EU - Horizon Europe - European Innovation Council (EIC)

INTRODUCTION AND WORK PROGRAMME

The EIC aims at identifying and supporting breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations with the potential to scale up internationally and become market leaders.

Financial support to academia is provided through two main instruments: the ‘Pathfinder’ for advanced research on breakthrough / game-changing technologies; and the ‘Transition’ for transforming research results into innovation opportunities. All EIC funded projects and companies, as well as selected applicants, have access to a range of EIC Business Acceleration Services providing access to leading expertise, corporates, investors and ecosystem actors.

European Innovation Council (EIC) 2023

EIC PATHFINDER

EIC Pathfinder supports early stage development of future technologies (at Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 1-4), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research.

Evaluation procedure: The proposal evaluation procedure starts with a remote evaluation by experts, followed by a rebuttal phase in which applicants receive the evaluators’ comments and are given the opportunity to reply. Replies cannot be used to alter or add to the content of the proposals, but must strictly focus on responding to potential misunderstandings or errors by the evaluators. The replies are then made available to the evaluation committee and taken into consideration in its final decision.

EIC Pathfinder Open

The Open call is open to projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities (‘bottom-up’).

Who is eligible? Consortia of three or more independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 3 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified.

Project duration: No formal instructions. Previously funded projects ranged from 2 to 5 years, with a duration of 3-4 years being the most common.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

The challenges support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas (listed below under ‘CALLS AND DEADLINES’) with the aim to achieve specific objectives for each Challenge. These portfolios are proactively steered by EIC Programme Managers.

Who is eligible?

  • Single legal entities established in a Member State or an Associated Country (excluding mid-caps and larger companies);
  • Consortia of two independent legal entities from two different Member States or Associated Countries;
  • Consortia of three or more independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 4 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified.

Project duration: No formal instructions. Previously funded projects ranged from 2 to 5 years, with a project duration of 3-4 years being the most common.

EIC TRANSITION

EIC Transition offers funding for innovation activities to support both the maturation and validation of a novel technology in the lab and in relevant application environments, and the development of a business case and business model towards the innovation’s future commercialisation.

Proposals must be based on results generated by EU funded project, as specified below for each type of call. In addition, the results built upon must be at least in TRL 3 and preferably in TRL 4, and proposals should aim to reach TRLs 5-6 by the end of the project.

Who is eligible?

  • Single legal entities established in a Member State or an Associated Country (excluding mid-caps and larger companies);
  • Consortia of two independent legal entities from two different Member States or Associated Countries;
  • Consortia of three to five independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 0.5-2.5 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified.

Project duration: Commonly 1-3 years.

Evaluation procedure: The proposal evaluation procedure includes two steps, the first of which is remote evaluation by experts. Applicants who pass this step are invited to an interview with a jury, where they should convincingly pitch the proposal and answer questions. Following the interview the jury will make its final decision.

EIC Transition Open

The Open call is open to projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities (‘bottom-up’).

Submission is restricted to proposals based on results generated by EIC Pathfinder (including FET-Open and FET-Proactive), FET Flagship (including the QuantERA, FLAG-ERA and ChistERA ERANETs) and ERC Proof of Concept projects, subject to meeting one of the following conditions:

  • The related project is active and started at least 12 months before the call deadline
  • The related project ended less than 24 months before the call deadline

EIC Transition Challenges

The challenges support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas (listed below under ‘CALLS AND DEADLINES’) with the aim to achieve specific objectives for each Challenge. These portfolios are proactively steered by EIC Programme Managers.

Submission is restricted to proposals based on results generated by any project funded under Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe, subject to meeting one of the following conditions:

  • The related project is active and started at least 12 months before the call deadline
  • The related project ended less than 24 months before the call deadline

CALLS FOR PROPOSALS

Following the opening of each call, a hyperlink will be provided here to the call page in the EU portal where you could find the call information, the proposal templates and the submission service.

EIC Pathfinder Open

Planned opening date: 10 January 2023
Submission deadline: 7 March 2023

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

Planned opening date: 20 June 2023
Submission deadline: 18 October 2023

  • EIC Pathfinder Challenge – Clean and efficient cooling
  • EIC Pathfinder Challenge – Architecture, Engineering and Construction digitalisation for a novel triad of design, fabrication, and materials
  • EIC Pathfinder Challenge – Precision nutrition
  • EIC Pathfinder Challenge – Responsible electronics
  • EIC Pathfinder Challenge – In-space solar energy harvesting for innovative space applications

EIC Transition Open and Challenges

Planned opening date 28 February 2023
Submission deadline (1st cut-off): 12 April 2023
Submission deadline (2nd cut-off): 27 September 2023

SUBMISSION RELATED PROCEDURES

As per WIS management instruction, grant proposals must be submitted for evaluation by the RGP, with a budget approved by Finance, at least one week to 10 days prior to the funding agency’s deadline.

  • Give RGP access to the proposal in the submission system or, if you are a partner in the proposal, ask the coordinator to to this. The RGP contact person for this purpose is Gabi Bernstein, gabi.bernstein@weizmann.ac.il.
  • Budget approval: Please make sure to obtain written approval from the Projects Section of the Finance Division for the budget before submitting the online application.
  • Internal Form: A direct link to a pre-filled online Internal Form will be emailed to you for completion.
  • Ethics issues: When preparing a proposal, it is required to conduct an Ethics Self-Assessment. See the guidance document on How to complete your Ethics Self-Assessment in the proposal preparation stage.

Note: In multi-beneficiary grants, the consortium has to choose a coordinator, who will manage and coordinate the project and will represent the consortium towards the granting authority. Weizmann researchers serving as proposal coordinators are required use the services of a consultancy company that will perform the administrative and financial management of the project on their behalf. If you intend to serve as a proposal coordinator, please contact the EU-Desk for further information and discussion.