The European Innovation Council (EIC) unveiled its 2025 Work Programme, highlighting ambitious initiatives designed to solidify Europe’s position as a leader in breakthrough technologies and strengthen its strategic autonomy. By funding high-risk, high-reward innovations, the EIC aims to transform scientific discoveries into market-ready technologies, fostering an environment where innovative companies can thrive and compete globally. This article delves into the essential changes, major highlights, and anticipated impact of the EIC 2025 Work Programme.
1. The New STEP Scale-Up Scheme: Bridging the Funding Gap
One of the centrepieces of the EIC 2025 Work Programme is the newly introduced STEP Scale-Up Scheme. This €300 million initiative is a direct response to the well-documented challenges European deep-tech startups face in securing sufficient growth funding. While Europe has excelled in generating innovative ideas and producing early-stage start-ups, a lack of substantial follow-on funding has limited many companies’ abilities to scale globally.
The STEP Scale-Up Scheme is specifically tailored to address this gap, targeting high-impact companies developing critical technologies. These include digital innovations, clean tech, and biotech solutions – sectors deemed essential for Europe’s competitive and strategic positioning. The scheme will prioritise funding for projects that have a clear path to scale but need significant investment to reach that next level. By doing so, the EIC aims to prevent promising companies from seeking funding outside the EU, which often results in them relocating.
2. Enhanced Focus on Strategic EIC Challenges
The EIC has refined and expanded its EIC Challenges, allocating over €370 million to address pressing global and European priorities. EIC Challenges act as targeted calls for proposals within specific high-potential fields, encouraging innovators to tackle some of the world’s most complex problems. For 2025, the EIC has introduced new and strategically relevant challenges, each designed to push the boundaries of current knowledge and technological capability.
Key areas of focus include:
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI): As generative AI continues to disrupt industries, the EIC Challenge in this domain is set to accelerate the development of Europe-centred AI innovations. The goal is to build competitive AI applications that address Europe’s ethical, social, and economic needs, ultimately ensuring Europe’s sovereignty over AI technologies.
• Climate-Resilient Crops: Responding to the urgent need for sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change, this challenge calls for the development of crops that can withstand increasingly extreme weather patterns. Innovations in this space are expected to bolster food security and reduce dependency on external agricultural imports.
• Autonomous Robots for Sustainable Industry: Targeting robotics and automation in industrial settings, this challenge aims to make European industries more sustainable and efficient. By promoting innovations in autonomous robotic systems, the EIC hopes to minimise environmental impact, reduce waste, and create safer working environments.
• Agri-Tech Solutions: Recognising agriculture as a backbone of European sustainability, the EIC is also investing in disruptive agri-tech solutions. These solutions will focus on precision farming, smart sensors, and AI-enabled decision-making tools to support sustainable practices and enhance productivity across European agriculture.
These challenges reflect the EIC’s commitment to addressing both immediate and long-term strategic needs, ensuring that Europe stays at the forefront of technology-driven societal change.
EIC Transition Programme: Bridging Research and Market
The 2025 Work Programme allocates €98 million to the EIC Transition Open, which has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of science, technology, or application.
The EIC Transition programme is designed to mature novel technologies beyond the experimental proof of principle, facilitating their progression from laboratory settings to real-world applications. It supports single entities or small consortia, including SMEs, start-ups, research organisations, and universities, aiming to validate technologies and develop business plans for specific applications at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 3 to 6.
Key features of the EIC Transition include:
• Funding Support: Grants of up to €2.5 million are available to validate and demonstrate technology in application-relevant environments and develop market readiness.
• Booster Grants: Additional booster grants, not exceeding €50,000, are offered for ongoing projects to explore potential commercialization pathways or for portfolio activities.
• Business Acceleration Services (BAS): Beneficiaries gain access to a range of tailor-made BAS, including coaching, mentoring, expertise, training, and connections to global partners and innovation ecosystems.
EIC Accelerator Programme: Scaling Innovations
The EIC Accelerator programme offers €634 million for start-ups and SMEs to develop and scale up innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. It supports companies aiming to scale up and seeking substantial funding, particularly when the associated risks are too high for private investors alone.
Key components of the EIC Accelerator include:
• Grant Funding: Lump sum contributions below €2.5 million are provided for innovation activities (TRL 6-8), to be completed within 24 months.
• Investment Component: To bridge the gap for high-risk innovations, the programme offers equity investments ranging from €0.5 million to €10 million, with higher amounts available under the STEP Scale-Up scheme. (Not available to UK entities).
• Blended Finance: A combination of grant and equity or quasi-equity (such as convertible loans) is available to support both innovation activities and market deployment.
• Business Acceleration Services (BAS): Similar to the Transition programme, Accelerator beneficiaries have access to BAS, facilitating connections with global partners, coaches, mentors, and innovation ecosystems.
3. Expanded Business Acceleration Services (BAS) for Wider Inclusivity
Recognising that financial support alone isn’t sufficient, the EIC has broadened its Business Acceleration Services (BAS), giving startups and SMEs access to invaluable non-financial resources. This includes mentorship, networking opportunities, and tailored coaching designed to support companies at all stages of growth. The BAS programme will be further expanded in 2025, with an emphasis on reaching underrepresented regions and sectors across the EU.
For the first time, the BAS will specifically target innovators from underrepresented regions, addressing imbalances within the EU’s innovation ecosystem. By providing these innovators with the same level of support available to their counterparts in more established innovation hubs, the EIC aims to create a more balanced and inclusive landscape for European innovation.
Additionally, Seals of Excellence will be awarded to highly promising projects that do not receive EIC funding, guiding them towards alternative European and national funding opportunities. This measure serves to reduce the potential for lost innovation due to limited resources, maximising the impact of the EIC’s efforts.
4. The Role of Strategic Autonomy and Sustainability
The EIC 2025 Work Programme places a strong emphasis on strategic autonomy, particularly within sectors deemed critical to Europe’s long-term competitiveness. This includes ensuring that Europe has control over key technologies that could influence its economic independence, such as clean energy solutions, digital innovations, and health-related technologies. By investing in these areas, the EIC aims to reduce Europe’s reliance on non-EU countries for strategic resources and technologies, thereby safeguarding its economic and technological resilience.
Sustainability is also a cornerstone of the 2025 Work Programme. The EIC has aligned its funding strategies with the EU’s broader Green Deal objectives, investing in innovations that promote environmental protection, sustainable resource use, and emissions reduction. In doing so, the EIC supports Europe’s transition to a green economy, ensuring that new technologies contribute positively to the global fight against climate change.
5. Commitment to Research and Innovation Across Key Technology Sectors
The EIC 2025 Work Programme continues its tradition of fostering deep-tech innovation by supporting groundbreaking research and innovation. Deep-tech areas such as quantum computing, advanced materials, and biotechnology remain focal points of the EIC’s funding strategy. These fields have the potential to redefine existing markets and create entirely new ones, driving economic growth and technological leadership within the EU.
In biotechnology, for instance, the EIC has dedicated funding to innovations in gene editing, personalised medicine, and biomanufacturing, areas that could revolutionise healthcare and therapeutics. Similarly, quantum computing is recognised for its potential to transform industries by providing unprecedented computational power, which could support advancements in fields ranging from climate modelling to cryptography.
6. Boosting Public-Private Partnerships and Industry Engagement
A significant aspect of the EIC’s 2025 strategy is encouraging stronger partnerships between the public and private sectors. The Work Programme outlines initiatives to foster collaboration between EIC-funded projects and major industry players, creating pathways for knowledge transfer, co-investment, and broader market access. Through these partnerships, the EIC hopes to fast-track the development and commercialisation of technologies, enabling smaller innovators to access the resources and expertise they need to scale.
In 2025, the EIC will place added emphasis on co-investment schemes, wherein public funding is matched by private sector investment. These co-investment opportunities are intended to mobilise additional financial resources, ensuring that European deep-tech startups have access to the capital required to scale.
You can download the full EIC 2025 Work Programme here.
