National companies with results of 37.4 M€ in the European Innovation Council
Since it started in March 2021, the European Innovation Council (EIC) has already financed national deep tech companies in approximately 73.1 Million Euros (€M) in the EIC Accelerator, the main instrument of the initiative integrated in Pillar III of Horizon Europe. In the national performance, we highlight the record results in the EIC Accelerator, in the financing round of June, with two companies close to reaching the maximum value assigned which is € 17.5 M. They were PICadvanced and Targtex. Also with very significant funding, Sea4Us stands out. The three technologies will use funding to finish the development and bring to the market technologies that will respond to major industry challenges.
Companies, in the area of optoelectronic components, biotechnology of marine resources and drugs applied to the fight against cancer, have been supported by the National Innovation Agency (ANI), in accessing funding, through the network of National Contact Points to Horizon Europe and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). National participation in the EIC is monitored by the ANI within the PERIN network.
The Minister of Economy and Sea, António Costa Silva, congratulates Portuguese companies for “the achieved result and that positions Portugal as the second EU country with the most approved funding in absolute terms. This is another clear demonstration of the path the country is taking, asserting itself as a center of innovation and knowledge capable of producing advanced technological solutions. The awarded areas highlight the ability of Portugal and Portuguese companies to make a difference with advanced technological and scientific proposals in the biotechnology of marine resources, in the generation of optoelectronic components and in the area of health sciences. These results, combined with the 7.6 % increase in patent registration in 2022 and the ongoing programmes for the change of the Portuguese economy, increasing its ability to create more value by incorporating the new generation of digital technologies, are a factor of trust and hope in the future.”
The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato, welcomes the results of national companies and considers that “the national participation registered in Horizon Europe reaffirms Portugal’s position, in international terms, as a country of science and as a Member State that has been strengthening and promoting the relationship between the academic community and the business sector, catalysing thus, the national scientific development.“
António Grilo, President of ANI says that “Portugal has been performing extremely well in Horizonte Europa and this balance sheet on access to finance through the EIC has been completely extraordinary. In this financing round, Portugal has the highest percentage of approved applications – 23% (3 out of 13) – and was the second country with the most approved funding in absolute terms, just after France that achieved 106.5 M€ for 12 companies. In third place comes Germany, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium. It is important that we continue to work to support these companies to compete for more funding internationally and bring more prestige and competitiveness to national technology. This is a clear sign that researchers in Portugal demonstrate not only scientific and technological excellence, but are also having a high entrepreneurial level, as they are founding Deep tech start-ups that will become world leaders.”
DISRUPTIVE COMPANIES TO WATCH FOR
EIC Accelerator, with continuous open calls, in this last cut-off, has finnanced the following companies:
PICadvanced, a company based in the Creative Science Park of Aveiro, obtained € 17.44 million of approved funding to finish the development and bring to the market a new generation of optoelectronic components for fiber networks home. This innovation will allow to deliver a bandwidth and quality of service that was not yet possible, making it at the same time more sustainable because it reduces energy consumption and the use of raw materials, through the use of integrated optical circuits.
Sea4Us, a marine resources biotechnology company located in Sagres, which spin-off Nova Medical School in 2013, had €5.96 million of funding approved to advance the clinical tests that will allow to bring to the market a new analgesic, non-opioid and marine-inspired, with great effectiveness for the treatment of chronic pain, a problem that affects 1.6b of people worldwide. The analgesic developed by Se4Us allows to treat patients, eliminating the side effects of current drugs based on opioids, without compromising their effectiveness.
Targtex, a company that in 2019 spin-off the Institute of Molecular Medicine (Imm) of the University of Lisbon, obtained €14 million of approved funding for the clinical validation of a highly promising therapy for the treatment of Glioblastoma. This is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor that exists, with one of the lowest survival rates in Oncology, and currently without any effective therapy. In preclinic, the treatment TargTex is developing demonstrated with a single, localized administration, tumor eradication ability.
PICadvanced, Sea4Us and Targtex will receive 37.4 million euros (€M) from EIC Accelerator
EIC Accelerator wants to support start-ups and SMEs with disruptive technologies to develop their business on a global scale, through the offer of non-refundable financing up to €2.5 million combined with equity investments up to €15M from the EIC Fund. In addition to financial support, all companies benefit from Business Acceleration Services that provide access to investment and growth opportunities worldwide.
Since the opening of the EIC Accelerator tenders in March 2021, Portugal has already totaled nearly €73.1M for 13 national technology companies to bring the most disruptive solutions to the world market. In addition to PICadvanced, Se4Us and Targtex, the following companies have already received funding: Hydrumedical, iLof, Bac3Gel, C2C-NewCap, Immunethep, RUBYnanomed, Arborea, AI4MedImaging, PeekMed and WATGRID.
The competitions of the European Innovation Council are very competitive, since they receive applications from companies from all countries of the European Union and others associated with Horizonte Europa, such as Switzerland and Israel.
Learn more about these funds here.
