EIC Accelerator

EIC Accelerator is dedicated to: Start-ups and SMEs seeking to scale up high impact; innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones Innovations building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’); Innovations where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe and are too risky for private investors alone.

Who can apply?

Single company classified as SME (or “small mid-cap” – up to 500 employees – for investment component only) established in EU Member State (MS) or Associated Country (AC) One or more natural persons or legal entities – intending to establish an SME or a small mid-cap in a MS/AC by the time of signing the contract – intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap in a MS/AC, who may submit the proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap and who have a prior agreement with the company. Contract only with beneficiary company! – from a (non-AC) third country, intending to establish or relocate an SME to a MS or AC by the time of submitting a full application. Company most prove effective establishment. Union interest needs to be met.

EIC Accelerator Open 2023

EIC Accelerator Open has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of technology or application.

The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale up. The technology component of your innovation must therefore have been tested and validated in a laboratory or other relevant environment (e.g. at least Technology Readiness Level 5 or higher). The EIC Accelerator looks to support companies where the EIC support will act as a catalyst to crowd in other investors necessary for the scale up of the innovation.

The EIC Accelerator focuses on innovations building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’) and where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’). Such innovations often struggle to attract financing because the risks and time period involved are too high. Funding and support from the EIC Accelerator is designed to enable such innovators to attract the full investment amounts needed for scale up in a shorter timeframe.

EIC Accelerator Challenges 2023 

The total indicative budget for this call is EUR 523.5 million, of which EUR 257.3 million will be funded through Next Generation EU, and the indicative budget for each Challenge is specified in the below Challenges. However, if there is insufficient applications selected for funding for a Challenge, the budget will be transferred to the other Challenges. In case there is insufficient applications selected for all the Challenges, the remaining budget will be transferred to the Accelerator Open.75

The Accelerator Challenges have been identified in areas where breakthrough technologies or game-changing innovations developed by start-ups or SMEs can have a major impact on EU objectives. In 2023, these objectives include REPowerEU, Food Security, Industrial technology roadmaps, the Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA) and some Horizon Europe missions.

Novel biomarker-based assays to guide personalised cancer treatment

This Challenge has the following specific objectives: 

·         to develop novel companion diagnostic assays, including through liquid profiling to identify who, among cancer patients, is more likely to benefit from a given treatment (guided treatment)

·         to develop novel predictive biomarker-based assays to identify who, among patients with potentially precancerous lesions, is more likely to develop cancer.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

·         Identify, who among cancer patients, is more likely to benefit from a given treatment (guided treatment),

·         Identify, who among patients with potentially precancerous lesions, is more likely to develop cancer,

·         Identify, who among the cancer patients having underwent treatment, is more likely to recur,

·         Identify who among the cancer patients receiving treatment, is more likely to develop side effects as a result of the treatment, affecting their quality of life 

·         More effectively monitor the clinical course of the disease.

Aerosol and surface decontamination for pandemic management

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

The proposals should target the development and commercialisation of technological solutions facilitating social interaction in the context of pandemic emergencies, by means of one or more of the three following approaches:

·         Full systems for high-efficiency aerosol capture, pathogen deactivation and air circulation management in closed-environments (e.g., office space, in-flight, retail stores, etc.), including advanced air-filtering architectures and dynamic air circulation optimisation.

·         Next-generation face mask technologies with smart filtration materials to exceed N95 performance at low airflow resistance, with improved retention/rejection of sub-micron particles.

·         Rapid surface decontamination devices beyond state-of-the-art UV-C irradiation systems and biocidal agent dispersion.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

By reducing the need for social distancing in the event of infectious pandemics, this Challenge will empower society at large to sustain unaltered economic and social dynamics in the event of pandemic outbreaks.

Energy storage

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

·         targets groundbreaking innovations in any field of technology that have a high potential to meet the following objectives:

·         to store electric and/or thermal energy at low cost, high density, high charging/discharging efficiency and enhanced durability.

·         to design technological approaches (chemical, electrical, electrochemical, mechanical, thermal) for energy storage at different scales (centralised at large industrial facilities premises or distributed and at small scale level – mobile electronics), duration (short – millisecond today, medium – days to month and long term – months to seasons) and uses (from stationary to mobile).

·         to develop technologies that, without using critical raw materials79 or ensuring the maximisation of their recycle/reuse, minimise their carbon footprint measured through a life-cycle analysis (including cost and social impact evaluation). The integration of technologies in products and services shall embrace circular and life cycle thinking approach, and support the transition to a circular economy.

The proposed technologies could also address the smart operation and control of storage assets, their integration with demand response strategies, predictive maintenance, load forecasting and decentralised renewable energy technologies, and novel business models (i.e. storage as a service) to increase energy systems flexibility and facilitate the integration of energy storage.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

The possibility to store electrical or thermal energy at low cost, high density, high charging/discharging efficiency and for different duration (from short to long) will:

·         Enable a strong penetration of intermittent renewable energy resources by addressing the spatial and temporal mismatches between generation and demand,

·         Set up decarbonised, interconnected, sector-coupled and flexible energy systems.

·         Increase Europe’s energy independence from unreliable suppliers.

New European Bauhaus and Architecture, Engineering and Construction digitalisation for decarbonization

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

·         Computational design. This relates to ventures that develop and scale radical new products for mass-adoption of parametric, generative and algorithmic design, life-cycle analysis, or breakthrough products in physical simulation or digital twin.

·         Digital fabrication. This relates to ventures developing and commercializing large-scale fabrication products (or components or solutions for that) with a view on future economic industrialisation of the AEC value chain, for example 3D-printing products, such as “construction variants” of Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), Wire-and-Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), Binder-Jetting (BJ), Stereolithography (SLA), or Digital Light Processing (DLP), robot assisted composites fabrication, factory and field robotics, automation products, digital moulds, solutions for distributed building factories. This includes innovative solutions to further progress the current Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) processing factories.

·         Alternative materials. This relates to ventures active in the development, production, advanced application of alternative building materials, or building concepts, building elements, design coupled with fabrication concepts, such as stereotomy 2.0, based on advanced uses of alternative materials. This includes innovative applications of timber, timber derivatives such as CLT or Glulam, timber composites, curved CLT surfaces and high performance composed building elements. This also includes other natural materials such as fungal architecture, cork, bamboo, hemp, as well as locally sourced materials such as earth, clay and stone, as well as recycled and waste-based materials, as well as engineered composites of such materials. 

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

This AEC Accelerator Challenge ideally attracts a range of pioneering business ventures in the areas of design, fabrication and materials for AEC that aim at deployment of novel and disruptive solutions building upon the latest deep-tech developments in these areas. The focus will be on achieving a reduction in embodied rather than operational carbon emissions. Other impacts may include higher productivity, higher product quality, reduced material consumption and waste, improved construction logistic in the urban environment or increased safety.

Expected adjacent impacts of this AEC Accelerator Challenge are also to inspire an ambition for the AEC sector to create higher quality jobs in a more progressive and appealing business culture that is ready to deliver a transformation of the built environment in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus.

Emerging semiconductor or quantum technology components

This Challenge has the following specific objectives: 

Applications to this EIC Accelerator Challenge may request an investment component of above EUR 15 million in duly justified cases.

In order to protect the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, the contract may set specific conditions and milestones if this is necessary to ensure that technologies of a strategic nature for open autonomy are not directly or indirectly controlled by third countries not associated to Horizon Europe or by legal entities of non-associated third countries

Any technology under this Challenge must be developed in a robust manner, paying specific attention to safety, security and ethics considerations in future applications.

                     A.     Quantum technology components

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

Supporting ground-breaking innovations that have a high potential to develop:

·         fault-tolerant quantum computing with:

– improved performance;

– significantly simplified QPU (Quantum Processing Units) integration with control electronics;

– scalable control systems (scalable to tens of thousands of qubits, needed for meaningful practical applications); 

·         Quantum sensing components to function in real/harsh environment for various application areas, such as ecotoxicology, pharmaceuticals, biomedical, space, corrosion detection in power plants, gas/oil tanks, raw material detection, medical imaging, automotive and many more.

·         Quantum communication devices that can be deployed in a real environment such as quantum repeaters, devices for quantum-based encryption etc.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

This Challenge is expected to support the EU in taking a leading role in the development of cutting-edge quantum computing and quantum sensing and quantum communications that can be used in real environment and deployed in various areas.

In mid and long term, this Challenge is expected to expand the quantum capabilities of Europe, underpin its economic resilience and digital sovereignty. It should pave the way for Europe to be at the cutting-edge of quantum capabilities by 2030 as envisioned by the 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade Policy Programme. 

B.     Semiconductor chip development

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

The aim of this Challenge is to support the design and development of innovative semiconductor components and intellectual property for analogue and digital integrated circuits and systems including memory, logic, optical components, and sensors, in relevant technology fields such as: Artificial Intelligence, edge computing, Internet of Things, electric and autonomous vehicles, 5G/6G communication, cybersecurity, health and wellness, environmental sustainability. The scope also includes innovative design approaches that address combination of different functionalities such as computing, RF, power, memory and sensing. Moreover, this Challenge should support advanced chips design in order to keep Europe in the front line of the semiconductor industry in the coming years as the industry thrives for higher performance and greater circuit integration. The proposing entities should demonstrate ground-breaking innovation in the respective applications fields and high potential for commercial deployment in important EU industry sectors such as automotive, industry automation, information and communication, healthcare, aerospace, security, energy.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

This Challenge is expected to support innovative semiconductor start-ups in bringing their innovations to higher level of maturity and closer to commercial deployment, addressing the funding gap that deep-tech companies in this space have been facing in the last couple of decades.

In the mid to long term, this Challenge is expected to foster the development of the semiconductor chip design ecosystem in Europe by increasing the number of innovative fabless start-ups and semiconductor IP companies in the EU, thereby contributing to the 2030 Digital Compass target of doubling EU’s production of advanced sustainable chips and Europe’s digital autonomy.

Novel technologies for resilient agriculture

This Challenge has the following specific objectives:

Development and scaleup of interdisciplinary solutions for regenerative agriculture and soil health in the areas of

·         Sustainable fertilisation

·         Crop protection under principles of Integrated Pest Management with a focus on mechanical/physical and biological measures

·         Irrigation

·         Soil management, protection and restoration

·         Crop and livestock management.

·         Novel processes, materials, equipment, management practises and microorganisms adapted to harsh environments, climate adaptation needs and resource scarcity, including diversification of crops, mixed farming systems, interseasonal cropping and technologies to increase crops adaptation to climate changes. 

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

This Challenge aims to improve the resilience of the European food supply chain and security, notably by improving agricultural productivity and fostering environmentally sustainable technologies, all while regenerating and increasing soil health and ecosystem services. By aiming to valorise crop residues, this Challenge also aims to contribute to better carbon and nitrogen management practices, to mitigation of climate change and environmental challenges including biodiversity loss and pollution.

In doing so, the results arising from this Challenge will foster the EU technological autonomy and leadership via focused support of innovations in the areas of sustainable and resilient agricultural production, food security, biodiversity and environmental protection.

Customer-driven, innovative space technologies and services

This Challenge has the following specific objectives in terms of technological developments:

·         To have the means to inspect spacecraft in orbit, to augment satellite capabilities and resilience;

·         To develop autonomous and in-space collision avoidance capabilities e.g., use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) for collision avoidance manoeuvres, space debris positioning data and develop in-space mobility propulsion capabilities;

·         To further mature assembly and manufacturing in orbit with different applications (e.g., in-orbit, cis-lunar exploration, Earth observation, space debris inspection, space situational awareness, etc.);

·         To collect space debris with a view for recycling, recovering and transforming purposes (e.g., microgravity platforms);

·         To design and construct a R&I low Earth orbit unmanned platform assembled in orbit and to host in-orbit microgravity experiments or collect/re-use space debris considering and make use of a sustainable, modular concept for the platform and its operation;

·         To scale up disruptive innovations for space situational awareness (SSA), in-space logistics, Earth observation, navigation, satellite communications (SATCOM), and others.

As expected outcomes from this Challenge:

·         An European servicing and re-use/recycling capability for servicing European space infrastructure, while contributing to the management and reduction of space debris;

·         Timely and cost-effective Space Traffic Management services for on-time collision avoidance manoeuvres;

·         The re-use, refurbish or recycling of a spacecraft components or launchers upper stages;

·         Scientific and technological solutions for in-orbit services and re-use/refurbishing and recycling of old spacecraft (e.g. satellites, rockets upper stages or critical raw materials etc.);

·         Innovative propulsion solutions for in-space mobility of spacecraft;

·         Innovative technologies for space transportation, Earth observation, navigation, satellite communications, space science, space situational awareness.

EIC Accelerator Open 2023

EIC Accelerator Challenges 2023