The EIC Accelerator Pilot open from 6 June 2019 provides grant-only support as well as support in the form of blended finance (combining grant and equity).

Funding is available for: innovation projects underpinned by a sound and strategic business plan (potentially elaborated and partially funded through phase 1 of the EIC Accelerator Pilot).

Activities funded can be of several types: prototyping, miniaturisation, scaling-up, design, performance verification, testing, demonstration, development of pilot lines, validation for market replication, including other activities aimed at bringing innovation to investment readiness and maturity for market take-up.

The evaluation of proposals happens both remotely and face-to-face (via an interview) by two panels of independent experts.

Amount of funding:

Grant-only: in the indicative range of €500,000 – € 2.5 million or more (covering up to 70% of eligible costs).

• Equity: up to €15 million for an individual innovation project (€100 million total budget for equity in 2019-2020 pilot phase)

Duration: typically around 1 to 2 years

Outcomes:

• a greatly innovative product, process or service that is ready to conquer the market;
• a business innovation plan incorporating a detailed commercialisation strategy and a financing plan in view of market launch (e.g. on how to attract private investors, if applicable).

Deadlines:

• 09 October 2019 17:00:00 Brussels time
• 08 January 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time
• 18 March 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time
• 19 May 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time
• 07 October 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time

Only SMEs are eligible.

Funding is available for: exploring and assessing the technical feasibility and commercial potential of a breakthrough innovation that a company wants to exploit and commercialize.

Activities funded could be: risk assessment, design or market studies, intellectual property exploration; the ultimate goal is to put a new product, service or process in the market, possibly through an innovative application of existing technologies, methodologies, or business processes.

The project should be aligned to the business strategy, helping internal growth or targeting a transnational business opportunity. The evaluation of phase 1 proposals happens remotely by a panel of independent experts.

Only suitable for SMEs