Library FAQ
What is the EU Prize for Women Innovators and what are the prize categories and amounts?
The Prize celebrates women entrepreneurs who created significant innovation impact. There are two categories: Women Innovators (three prizes of EUR 100,000 each) and Rising Innovators (three prizes of EUR 50,000 each for applicants under 35).
What is the focus and prize structure of the European Social Innovation Competition 2022?
The 2022 Challenge Prize focuses on affordable, sustainable housing districts (the New European Bauhaus theme). The Challenge Prize awards three winners EUR 50,000 each (total EUR 150,000). The Social Innovation Impact Prize awards EUR 50,000 to one winner (el...
What qualifications are required to become an EIC business coach?
Applicants must have at least five years of professional experience in managerial positions with responsibilities in developing business innovation and at least five years of coaching experience supporting new business development.
What specific mentoring is provided to companies receiving EIC blended finance?
Specific mentoring is provided in coordination with the management of the equity component, and the EIC will also incentivise other investors to provide mentoring tasks and independent advice when looking for co-investors.
Who receives coaching days and how many are provided?
EIC Accelerator applicants invited to submit a full proposal, Seal of Excellence companies and all EIC awardees receive three coaching days. Additional coaching days for EIC awardees (in principle up to 12 days) depend on project review and Programme Manager i...
Are AI and hybrid approaches encouraged in Area 1 proposals?
Yes. Integrated hybrid approaches and autonomously operating devices continuously optimised with AI are particularly welcome.
How are EIC Transition proposals evaluated and shortlisted for interviews?
At least three EIC expert evaluators score proposals against award criteria; scores are averaged. The highest scoring proposals are pooled in descending order requesting aggregate support ≈2.2 times the available budget and invited to interviews. If ≥30% of ap...
How will the selected portfolio of projects be organised across Areas 1–3?
The portfolio is expected to cover all three areas, with a maximum of one proposal from each of Areas 2 and 3 and several proposals across Area 1 categories, fostering close interaction and a commonly developed vision to drive synergies and mutual learning.
What are the application deadline, page limits and evaluation timeline for EIC Transition?
Deadline: 17 September 2025 at 17:00 Brussels time via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Part B sections 1–3 and the cover page must be a maximum of 22 A4 pages. Remote evaluation results are provided indicatively within 9 weeks; interviews held ~11–13 weeks after...
What are the Challenge's focus areas?
The Challenge targets three focus areas: Area 1 – Fully integrated waste-to-value devices; Area 2 – Understanding underlying mechanisms via computational material science and AI; Area 3 – Cells from scratch using bottom-up synthetic biology.
What are the goals of Area 3 (bottom-up synthetic biology)?
Area 3 aims to deliver scientific breakthroughs in synthetic, fully artificial or cell-like systems to enable tailored microbial cell factories for waste degradation and valorisation, including carbon fixation, synthetic polymer decomposition, and production o...
What are the objectives for Area 2 (computational material science and AI)?
Area 2 projects must advance fundamental understanding of physical, chemical and biological processes enabling sustainable, scalable waste-to-value devices by (1) exploring fundamental phenomena across device types, (2) developing more accurate and less resour...
What are the TRL requirements to apply to EIC Transition?
Your proposal must build on results from an eligible project that are at least at experimental proof of concept (all elements of TRL3); ideally results are validated at lab level (TRL4). Projects based on other TRL levels are not eligible.
What broader impacts are expected from the Challenge portfolio?
Expected impacts include local energy and resource supply for communities and remote areas, increased share of recycled waste and reduced landfilling/incineration, micro-/nano-plastic removal, and decentralised circular production of fuels, chemicals and mater...
What funding and support does EIC Transition provide?
The call's indicative budget is EUR 98 million. Grants are Research and Innovation Actions with 100% funding of eligible costs paid as a lump sum. Requested contributions above EUR 0.5M and below EUR 2.5M (1–3 year duration) are considered appropriate. Project...
What IP or access commitments are required when applying?
If you were part of the eligible project you must confirm you are the IPR owner or holder with necessary rights for the EIC Transition duration. If not, you must include a commitment letter from the result owner(s) confirming intent to negotiate fair, reasonab...
What is EIC Transition and when is it appropriate?
EIC Transition funds innovation activities that go beyond experimental proof of principle (projects must have completed all elements of TRL3), supporting maturation and validation to relevant application environments and parallel market/business development to...
What must proposals in Area 1 (fully integrated waste-to-value devices) deliver?
Proposals must present fully integrated devices that convert waste streams into feedstock for fuels, chemicals and materials or perform remediation, operate solely on renewable energy (preferably sunlight), selectively produce added-value products (not only hy...
What must proposals include regarding benchmarking for Area 1?
Proposals must clearly indicate how the proposed solution benchmarks against industrially deployed recycling methods and emerging recycling methods.
What operational characteristics are required for Area 1 systems?
Systems must be robust, easy-to-handle, operable independently of large-scale infrastructure, have extended lifetimes, and be capable of treating real-life waste streams with minimal sorting and pre-treatment.
What performance and sustainability requirements apply to Area 1 devices?
Devices must reach TRL4 within a 3–4-year project, create products of higher economic and environmental value (no down-cycling), be energy- and material-efficient, minimise energy/water/chemicals/land footprints, use environmentally safe stable materials with...
What specific device types/examples are mentioned for Area 1?
Examples include fully integrated solar reforming or synthetic biology devices for synthetic polymer treatment, integrated capture-and-conversion devices for flue gas or wastewater, membrane-based/electrochemical brine-mining for desalination brines, and ex-si...
Which originating projects are eligible as the basis for an EIC Transition proposal?
Eligible origins include EIC Pathfinder projects (and relevant Horizon 2020 FET calls), ERC Proof of Concept projects funded under Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe, certain Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Actions with eligible TRLs, and E...
Who can apply to EIC Transition and in what formats?
Applications can be submitted by a single legal entity established in an EU Member State or Associated Country (mono-beneficiary) if a start-up, SME or research performing organisation; as a small consortium of two independent legal entities from two different...