EIC Accelerator

( I.article about EIC Accelerator | introductory article of the EIC series )

EIC Accelerator is an unique financing program aimed at individual SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) start-ups and spinout companies to support high-risk innovative technologies and create/disrupt new markets. It is possible to apply for grant funding of up to €2.5 million with a 70% funding rate and/or equity investment of up to €15 million.  

There are two following stages in the application process:  

1. Short Proposal
2. Full Proposal 

Short Proposal  

• the short application asked for a demonstration of your project (type and purpose of your innovative idea), targeted market, and potential societal, economic, environmental or climate impacts  
• the short proposal is open on an ongoing basis anytime during the year, so there is no strict deadline for submission of the proposal 

• the short proposal will be evaluated by experts and then it will be given a GO or NO GO by four evaluators 
• within a maximum of 4 weeks will be announced detailed feedback and decision with individual comments from evaluators  
• if you are successful at this first stage, you will be asked to proceed with a full proposal  
• if you are not successful at this first stage, you have an additional chance to resubmit a version of the proposal  

Required sections of the short proposal:  

The short proposal is based on the EIC AI Platform which automatically generates a rating that shows how good and important is your proposal before its submission.    

You will be asked to provide on the EIC AI Platform:  

1. Proposal Information – general information about the preparation of the proposal
2. Company and CEO information  
3. A pitch deck of a maximum of 10 slides – there is no template for this section, it must be uploaded in the valid pdf format, there are no restrictions regarding additional images, data, tables that are not included in the questionnaire  
4. A simple video of a maximum of 3 minutes – may include subtitles, the English language is not mandatory, should include a brief explanation of your innovation and members of the team 
5. Following series of questions that correspond to a 5-page form, describing the details of your innovation, your potential market, and your team: 

• • IDEOLOGY (IDEATION) – What? Why?  
  • DEVELOPMENT (SOLUTION) – How? Who?  
  • GO TO MARKET – For whom? For what impact?  

After successfully receiving a GO in the first Short Proposal you will proceed with  Full Proposal with additional 5 days coaching services offered by EIC Business Services to provide complex and valid recommendations to strengthen your Full Proposal 

Full Proposal  

The full proposal is also based on the EIC AI Platform by which you will be asked to further description of: 

• • IDEOLOGY – Topics, Value Chain, Solutions, Use Case  
  • DEVELOPMENT – Achievements, Features, Work Packages, Milestones, Team   
  • GO TO MARKET – Know, Prepare, Enter, Scale, Impact 
  • Attachments: FTO Analysis, Data Management Plan,  Financial Information, Pitch Deck, Letters of Intent if any, 10 pages maximum Annex with additional information you would like to add 

1.  A need to define the concrete type of funding (blended finance, grant only, grant first)  
2. At this stage is offered Coaching services with regular checks and detailed feedback on a full proposal  
3. The full proposal will be evaluated by three experts and will be given a GO or NO GO  
4. If the successful proposal will be awarded by a GO for all the criteria, within several weeks the winning team will be invited for a face-to-face interview with the EIC jury 
5. If 1 or more remote experts give a NO GO, you are not eligible for the interview, but you may submit an improved full proposal following the resubmission rules