The selected projects include a hybrid simulation platform for neurosurgery, a recyclable kitchen countertop stone, a technology replicating the rain process to supply sustainable drinking water, an anti-metastatic cancer vaccine, a kite collecting wind energy, a technology to map air quality with high-spatial resolution and a periscopic stereo depth camera.

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said:

Each of the companies receiving funding through the European Innovation Council is offering a solution to a problem that affects the daily lives of Europeans, be it in the area of health, environment, energy and more. I am delighted to see that the European Innovation Council is already delivering on its promise of supporting innovators with the vision and ability of bringing about positive change in the world.

Under the EIC Accelerator, 96 small companies from 20 countries get support to speed up the pace of their innovation with €177 million

Under this strand of the EIC pilot, each project will receive up to €2.5 million to finance innovation activities like demonstration, testing, piloting and scaling up. The companies will also benefit from 12 days of free business coaching and acceleration services.

French SMEs were the most successful with 11 companies selected for funding. They were followed by Spain (10) and Israel (9). The majority of selected companies are active in the field of ICT, health and engineering.

Under the FTI scheme, 14 innovative projects get support to access the market faster with €33 million

In total, the European Commission is awarding €33.2 million to 14 innovative projects, involving 56 partners in 19 countries. The selected projects will receive around €2 million each within the Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) strand of the EIC pilot.

FTI supports mature innovative concepts that have already been tested. Projects can receive up to €3 million involving three to five partners, including SMEs and a majority of industry participants. The participating SMEs also have access to free business coaching and acceleration services.

Background

The EIC Accelerator and the Fast Track to Innovation are a central part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot, targeting radically new, breakthrough products, services, processes or business models that open up new markets. Between 2018 and 2020, the EIC pilot will provide nearly €3 billion to breakthrough, market-creating innovations, under Horizon 2020 – the EU’s multi-annual Research and Innovation Programme. From now on, the EIC Accelerator (ex SME Instrument Phase 2) will offer optional equity investment in addition to a grant. Innovative companies can apply for a grant only or up to €17.5 million in-combined grant and equity financing to scale-up quickly and effectively. The grants available will be between € 0.5 and 2.5 million and equity investment can amount up to €15 million. The next cut-off date for EIC Accelerator (grant only and blended finance) and Fast Track to Innovation are respectively on 09 October 2019 and 22 October 2019.

More information

List of selected projects under the EIC Accelerator

List of selected projects under FTI

Map of all projects funded under the EIC Accelerator

Map of all projects funded under FTI