Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

The EIC Accelerator supports companies (principally SMEs, including start-ups) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. The EIC Accelerator focuses in particular 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’).

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 TRL 5). 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 total indicative budget for this call is €634.000.000 (€414.000.000 to EIC Accelerator Open and € 220 000 000 to EIC Accelerator Challenges). The EIC Accelerator provides:

• grant component only (‘Grant Only’) that will take the form of a lump sum contribution via a grant agreement. Grant only shall be provided only once to any legal entity for the duration of the Horizon Europe programme (2021- 27) and under the following cumulative conditions:
  • the project shall include information on the capacities and willingness of the applicant to scale-up;
  • the beneficiary shall be a start-up or an SME;
  • a grant-only support under the Accelerator shall be provided only once to a beneficiary during the period of implementation of the Programme for a maximum of € 2 500 000.

• blended finance support which is composed of:
  • An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans via an investment agreement.
  • A grant component, that will take the form of a lump sum contribution via a grant agreement. An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans. The minimum investment component is € 1 000 000 and the maximum is € 10 000 000.

• investment component only (Equity-Only) usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans via an investment agreement. The minimum investment component is € 1 000 000 and the maximum is € 10 000 000 for scaling up and other activities.

The funding rate of the grant component will be 70% of the eligible costs. The remaining 30% co-funding of the work packages to be covered by the grant component has to be financed by the beneficiary through its own resources.

EIC Accelerator grant funding covers innovation activities, including demonstration of the technology in the relevant environment, prototyping and system level demonstration, R&D and testing required to meet regulatory and standardisation requirements, intellectual property management, and marketing approval (e.g., at least TRL 6 to 8).

 The innovation activities should normally be completed within 24 months but may be longer in well justified cases. The proposed duration should genuinely reflect your current TRL and the nature of the technology to be developed and demonstrated.

• New Entrepreneurship
• Research, Technological Development and Innovation

• Legal Entities
• Other Beneficiaries
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

For the EIC Accelerator, you must apply as one of the following eligible entities:

• A single company classified as a SME and established within a Member State or an Associated Country or;
• A single company classified as a small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country, but only for “investment component only” support or for “blended finance” in exceptional cases for rapid scale up purposes; or
• One or more natural persons (including individual entrepreneurs) or legal entities, which are either:
  • from a Member State or an Associated Country intending to establish an SME or small mid-cap (as defined above) in a Member State or Associated Country by the time of signing the EIC Accelerator contract or, in case the equity only is awarded, at the latest when agreeing on its investment component;
  • intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap in a Member State or an Associated Country and who may submit a proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap, provided that a prior agreement exist with the company. The grant agreement and/or the investment agreement will be signed with the beneficiary/ final recipient of funding company only; or
  • from a non-associated third country intending to establish an SME (including start-ups) or to relocate an existing SME to a Member State or an Associated Country. Your company must prove its effective establishment in a Member State or an Associated Country at the time of submission of the full proposal.

The standard admissibility and eligibility conditions are detailed in Annex 2 and information on eligible Associated Countries in Annex 3 of the 2026 EIC Work Programme.

Research and Innovation Foundation
Address: 29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia, P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Person:

Dr. Leda Skoufari – Themistou
Scientific Officer Α’
Email: leda@research.org.cy

https://eic.ec.europa.eu/index_en

• Funding & Tenders
• EIC Work Programme 2026 pg. 72