Sixty-three of the ideas are at research stage. Over €162 million (from the EIC “Pathfinder” pilot) will enable their authors to discover breakthrough technologies or bring them closer to the market, which could become the basis of a start-up or spin-off company. Forty-four of the awards representing almost €182 million (from the EIC “Accelerator” pilot) will go to start-ups and innovative SMEs to develop and scale up their innovations. As well as financial support, these companies will receive a wide range of coaching, mentoring and advisory/business acceleration services.

For the second time, the EIC Accelerator pilot has offered the option of direct equity investments (up to €15 million) in addition to the grant support (up to €2.5 million). Twenty-one out of the 44 Accelerator beneficiaries have been awarded the new so-called “blended finance” support (grant and equity), with an estimated average equity support of €4.61 million per beneficiary. Equity investments (for a total amount estimated to almost €97 million) are now subject to an in-depth due diligence exercise, and will be managed by a (soon to be established) EIC Fund, which will actively seek out co-investors. Since EIC blended finance was first introduced in the second half of 2019, the Commission has received requests totalling over €10 billion from over 3500 start-ups and SMEs.

The researchers, start-ups and SMEs selected for EIC support span across EU member states and associated countries. While the companies and projects have now been selected for funding, the final decision will only be taken upon finalisation of the grant and equity preparation. In addition to projects selected for funding, 573 start-ups and SMEs were independently assessed as meeting all the criteria for EIC funding and will be awarded the Seal of Excellence to support their access to other funding sources.

The EIC is also introducing a new way of managing funding, through the recruitment of high level EIC Programme Managers who will guide projects towards strategic breakthroughs. The Commission today published a call for a Programme Manager for breakthrough energy and environmental technologies, of vital importance or the Green Deal. At the same time, a group of leading experts was announced who will develop recommendations on how Programme Managers can achieve a maximum impact under the fully-fledged EIC from 2021.

Original source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/european-innovation-council-pilot-eu344-million-107-visionary-start-ups-smes-and-researchers-2020-mar-12_en