The amounts funded are the following:

• EIC ACCELERATOR “CHALLENGES”: €250 million 

• EIC ACCELERATOR “OPEN”: €384 million 

The number of projects funded depends on the mix of grant and investment sizes per project, typically ranging from tens to over a hundred projects. Moreover, Grant components usually max out at EUR 2.5 million per project, while investments range from EUR 0.5 to 10 million per company.

Important Note: Around 150 projects could be funded under EIC Accelerator Open at smaller grant-only or mixed levels, while roughly 20-50 projects could be financed under EIC Accelerator Challenges.

For both the EIC Accelerator Challenges and Accelerator Open funding, the European Union, more specifically through entities operated or managed by the European Commission, is primarily responsible for funding. The funding is provided under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and implemented by the European Innovation Council (EIC). Supporting bodies such as EISMEA (European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency) manage the actions. Various public innovation ecosystem stakeholders, such as national contact points or regional innovation organisations, can assist applicants but do not provide the primary funding under the EIC Accelerator.

In both Challenge and Open calls, the beneficiaries and funding outcomes are communicated approximately 3 weeks after the interview stage, itself scheduled about 14-15 weeks after the full proposal cut-off date, resulting in a total estimated timeframe of around 4 to 5 months from full proposal submission to funding decision.

The funded action types for Accelerator Challenges and Accelerator Open are innovation development, product development, market deployment, and scale-up, primarily targeting TRL 6 through TRL 9. This includes activities related to product development, market access strategies, and scaling-up operations.

EIC Accelerator