Library FAQ
Can the Jury give advice about resubmission or improvements?
Yes, the Jury may provide recommendations regarding potential resubmission or not, and outline improvements needed.
How can eligible entities apply for BAS services and how are they selected?
Unless specified otherwise, eligible entities can apply to BAS services through open calls published on the EIC Community Platform; selection is based on assessment by business partners or market experts or on a first come, first served basis.
How does the EIC ensure fairness in selecting proposals for potential investment?
Proposals are assessed on their merits by leading experts, and the Commission ensures open and fair competition for all eligible proposals submitted.
How does the EIC STEP Scale Up call handle proposal evaluation order and early-year budget limits?
The call uses a first come, first served approach, but juries must account for overall budget availability and are limited to recommend proposals amounting to no more than 70% of the available budget for the calendar year within the first six months.
How is the authorised investment amount decided and what is the additional flexibility amount?
The Commission adopts an award decision authorising a maximum amount of investment by the EIC Fund following the amount requested in the application, with additional flexibility of up to EUR 5 million per proposal to allow for justified larger investments if s...
How many jury members assess applicants at the interview and how will I know the interview format?
A Jury of a maximum of six members will assess you; detailed information about the interview format will be communicated in the invitation.
If investment due diligence results in a lower investment amount, what occurs with the released funds?
If due diligence results in a lower investment amount, the released amount will be made available for additional funding under the EIC STEP Scale Up call.
If my application meets requirements, when can I expect to be invited to a jury interview?
You can expect to be informed about the interview within approximately 4–6 weeks from the start of the evaluation process following the relevant batching date.
What are the aims of the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS)?
BAS aims to help awardees and eligible entities gain skills, knowledge and contacts to bring innovations to market and grow, access testing/scaleup facilities, match with customers/business partners and potential investors, and support entry into new markets.
What are the main award criteria elements used to assess EIC STEP Scale Up proposals?
Main elements are: Excellence (innovation, technological feasibility, intellectual property); Impact (market opportunity, business model, STEP Impact); and Level of risk, implementation and need for Union support (team capability, investment risk, investment l...
What coaching support is provided at the full proposal stage for the EIC Accelerator?
At full proposal application stage for the EIC Accelerator, three days of remote coaching are provided.
What happens if a Technology Due Diligence report is not already available?
A suitably qualified external expert will conduct the Technology Due Diligence report.
What happens if my company is awarded a Sovereignty (STEP) Seal and I expressed interest in Venture Debt?
If you expressed interest and agreed, and your company received a STEP Seal, relevant proposal information will be passed to the relevant InvestEU implementing partners to consider for Venture Debt support.
What happens to proposal information after a positive evaluation recommendation?
Relevant information from your proposal is passed to the investment adviser for the EIC Fund to proceed with detailed due diligence and, subject to positive due diligence and an EIC Fund Investment Committee decision, the investment agreement.
What is the Coach Matching Tool and is reporting required after coaching?
Beneficiaries receive an invitation to use the Coach Matching Tool to find and select coaches; the EIC requests a structured coaching report/survey from coach and coachee after coaching to ensure quality.
What is the rule on repeat submissions to the EIC STEP Scale Up call from 1 January 2026?
From 1 January 2026, after three unsuccessful submissions of the same or improved proposal by the same legal entity (at any stage), the applicant may not apply again to the EIC STEP Scale Up call under Horizon Europe.
What possible outcomes can the EIC Jury recommend after assessment and interview?
The Jury may recommend: GO and Sovereignty (STEP) Seal (recommended for potential equity investment and STEP Seal), NO GO and STEP Seal (meets main elements but not funded due to budget), or NO GO (does not meet evaluation criteria), with feedback provided in...
When will I be informed of the interview result?
You will be informed about the result within approximately two weeks from the end of the interview session.
Who can access EIC BAS coaching and what are typical coaching day allocations?
Different eligible groups access BAS: EIC Awardees (Horizon Europe) and EIC Pre-Accelerators receive 12 days of coaching (more if justified); certain seal holders, applicants who passed short stage, and other groups receive 3 days of coaching; some Horizon 202...
Who may be requested to support the eligibility assessment regarding a pre-commitment from an investor?
The investment adviser to the EIC Fund may be requested to support the eligibility assessment regarding the pre-commitment from an investor.
Are projects that address only one Area or different cancer types in scope?
No; projects that address only one of the two Areas or other cancer types will be considered out of scope.
What areas and sub-objectives must Generative-AI proposals address?
Proposals must address both Area 1 (Technological: GenAI tools for integrating multidimensional multimodal health data, medical data augmentation, medical knowledge representation and integration) and Area 2 (Clinical: predictive diagnosis, enhanced personaliz...
What are the expectations regarding synthetic medical data and shared resources?
Projects should develop GenAI models for highly realistic synthetic medical data, pool generated synthetic datasets to form a common database for algorithm development, and are encouraged to leverage and contribute datasets, tools and models to the Cancer Imag...
What are the expected impacts and how will the construction project portfolio be composed?
Expected impacts include addressing labour shortages, enhancing productivity and competitiveness, improving worker safety, enabling a shift to off-site fabrication with on-site assembly to reduce emissions and costs, and mitigating project risks. The portfolio...