The European Commission has adopted the 2026 European Innovation Council (EIC) work programme, allocating €1.4 billion to support Europe’s most promising deep tech entrepreneurs and researchers. The initiative is designed to address the needs of European innovators, offering simplified access to substantial funding, investment opportunities, and connections to customers and partners across Europe and beyond.
In tandem with the EIC work programme, the Commission is preparing to launch the Scaleup Europe Fund, a market-based, privately managed, and co-financed initiative under the EIC Fund. Developed in partnership with private investors, this Fund will bridge the investment gap faced by Europe’s deep-tech scale-ups, providing the late-stage growth capital necessary for international expansion while ensuring companies remain anchored in Europe. Together, the 2026 work programme and the new Fund form a robust framework for transforming world-class research into globally competitive companies.
The programme introduces several key improvements, including a simpler and faster application process for the EIC Accelerator, the EU’s flagship programme combining investment grants and business acceleration services for high-potential start-ups and SMEs. From 2026, full proposal forms will be reduced from 50 pages to 20, evaluations will occur every two months instead of every six, and deeper technology assessments will anticipate investment due diligence. Since 2021, over 15,000 companies have applied to the EIC Accelerator, highlighting the high demand for support.
A significant innovation in the 2026 work programme is the introduction of Advanced Innovation Challenges, inspired by the US ARPA model. These challenges will provide staged funding for high-risk, high-reward projects in areas where Europe excels in research but often struggles to translate ideas into market-ready products. Initially, a first stage will support a range of projects offering different solutions, followed by a second stage with more substantial funding for prototypes and user testing. EIC programme managers will oversee the process and involve potential public and private users, helping innovators bring solutions to real-world markets.
The programme also reinforces the Startup and Scaleup Strategy, strengthening access to international markets and partners through initiatives such as the European Corporate Network and EIC corporate days. A new Gender Index will track women’s participation in the innovation ecosystem. Targeted challenge calls will focus on critical raw materials, nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence, and climate adaptation, while the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) will continue to provide larger investments of up to €30 million in high-demand projects.
Since its creation, the EIC has played a central role in Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem, with a Horizon Europe budget of over €10 billion for 2021-2027. It has supported more than 700 companies, including over 300 with direct investments, and more than 600 research projects, providing grants and business acceleration services. The EIC covers the full innovation lifecycle, from early-stage research (EIC Pathfinder and Advanced Innovation) to commercial validation (EIC Transition and Accelerator) and scale-up (EIC STEP Scale-up scheme). Its investment arm, the EIC Fund, has made €1.4 billion in direct investments in over 300 deep-tech start-ups, leveraging 3.5 times as much in co-investments, making it Europe’s largest and most active deep-tech co-investment fund. The EIC Trusted Investor Network further strengthens access to venture capital for breakthrough companies, ensuring Europe’s innovators have the support they need to grow globally.
