GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

The EIC Accelerator provides blended finance (Innovation and Market Deployment Action) which is composed of:

• An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans. The minimum investment component is €500 000 and the maximum is €15 000 000.
• A grant component to reimburse eligible costs incurred for innovation activities, including demonstration of the technology in the relevant environment, prototyping and system level demonstration, R&D and testing required to meet regulatory and standardisation requirements, intellectual property management, and marketing approval (e.g. at least TRL 5 to 8). The grant component should normally not exceed €2 500 000.

The funding rate of the grant component will be 70% of the eligible costs. The remaining 30% of the costs for these activities and the costs incurred for the commercial introduction of the product or service and full scale up operations will not be reimbursed by the grant (e.g. Technology Readiness Level 9 or above).

The innovation activities should normally be completed within 24 months but may be longer in well justified cases. The proposed duration should genuinely reflect your current TRL and the nature of the technology to be developed and demonstrated.

For the EIC Accelerator, you must apply as one of the following eligible entities:

• A single company classified as a SME and established within a Member State or an Associated Country or;
• A single company classified as a small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country, but the proposal can only be for exceptional cases for rapid scale up purposes; or
• One or more natural persons (including individual entrepreneurs) or legal entities, which are either:

• from a Member State or an Associated Country intending to establish an SME or small mid-cap (as defined above) in a Member State or Associated Country by the time of signing the EIC Accelerator contract or, in case the equity only is awarded, at the latest when agreeing on its investment component;
• Intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap in a Member State or an Associated Country and who may submit a proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap, provided that a prior agreement exist with the company. The contract will be signed with the beneficiary company only; or
• from a non-associated third country intending to establish an SME (including start-ups) or to relocate an existing SME to a Member State or an Associated Country. Your company must prove its effective establishment in a Member State or an Associated Country at the time of submission of the full proposal.