Latest information about the Green Deal Call and Opportunities for Women CEO

What’s new?

A significant increase to the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot budget is expected to be adopted by the European Commission in March 2020 and will include two novelties

• A one-off EIC call for ‘green deal’ start-ups and SMEs is expected for the 19 May ’20 cut-off. All applicants submitting for the 19 May ’20 cut-off will need to demonstrate how their innovation contributes to the goals of The European Green Deal. The 7 October ’20 cut-off for the EIC Accelerator Pilot will remain open to all innovations.
• Additional opportunities for companies with women CEOs (or equivalent positions) is also expected, to ensure 25% of all finalists in the EIC Accelerator Pilot are women-led companies. If, following the first-round remote evaluation, a minimum of 25% of companies selected for the final-stage interviews are not led by women, additional interviews will be scheduled.

The Text of the call (p.49 and following) has just been released as a draft to be approved by the European Commission very soon. Frequently Asked Questions (p.16-20)  are also available.

It is important to remember that this is a dedicated cut-off but green compagnies can always apply to the EIC accelerator which is not limited to one topic. The EIC already supports over 1.100 green companies for over € 550 million in total. This represents almost 25% of all EIC-supported companies. More information in this article.

The call for proposal open for submission is available online here.

What is the EIC Accelerator

This is one of the rare H2020 topic which is accessible to single SMEs without partners. However this is a ultra competitive call to support game-changing, market-creating innovation and deep-tech SMEs.

Previously called the SME instrument, it is currently in a pilot phase to pave the ground for the launch of a ‘fully-fledged’ programme in Horizon Europe (2021 – 2027).

Is this for me?

This call is targeting for profit SME only. You should have a solid business plan to develop and scale up a high-risk innovation.  Your innovation should have a disruptive effect to create the new markets of the future.

The SME instrument phase 1 (feasibility study) is not supported any more. The EIC Accelerator cover the previous phase 2 but a new Option of equity investment of up to €15 million for TRL 8 or higher complementing or not a Grant funding of up to €2.5 million (70% of costs) for the TRL 6-8 (more information in our previous article).

But this means that you need to have conducted the equivalent of the feasibility study with a European coverage with other sources of funding. And be aware that the preparation of the application is very demanding. But NCP Brussels and Enterprise Europe Brussels is at your disposal to help you.