EIC Work Programme 2025

The European Commission has adopted the 2025 Work Programme of the European Innovation Council. It opens funding opportunities worth over €1.4 billion for strategic technologies and scaling up companies.

Over €10 billion in grants-funding is available for SMEs and small midcaps via the European Innovation Council (EIC), the European Commission’s flagship innovation funding programme for the period 2021-2027.

The EIC is a key programme of Horizon Europe, established by the European Commission, that aims to identify, develop and scale-up breakthrough technologies and disruptive innovations.

Funding is provided through three main instruments addressing all stages of the innovation lifecycle:

Pathfinder for advanced research on breakthrough / game-changing technologies;
Transition for transforming research results into innovation opportunities; and
Accelerator for companies to develop and scale up breakthrough innovations.

An additional instrument has been added in this latest edition of the Work Programme.

EIC STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) Scale Up provides scale-up financing to catalyse larger funding rounds.

Each instrument comprises open calls for proposals in any field of science, technology or application and challenge-driven calls targeting specific strategic priorities.

All EIC-funded projects and companies - as well as selected applicants - have access to EIC Business Acceleration Services. Moreover, the EIC also provides additional activities such as prizes.

Funding Programmes in 2025

EIC Accelerator (€634 million)

The EIC Accelerator supports start-ups and SMEs to develop and scale up innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones (grants below €2.5 million, investments from €0.5 to €10 million*). €348 million is earmarked for investments to be managed by the EIC Fund, which may be increased by unused amounts allocated to the EIC Fund under previous EIC Work Programmes.

The EIC Accelerator has Open and Challenges calls. The budget breakdown for the two calls are as follows:

EIC Accelerator Open - €384 million
EIC Accelerator Challenges - €250 million

The grant first is no longer part of the funding types. The three available funding types in 2025 are: Grant only, Blended finance & Equity only.

The funding rate for the grant component remains at 70%. The grant component is up to €2.5 million, while the investment component goes from €0.5 million to €10 million.

The submission of the short application remains open at any time.

The cut-off dates for full applications in 2025 are:

March 12th 2025
October 1st 2025

*Please note that in this latest edition, the largest equity amount requested has decreased from €15 to €10 million.

EIC Pathfinder (€262 million)

The EIC Pathfinder supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies. It welcomes the high-risk / high gain and interdisciplinary cutting-edge science collaborations that underpin technological breakthroughs.

The EIC Pathfinder has Open and Challenges calls. The budget breakdown for the two calls are as follows:

Pathfinder Open - €142 million
Pathfinder Challenges - €120 million

Grants of up to €4 million support early-stage development of future technologies (Technology Readiness Levels 1-3), up to proof of concept. Pathfinder projects can also receive additional funding for testing the innovation potential of their research outputs.

Calls will open on:

May 21st 2025 (Pathfinder Open)
October 29th 2025 (Pathfinder Challenges)

EIC STEP Scale Up (€300 million)

The new EIC STEP Scale Up aims to support promising companies driving innovation in critical areas/high-risk innovations and help them secure larger equity funding, that cannot be fully financed by other investors, for further scaling. The minimum investment requested is €10 million with the maximum being €30 million for companies. It will be managed by the EIC Fund.

The scope of innovation will include:

Digital and Deep Tech
Clean Technologies
Biotechnologies

The deadline is continuous for this call.

Simplification and other novelties in 2025

Lump sum funding in most EIC calls removing financial reporting requirements for beneficiaries. This continues from the Work Programme adopted in 2024.
The maximum equity funding/investment per project has decreased from €15 to €10 million.
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.
Short Applications for the EIC Accelerator will be batched. Feedback will be sent 4 - 6 weeks from the date of the batching.
Consensus meetings occurs in EIC Accelerator applications during the Full Application phase to improve the robustness of the evaluation process.

At Winnovart, it is part of our mission to bridge the gap between stakeholders of the grants-funding market space across Europe. We believe in the potential of grants to create ecosystems that drive innovation, and growth and reduce disparities between the regions of Europe. Our aim is to support innovative SMEs, private investors and funding agencies to become part of this ecosystem and make the most of it.

Our presence in Western, Eastern and Northern Europe enables us to create international business cases for our clients, in the context of attractive funding programmes as well as beyond it, by opening up international development opportunities.

For more updates on funding opportunities, please follow us on social media: Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter.

Overview