The European Innovation Council (EIC), part of Horizon Europe, will allocate €1.4 billion in 2025 to support disruptive technologies and high-potential start-ups and SMEs. This funding marks an increase of nearly €200 million compared to 2024.

This program also introduces new access to equity financing for the expansion of promising companies in critical areas and with the framework of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP). Other improvements based on the recommendations of the EIC Committee are also included.

The EIC Work Program for 2025 is structured around three main funding schemes and an additional EIC STEP Scale-up program:

– EIC Pathfinder: 262 million euros for multidisciplinary research teams carrying out fundamental research and development with the potential to lead to disruptive technological solutions (funding up to 4 million euros);

– EIC Transition: 98 million euros to scale up basic research results into innovation opportunities, following up on the results generated by the EIC Pathfinder, the European Research Council’s Proof-of-Concept and Horizon Europe’s Pillar II (Global Challenges) collaborative projects (funding up to 2.5 million euros);

– EIC Accelerator: 634 million euros for start-ups and SMEs to develop and commercialize deep tech innovations with the potential to create new markets or modify existing ones (funding of less than 2.5 million euros and/or investments of between 500,000 and 10 million euros).

–EIC STEP Scale-up: 300 million euros for the expansion of promising companies (SMEs, Start-ups, Spin-offs and Small Mid Caps) in critical areas and with the aim of leveraging private co-investment (investments between 10 and 30 million euros).

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