EIC Accelerator Open and Challenges in 2025
Open
"EIC Accelerator Open has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of technology or application. If an application falls within the scope of the Challenges topics below, grant funding is subject to eligibility in accordance with the specific conditions applicable to those topics:
- GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI
- Innovative in-space servicing, operations, space-based robotics and technologies for resilient EU space infrastructure
Furthermore, in case of an investment support for applications in the areas of AI, quantum, semiconductors and biotechnology, specific safeguards may be introduced in the investment agreement (see Introduction, section on Economic Security).
The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale up. The technology component of your innovation must therefore have been tested and validated in a laboratory or other relevant environment (e.g., at least Technology Readiness Level 6* or higher). The EIC Accelerator looks to support companies where the EIC support will act as a catalyst to crowd in other investors necessary for the scale up of the innovation.
The EIC Accelerator focuses on innovations building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’) and where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’). Such innovations often struggle to attract financing because the risks and time period involved are too high. Funding and support from the EIC Accelerator is designed to enable such innovators to attract the full investment amounts needed for scale up in a shorter timeframe."
*Please note that TRL 5 must be achieved (all activities must be completed) prior to submitting a Short Application in order to be eligible for the EIC Accelerator.
Challenges
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1. Acceleration of advanced materials development and upscaling along the value chain
Specific objectives:
"This Challenge should target one or both of the following areas, taking into account the Safe and Sustainable by Design framework, including Life Cycle Assessment and circularity approaches:
- Technologies for design, synthesis, characterisation, up-scaling, and production of advanced materials.
- Scaling up processes to reach the targeted functionalities or improved performance of advanced materials, such as surface functionalisation of nanoparticles, or additive manufacturing approaches which may enable a fast integration of the advanced materials into smart devices..
The advanced materials and associated processes in the above mentioned four key application areas must be developed minimising the use of resources, in particular critical raw materials (CRMs), and the environmental footprint. The latter is to be measured with a life-cycle analysis that includes an evaluation of the cost and social impact."
Expected outcomes and impacts:
"In support of the Commission Communication on Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership, the European Green Deal industrial plan, the New European Innovation Agenda, Digital Europe and the EU Economic Security Strategy, this Challenge is expected to:
- Strengthen the European value chain of advanced materials in the energy, mobility, electronics, and construction application areas.
- Enable a more diversified, digitally driven, and risk-aware configuration of the European advanced materials value chain and associated processes and technologies.
- Accelerate market uptake of advanced materials in the energy, mobility, electronics, and construction industrial sectors.
- Address the EU’s industrial dependency on imports of resources, such as CRMs, for the energy, mobility, electronics, and construction sectors.
Companies selected for support under this Challenge will become part of the wider advanced materials ecosystem to be fostered by the different actions set out in the Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership, amongst these the new co-programmed partnership IAM4EU."
Budget: €50 million
2. Biotechnology driven low emission food and feed production systems
Specific objectives:
"The start-ups and SMEs to be supported under this initiative must focus on one (or more) of the following areas:
- Biotechnology for biopesticides, bio-stimulants, and fertilizers of microbial origin: This strand focuses on scaling breakthroughs in the use of microorganisms or their biological components, and enzymatic or other biotechnology-based processes using biomass residues/waste streams in an innovative and sustainable way for the production of renewable materials thus contributing to the circular economy and preserving biodiversity.
- Biotechnology to support precision crop and livestock farming: This covers approaches that could for example leverage new plant breeding technologies or enhance desirable traits through biotechnology to complement, and be integrated with, precision crop and livestock farming approaches to help increase yields and animal performance while reducing costs and optimising process inputs while reducing waste streams.
- Biotechnology for ruminant methane mitigation: This includes approaches such as novel feed components, feed processing for digestibility, advanced feed additives and selective breeding, where compatible with livestock production system of EU animal welfare standards
- Biotechnology for feed and food production: This focuses on precision fermentation for the sustainable production of food and feed ingredients traditionally derived from animal or plant sources.
Regardless of the specific area addressed, companies are encouraged to leverage digital tools such as AI, as appropriate, to facilitate the development of processes and make the resulting products and services suitable for integration into existing production systems. All projects must provide a lifecycle assessment (LCA) considering environmental, social and economic consideration. Proposals are also expected to consider regulatory aspects alongside issues surrounding consumer acceptance and articulate suitable strategies to support market entry within and beyond the EU."
Expected outcomes and impacts:
"In support of the Commission Communication on Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU, Mission Soil, the EU Green Deal, Farm to Fork strategy, Fit for 55 and REPowerEU policy actions, the Nature Restoration Law and the Communication on Ensuring availability and affordability of fertilisers, this Challenge aims to improve the sustainability, efficiency, and resilience of the European agri-food sector. By targeting breakthrough solutions, it will also support Europe’s future strategic autonomy and enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s agricultural sector by helping it overcome challenges linked to climate change and environment stresses including biodiversity loss and pollution."
Budget: €50 million
3. GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI
Specific objectives
"This Challenge will support start-ups and SMEs that are either
- Further developing and validating new GenAI models;
- Adapting existing models to specific sectors or types of data where smaller faster and more energy-efficient models would also be applicable;
- Integrating and testing the GenAI solutions in existing workflows, and testing these in regulatory sandboxes and real-life settings, including certification and post-market surveillance, as appropriate.
The developed models must go beyond the state of the art and must look to overcome the current difficulties that limit the extent to which they support human expertise with a particular focus on one of the following areas, and in line with the sectors and applications listed in the AI communication.
- Healthcare: radiology is a frontrunner in the use of GenAI, but current solutions suffer from a lack of trust and integration with clinical workflows, which must be overcome to advance automatic radiology reporting and enhance human-AI interaction while reducing interpretation errors and associated variability.
- Energy: the integration of GenAI in managing the power grid, alongside the storage and use of renewables by grid operators, for example, calls for high quality, reliable AI systems that deliver safe, real-time decision making to enhance resilience and planning.
- Security: security professionals including those operating critical infrastructures can scale their work in threat and vulnerability detection and the subsequent response to such threats, with the support of fault-tolerant, high quality and secure AI systems.
- Public sector: leveraging GenAI to improve the quality, ease of access and efficiency of public services, or to increase the efficiency of public administration services and productivity.
- Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries: Gen AI systems targeted to the needs of these sectors, catering for cultural and linguistic diversity and ensuring transparency and full respect and recognition of artists and creators rights.
- Manufacturing: systems to enable mass customisation, enhance sustainability and automation, propose options for design and identify maintenance needs.
- Education: Use of GenAI systems and assistants to enable personalised and adaptive learning experiences, enhancing educational outcomes and accessibility.
- Science: Leveraging GenAI to drive new levels of productivity and capability for researchers in both the private and public sectors, fostering innovation and scientific advancements."
Expected outcomes and impacts
"This Challenge will support the further development and validation of Gen AI models and/or downstream applications, which are “European-Value driven” and contributes to the ambitions of the AI Act and the European approach to Artificial Intelligence. The AI models developed under this Challenge are expected to comply with the EU concept for Trustworthy AI and the relevant ethical principles with due attention paid to data quality, transparency & accountability, privacy, and security. In the medium to longer term, it is expected to reduce dependencies and support companies in leveraging the advances in generative AI, enhance their products and develop new ones that:
- Optimise existing workflows: utilising Generative AI technologies to streamline and improve operational processes across various industries;
- Enhance human capabilities: Applying advanced AI models to enhance decisionmaking, creativity, and productivity;
- Are validated for application: Ensuring that the AI models are both advanced and thoroughly validated for practical applicability and scalability in real-world scenarios.
The selected beneficiaries will receive favourable access to European supercomputing resources for the training of their large foundation models, in the context of the AI Factories in line with the EuroHPC regulation. In addition, they may benefit from additional actions aimed at creating strategic partnerships with major industries or attracting further capital. Where relevant, opportunities may be explored to provide the selected beneficiaries with access to scientific datasets through the European Open Science Cloud or to provide users of the European Open Science Cloud with access to the tools developed by the beneficiaries."
Budget: €50 million
4. Innovative in-space servicing, operations, robotics and technologies for resilient EU space infrastructure
Specific objectives
"The start-ups and SMEs to be supported under this initiative must deliver solutions that address one of the following areas:
- In-Orbit Servicing & Maintenance – This focuses on technologies to extend the lifetime of satellites, reduce the number of dysfunctional satellites and address deployment anomalies in orbit. It covers the full spectrum of activity including inspection and maintenance, Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPOs), capture and docking alongside repair or the augmentation/ reconfiguration of satellite capabilities.
- In-space transportation – This covers refuelling and recharging of spacecraft in orbit, in-space mobility from LEO to GEO, orbital transfer vehicles and costefficient propulsion for in-space mobility of spacecraft.
- Space-based resilience – This includes technologies that address space-based cybersecurity threats for satcom, navigation, Earth Observation and In Orbit servicing missions. It covers technologies tackling space-based cyber threats such as encryption, frequency hopping, radio frequency fingerprinting, secure on-board processing capabilities, AI for cybersecurity for autonomous RPO and ones related to Space Situational Awareness, space weather and space debris impacts."
Expected outcomes and impacts
"This challenge contributes to the strategic autonomy of the EU and to Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Space R&I, the EU Approach to Space Traffic Management, the EU In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation initiative (IOD/IOV) and planned initiatives such as the in-Space Operations and Services (ISOS) pilot mission under the Act in Space activities, notably by contributing satAPPs or other component plug-ins to the ISOS Pilot Mission.
In mid and long term, this Challenge is expected to expand the quantum capabilities of Europe, underpin its economic resilience and digital sovereignty. It should pave the way for Europe to be at the cutting-edge of quantum capabilities by 2030 as envisioned by the 2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital Decade Policy Programme.
By developing and scaling up affordable and resilient in-space technologies the Challenge is expected to:
- help enhance the resilience of European space infrastructure while extending their lifetime and contribute to the management and reduction of space debris.
- increase the competitiveness of European companies in In-orbit satellites servicing (IOS), In-space assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) domains.
- contribute to supporting the scaling up of technologies for in-orbit satellite servicing and maintenance, in-space transportation and space-based cybersecurity resilience.
- generate new business opportunities, while delivering significant cost-savings for satellite owners and operators who will find viable approaches to inspect, protect and extend the operational lifetime of their satellites while reducing space debris."
Budget: €50 million
5. Breakthrough innovations for future mobility
Specific objectives:
"The start-ups and SMEs to be supported under this Challenge must focus on developing cost-effective and scalable solutions that deliver against at least one of the following areas:
- Breakthroughs in the design, manufacture, assembly and operation of road vehicles, waterborne vessels, aircraft, or rail that contribute significantly to reduce their environmental footprint;
- Disruptive technologies that contribute to increase operational efficiencies and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, secondary and other harmful emissions and noise for Heavy Duty road vehicles, waterborne vessels, aircraft or rail, multimodal transport and/or their related infrastructure;
- Sustainable fuels for hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation and maritime, including retrofitting solutions;
- Breakthroughs in the development and integration of digital tools ranging from sensors to the application of Artificial Intelligence to enhance autonomous transport solutions and more sustainable energy use on land, water or in the air, improve the connectivity and efficiency of vehicles and the transport system including capacity management, and smart and bi-directional charging functionalities.
Projects must take into account the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, including Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and circularity approaches. Companies selected under this Challenge will become part of the ecosystem fostered under the European industrial partnerships in the areas of Clean Aviation, Towards zero-emission road transport (2ZERO), Connected, Cooperative and Automated Driving (CCAM), Zero-emission waterborne transport and Transforming Europe's rail system. Furthermore, connections with the Industrial Alliance “Renewable and LowCarbon Fuels Value Chain” will be encouraged."
Expected outcomes and impacts:
"This Challenge contributes to the strategic autonomy to the EU, the objectives of the European Green Deal, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy and the NetZero Industry Act, which seeks to foster the EU’s net-zero technology industrial base - products, components, and equipment necessary for manufacturing net-zero technologies - to deliver an affordable, reliable, and sustainable clean transport system.
By developing and scaling up breakthrough innovations for future mobility, the Challenge is expected to:
- increase the competitiveness and economic autonomy or security of European companies across the mobility value chain;
- support the scaling up of technologies that materially reduce mobility-related emissions, including a quantification on how they reduce emissions or increase efficiency of transport, or provide more affordable or inclusive mobility;
- deliver improvements in accessibility, safety, security, connectivity, flexibility and efficiency of the transport system including new mobility services and models;
- develop new skills and create jobs in the EU."
Budget: €50 million