The EIC Accelerator supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in particular Startups and spinout companies to develop and scaleup game-changing innovations. In some cases small mid-caps (up to 500 employees) are supported.

The EIC Accelerator provides substantial financial support with:

• grant funding (non-dilutive) of up to €2.5 million for innovation development costs,
• investments (direct equity investments) of up to €15 million managed by the EIC Fund for scale up and other relevant costs. Companies working on technologies of strategic European interest can apply for EIC investments of more than €15 million.

In addition, EIC selected companies receive coaching, mentoring, access to investors and corporates, and many other opportunities as part of the EIC community.

The EIC welcomes applications from innovators in all EU Member States and countries associated to the Horizon Europe programme. It particularly welcomes applications from startups and SMEs with female CEOs.

The EIC Accelerator provides blended finance (Innovation and Market Deployment Action) which is composed of:

• An investment component usually in the form of direct equity or quasi-equity such as convertible loans.
• A grant component to reimburse eligible costs incurred for innovation activities, including demonstration of the technology in the relevant environment, prototyping and system level demonstration, R&D and testing required to meet regulatory and standardisation requirements, intellectual property management, and marketing approval (e.g. at least TRL 5/6 to 8).

The cut-off dates for 2022 (for both Accelerator Open and Accelerator Challenges) are:

23 March, 15 June and 5 October