Library FAQ
What is the EIC STEP Scale Up call designed to support?
STEP Scale Up supports ambitious scale-up SMEs and small mid-caps with game-changing strategic technologies in digital/deep tech, cleantech or biotech, providing equity investments to accelerate development, commercialisation and scaling to reinforce Europe’s...
What is the indicative budget for the CRM Challenge?
The indicative budget for the CRM Challenge is EUR 50 million.
What is the indicative budget for the Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation Challenge?
The indicative budget for the Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation Challenge is EUR 50 million.
What is the role of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) for Europe’s technological sovereignty?
Access to CRMs along all stages of the value chain is essential for Europe’s technological sovereignty and capacity to deliver the green and digital transitions; a subset are classed as strategic raw materials due to their use in strategic technologies and str...
What pre-commitment is required for STEP Scale Up applications?
A pre-commitment from a single qualified investor is required, using the official template; it must represent at least 20% of the total target funding round (which must be EUR 50–150 million) and is subject to KYC by the EIC Fund or the EIF.
What specific CRM-related activities are in scope for the Challenge supporting start-ups and SMEs?
In-scope activities include exploration (precision drilling, remote sensing, AI/big data, re-assessing mine tailings), extraction/processing/metallurgical refining (hydrometallurgy, bioleaching, phytomining, nano-filtration, electrified autonomous mining), and...
What sustainability and impact requirements apply to proposed CRM innovations?
Innovations must improve sustainability in line with EU principles for sustainable raw materials, justify the business case for targeted minerals, and measure environmental footprint with a life-cycle analysis including cost and social impact; applicants are e...
What types of deep tech solutions are sought for climate adaptation?
Solutions include nature-based solutions and engineering approaches reinforced by AI and other key enabling technologies, addressing urban heat, climate-smart agriculture, water scarcity (reuse, filtration, biotech), and flood and coastal protection (infrastru...
Who is eligible to apply to the STEP Scale Up call?
A single SME or small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country (the company may have a holding entity also established in such countries); an investor may submit a proposal on behalf of an eligible company if a prior...
Why are restrictions on control by non-associated third countries applied to some beneficiaries?
To avoid technological dependency and safeguard Union strategic assets, beneficiaries of grant-only Accelerator funding must not be directly or indirectly controlled by a non-associated third country or legal entity established in a non-associated third countr...
How does FTQC differ from NISQ devices and what technologies does it use?
Unlike noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices that suffer high error rates and limited coherence, FTQC uses sophisticated quantum error correction codes (e.g., LDPC and surface codes) and more stable qubit architectures such as hybrid superconductor-s...
How is the EIC supporting the development of graph-driven and other cutting-edge AI technologies?
The EIC supports research and innovation to build Europe’s AI leadership by funding high-risk, high-reward projects, fostering collaboration among academia, industry, startups, and investors, prioritising safety, ethics, and regulatory alignment, and accelerat...
How may Edge AI impact the next five to ten years?
It may improve environmental sustainability by reducing cloud dependency, enable real-time intelligent infrastructures (e.g., smart grids), support applications in low-connectivity regions (monitoring and disaster prediction), and democratise AI for SMEs and s...
How may FTQC impact the next five to ten years?
FTQC could disrupt cryptography, advance drug discovery and materials science with higher-precision simulations, stimulate investment and research in quantum technologies, and support EU goals in digital sovereignty and research leadership.
How may graph-driven AI impact the next five to ten years?
It could empower individuals to control data use, improve AI transparency and factual accuracy, support regulatory compliance via ontologies, enable cross-domain solutions in health, climate, and finance, and make AI more interpretable and data-centric.
How may hybrid agentic AI impact the next five to ten years?
They could enable decentralised, adaptive decision-making for crisis response, supply-chain resilience, renewable energy balancing, and simulations of social systems, while raising needs for bias management, accountability, and transparency.
How may miniaturisation of quantum systems impact the next five to ten years?
It could enable portable and commercially viable quantum devices, accelerate breakthroughs in sectors like cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, and materials science, drive quantum hardware innovation, and increase Europe’s competitiveness in quantum technology.
How may VLEO satellites impact the next five to ten years?
VLEO satellites could provide very high-resolution imaging for disaster management, surveillance, and real-time monitoring, offer faster orbital decay that may aid sustainability, and supply higher-quality sensor data useful to policymakers, industry, and rese...
What are hybrid approaches in agentic AI for decentralised decision-making?
They are paradigms where autonomous, goal-directed agents are combined with diverse AI techniques (e.g., LLMs, deep reinforcement learning, federated learning, edge AI) to act, set sub-goals, adapt, and interact with environments and other agents with limited...
What are the main challenges of hybrid agentic AI systems?
Key challenges include balancing efficiency, protecting data privacy, managing computational constraints, and the engineering and resource allocation needed to scale and responsibly deploy these integrated systems.
What are Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites and their advantages?
VLEO satellites operate between about 100 km and 450 km altitude and offer advantages like much higher-resolution Earth observation (potentially ~10 cm) but face increased aerodynamic forces that affect orbital and attitude dynamics.
What is atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) and why is it novel for VLEO?
ABEP systems ingest residual upper-atmosphere gases, generate plasma, and use that as propellant to compensate drag, reducing the need for onboard propellant, lowering mass and costs, and extending operational life in VLEO.
What is Edge AI?
Edge AI is a computational paradigm where AI model training and inference occur close to end devices in distributed environments, reducing latency, energy use, network congestion, and enhancing privacy compared with centralized cloud AI.
What is Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing (FTQC)?
FTQC is a quantum computing approach designed to overcome decoherence and noise by using advanced quantum error correction codes and improved qubit architectures to preserve quantum information for longer durations, enabling complex, large-scale computations.