The European Commission has adopted the European Innovation Council (EIC) 2025 work programme. € 1.4 billion has been made available for innovative companies. Through different grant schemes, the work programme supports companies in developing ground-breaking innovations and technologies.

EIC work programme 2025

The total grant budget (€ 1.4 billion) from the new EIC work programme 2025 is divided into four different EIC grant schemes:

EIC Pathfinder 

By 2025, € 262 million of the grant budget will be available for the EIC Pathfinder scheme. This scheme supports research teams in researching and developing groundbreaking technologies and innovations. You can receive up to € 4 million in funding per project.

EIC Transition

For the EIC Transition scheme, a € 98 million grant budget is available in 2025. Innovators can use this to develop innovative technologies and set up a business plan to bring the final product to the market. Here, up to € 2.5 million in funding can be applied for per project.

EIC Accelerator

EIC Accelerator will receive no less than € 634 million grant budget in 2025. This scheme supports researchers in developing innovations and technologies with market potential. For each project, you can receive up to € 2.5 million in funding.

EIC STEP Scale-Up

The EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale-Up programme will receive a € 300 million grant budget by 2025. This scheme provides additional funding through investments to startups and SMEs. These investments range between € 10 and € 30 million.

New EIC STEP Scale-Up scheme

The STEP Scale-Up scheme was created to make large investments in companies bringing strategic technologies to the EU market. Through investments from the EIC fund, private co-investments are encouraged, further increasing overall investment. This scheme addresses the market gap in deep tech scale-up funding in Europe.

New challenges

EIC has new ‘challenges’ that have been incorporated into the 2025 work programme:

• A € 120 million budget has been made available for emerging technologies. These include autonomous construction robots, climate-resilient crops, turning waste into raw materials, and medical diagnostics.
• There is also a € 250 million grant budget for companies still at an early stage within specific target technologies such as generative AI, new space technologies, agricultural technologies, and future mobility solutions.

EIC advice from a specialist

The EIC budget of € 1.4 billion provides many opportunities for companies to scale-up in 2025. Curious to learn your grant opportunities in 2025? Our EIC-specialists are looking forward to advice you. Schedule a meeting with a specialist. Get in touch via info@hezelburcht.com or call us on 088 495 20 00.

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