EU Funding Programmes

With the various funding programmes, EU wants to turn Europe into an innovation union. Therefore, over the last 30 years, EU has invested more than EUR 200 billion in research and innovation across Europe. The plan is to get good ideas to market faster and it started with Horizon 2020, which was the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme.

Now, Horizon Europe, EU's next research and innovation programme (2021-2027) will succeed the successful Horizon 2020. Horizon Europe is an ambitious EUR 100 billion research and innovation programme that aims to boost the economy, create jobs and improve lives. Consequently, the programme will fund, among others, ground-breaking research and innovation within the industries of cities, agriculture, digital, energy and oceans.

The EIC Accelerator

The EIC Accelerator provides grants and equity funding to innovative startups and SMEs that want to put their breakthrough innovations on the market. This will, among others, help them attract private investors.

Innovative companies can apply for a grant or up to EUR 17.5 million in combined grant and equity financing to scale-up quickly and effectively. The grants available will be between EUR 0.5 and 2.5 million and equity investment can amount up to EUR 15 million. The EIC Accelerator aims to increase support for ground-breaking concepts that could shape new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and worldwide.

The Dedicated SME Instrument

SME Instrument supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with a radically new idea underpinned by a business plan for rolling out marketable innovation solutions and with ambitions to scale up. It supports high-risk, high-potential SMEs to develop and bring to market new products, services and business models that could drive economic growth.

The SME instrument offers Europe's brightest and boldest entrepreneurs the chance to step forward with funding to boost fast company growth and market-creating innovation.

Fast Track to Innovation

Fast Track to innovation (FTI) is a fully-bottom-up innovation support programme.

FTI promotes close-to-the-market innovation activities open to industry-driven consortia that can be composed of all types of participants.

FTI helps partners to co-create and test breakthrough products, services or business processes with the potential to revolutionise existing or create entirely new markets under the helm of the new European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot.

Eurostars

Eurostars supports research-performing SMEs and individual scientist to develop innovative products, processes and services, to gain a competitive advantage. Eurostars provides funding for transnational innovation projects for rapid commercialisation.

The applications are scrutinised by a panel of international research and business experts. This ensures that only the best ideas and strongest partnerships get the support needed. Eurostars helps businesses grow their teams, discover new expertise - and attract private investors.