The European Innovation Council (EIC) primarily supports start-ups and innovative SMEs in successfully bringing ground-breaking technologies to market. The funding programme will be available again in 2026 to strengthen Europe's deep tech ecosystem and sustainably drive forward the digital and green transformation.
Funding of up to € 12.5 million
According to the current draft of the EIC Work Programme 2026, the EIC Accelerator includes a non-repayable grant of up to € 2.5 million, as well as an investment component of between € 1 million (instead of € 0.5 million as before) and € 10 million. The total budget for the Accelerator is set to rise to €634 million in 2026 - a slight increase compared to 2025.
Open topic with strategic focus areas
The EIC Accelerator continues to target start-ups and SMEs from the EU and associated countries with technologically ambitious projects from TRL 6 onwards. The program remains open to all topics and promotes disruptive deep tech innovations. In addition, part of the budget is reserved for specific challenges:
Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage System
Alternative Concepts and Key Enabling Technologies for Fusion Power Plants
Biotech for Regenerating Agricultural Soils
Boosting the European Critical Raw Materials value chain
Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation
Enhanced application process for 2026
The multi-stage procedure remains in place: short application → full application → jury interview in Brussels. However, several simplifications have been introduced to make the process more transparent, efficient and less time-consuming:
Streamlined application documents: The full application is shorter and builds directly on the short application. It is supplemented by annexes containing financial data and cap-table, FTO and competition analysis, work plan, budget planning, as well as the updated pitch deck and 3-minute video.
Technical due diligence as part of the full application assessment: The submitted full application is subject to an in-depth technical review conducted by an external technology expert and includes an accompanying online interview. The technology, intellectual property, market potential and other key aspects of the application are evaluated. The results are made available to the review team.
Enhancements in the evaluation process: In addition to the three independent external experts, an EIC representative will also be part of the evaluation team in future. The evaluators will also receive the technical assessment of the technology expert in the form of a due diligence report. The evaluation committee is organised into thematic panels (e.g. digital, life sciences, cleantech) and will score the proposal against the award criteria and rank all proposals. They will also have access to the technology due diligence report. Overall, this is intended to improve the quality of the evaluation, identify weaknesses at an early stage and support the evaluators in making a qualified assessment.
Limited interview invitations: Only the top ranked applications, between 2 and 2.5 times the budget available, will be invited to the jury interview. Invitations are sent out approximately two weeks before the interview date.
Faster investment decisions: The jury and investment board work more closely together, shortening the time between application and funding/investment.
More flexibility for the EIC Fund: The EIC Fund has additional flexibility of €2 million per project to make higher investments and catalyse larger overall financing with co-investors.
More flexibility in the application process: Full applications can be submitted at any time in 2026. Evaluations will take place in batches every two months on six fixed dates: 7 January, 4 March, 6 May, 8 July, 2 September and 3 November 2026. Each two deadlines are followed by a round of jury interviews (3 interview rounds per year). This increases predictability for companies and speeds up the entire process.
Overall, this should make the application process more transparent, efficient and reliable – a clear advantage for start-ups and SMEs that depend on quick feedback and rapid financing.
Further relevant changes in the EIC Work Programme 2026
Pilot initiative: EIC Advance Innovation Challenges With the new Advance Innovation Challenges, the EIC is testing a two-stage process. In stage 1, companies and research teams can receive lump-sum funding of up to €300,000 to prepare and benchmark groundbreaking solutions and explore their feasibility. This will be followed in 2027 by a phase 2 call to prototype solutions and test them in real world environments and with the involvement of users.
Increased max. grant for Pathfinder projects The grant per project will increase to €4.5 million. This is intended to enable teams to advance development up to the proof-of-concept stage. In addition, lump sums will be introduced and minor improvements will be made to the evaluation procedure.
Expansion of the EIC Transition Call In order to be eligible for applying to EIC Transition, successful projects from Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 research infrastructures are now also eligible, in addition to EIC Pathfinder, ERC Proof of Concept and Horizon Europe Pillar 2 projects.
Clarifications for the EIC STEP Scaleup call For larger financing rounds, EU equity of between €10 million and €30 million can be requested in the EIC STEP Scale-up Call. There are some adjustments to this call based on experience gained in 2025. In 2026, the focus will be on semiconductor and quantum technologies, among other things, in order to support strategic technologies of the Chips Act through larger funding rounds.
Reinforced Business Acceleration Services for internationalisation and engaging with corporates
No change for dual use Only civilian applications are eligible for funding – despite discussions about possible openings.
Conclusion
With the draft EIC Work Programme 2026, the European Innovation Council is once again setting important priorities for Europe's innovation landscape. Particularly noteworthy are the higher budgets, the simplified and shortened application procedures. However, companies should note that this is currently a draft – changes are possible up to the final version being published.
Contact & Consulting
Do you have an idea and wonder if it is suitable for the EIC Accelerator 2026? EurA has been part of the programme since its launch in 2014 and, with over 200 applications, is the market leader in the EIC Accelerator and one of the largest consulting firms in Germany.
Text: Anna Nolde
Did you enjoy this article?
If you liked the article, share it with your friends and colleagues on social media or by email.
Do you want to learn more about this topic? Schedule a meeting with an expert.
As a Vice Coordinator in the team for European Funding, I have more than 6 years of experience and am one of the most successful proposal writers in the EIC Accelerator program. I have (co-)developed and successfully implemented more than 50 business plans for highly innovative deep tech startups. My curiosity about innovation and my passion for European funding drive me to support startups, companies, and research institutes in implementing their visionary ideas. Therefore, I am always a very good first point of contact for questions regarding international funding projects.
With the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP), the EU Commission is laying the foundation for ...
.png)
EurA AG
T- 079619256-0Max-Eyth-Straße 2
73479 Ellwangen
info@eura-ag.com