and investments to inform future portfolio work.
- ›The analysis draws on inputs from EIC Programme Managers and flags areas attracting high quality proposals that have not yet received EIC funding.
- ›The report aims to shape EIC future explorations but has methodological limits that readers should treat with caution.
European Innovation Council Tech Report 2023: what it says and what to watch
The European Innovation Council released its Tech Report 2023 on 25 October 2023. The document is framed as a forward looking inventory of novel technologies and innovations that have been submitted to the EIC under the Horizon Europe programme. It emphasises early stage research projects that passed extensive independent expert review and it highlights technology areas that have drawn high quality proposals even if they have not yet been funded by the EIC.
Scope of the report
The report covers a broad span of topics. The headline clusters are digital technologies, industry and space, cleantech and health. The EIC frames the publication as an effort to identify emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations observed during the submission and selection processes under Horizon Europe. It is presented as an input to future EIC portfolio decisions rather than as an impact evaluation of funded projects.
How the EIC produced the analysis
Methodologically the report maps internal EIC data to global trend indicators. Those external indicators include patent filings, academic publications, public and private funding flows and investment activity. It also draws on the qualitative views and insights of EIC Programme Managers who oversee thematic portfolios inside the organisation.
Where the report sits in the EIC ecosystem
This is the second EIC Tech Report. The first appeared in 2022 and used an initial identification process conducted in 2021 to surface emerging technologies. The 2022 output informed EIC challenge areas for the 2022 work programme. The 2023 report follows the same general purpose while signalling an intention to strengthen methods and data sources in future editions.
Why the report matters for innovators and funders
For innovators the report signals the thematic priorities and areas where high quality early stage research is being proposed. For investors, mapping that pipeline against patents and investments offers potential lead indicators of future technology clusters. For policymakers the analysis is intended to inform where additional support for translation, scaling and market deployment might be required.
A cautious reading: limits and caveats
The EIC report is a curated view based on internal submissions and expert judgement. It is not a neutral, comprehensive audit of Europe wide innovation performance. Several methodological limits are worth noting. The dataset is naturally biased by who chooses to apply to the EIC and by the EIC evaluation filter. Programme Manager input can add valuable domain knowledge but it can also introduce confirmation bias. Patent and publication metrics are imperfect proxies for technological readiness and commercial potential because they privilege formal outputs rather than market validation. The report does not replace independent longitudinal evaluation of funded projects.
Practical implications and policy suggestions
If the EIC uses this report to steer funding choices, it should accompany those choices with transparency on selection criteria and clear milestones for commercialisation. Policy makers should treat the report as an exploratory input and not as conclusive proof of readiness. Where areas attract quality proposals but no funding, there may be gaps in funding instruments or eligibility rules that deserve targeted redesign. Public actors should also invest in follow up instruments that help move proven early stage research through demonstration and market adoption phases.
| Item | Detail | Notes |
| Publication | EIC Tech Report 2023 | Released 25 October 2023 |
| Focus | Early stage technologies submitted to EIC under Horizon Europe | Emphasis on projects funded after expert review and on high quality but unfunded proposal areas |
| Topical clusters | Digital technologies, industry and space, cleantech, health | Broad thematic coverage |
| Inputs | EIC internal data, Programme Manager insights, patents, publications, funding and investments | Combined quantitative and qualitative sources |
| Purpose | Inform future EIC portfolio exploration and work programmes | Not an impact evaluation |
| Previous edition | EIC Tech Report 2022 | First identification exercise conducted in 2021 |
Background and next steps
The EIC says it will continue to strengthen its methodological approach and expand the range of datasets and analytical tools used. The organisation invites comments to improve identification of areas, to anticipate their potential and to reflect on multiple value propositions. Readers and stakeholders should monitor subsequent reports for evidence that the EIC is widening data inputs, disclosing methodological choices and linking flagged technologies to concrete funding decisions and milestones.
In short, the EIC Tech Report 2023 is useful as an internal signal and a curated map of what the EIC pipeline looks like at a point in time. It is less useful as independent proof that the flagged technologies are ready to scale. The report can become a stronger policy tool if future editions expand transparency, disclose selection thresholds and publish follow up tracking of how flagged projects progress toward market impact.