EIC Accelerator 2026 - Short proposal

Scope: The EIC Accelerator supports companies (principally SMEs, including start-ups) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. The EIC Accelerator provides a unique combination of grant and investment funding and Business Acceleration Services (see Section VII of EIC Work Programme 2026). The EIC Accelerator focuses in particular on innovations building on scientific discovery or technological breakthroughs (‘deep tech’) and where significant funding is needed over a long timeframe before returns can be generated (‘patient capital’). Such innovations often struggle to attract financing because the risks and time period involved are too high. Funding and support from the EIC Accelerator is designed to enable such innovators to attract the full investment amounts needed for scale up in a shorter timeframe. The EIC Accelerator supports the later stages of technology development as well as scale up. The technology component of your innovation must therefore have been tested and validated in a laboratory and other relevant environment (e.g., at least Technology Readiness Level 5 completed). The EIC Accelerator looks to support companies where the EIC support will act as a catalyst to crowd in other investors necessary for the scale up of the innovation. Applicants to EIC Accelerator can submit proposals through: EIC Accelerator Open - which has no predefined thematic priorities and is open to proposals in any field of technology or application EIC Accelerator Challenges - in predefined areas of emerging and strategic technologies. For further information please see the EIC Work Programme 2026. General conditions1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layoutTo be an eligible applicant to EIC Accelerator, you must apply as one of the following eligible entities: a single company classified as a SME, and established within a Member State or an Associated Country (see Annex 2 of the EIC Work Programme 2026); or a single company classified as a small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established in a Member State or an Associated Country, but only for exceptional cases for rapid scale up purposes; or one or more natural persons (including individual entrepreneurs) or legal entities, which are either: a. from a Member State or an Associated Country intending to establish an SME or small mid-cap (as defined above) in a Member State or Associated Country by the time of signing the EIC Accelerator grant agreement or, in case the equity only is awarded, at the latest at the date of signature of the agreement on its investment component; b. intending to invest in an SME or small mid-cap established in a Member State or an Associated Country and may submit a proposal on behalf of that SME or small mid-cap, provided that a prior agreement exists with the company. The grant agreement and/or the investment agreement will be signed with the beneficiary/final recipient of funding company only; or c. from a non-associated third country intending to establish an SME (including start-ups) or to relocate an existing SME to a Member State or an Associated Country. Your company must prove its effective establishment in a Member State or an Associated Country at the time of submission of the full proposal. The standard admissibility and eligibility conditions are detailed in Annex 2 of the EIC Work Programme 2026. There are limitations on the number of times you can submit a proposal described in the section Application submission limits of the EIC Work Programme 2026. If you are currently a participant in an eligible project funded by Horizon Europe or Horizon 2020 then you may be able to apply through your existing project under the Fast Track scheme (see Annex 3 of the EIC Work Programme 2026). This scheme is managed by the funding body responsible for the existing project and applies to funding bodies listed in Annex 3 of the EIC Work Programme 2026. Applicants may also be able to apply if they have a project financed by an eligible programme managed by a Member State or an Associated Country under the pilot Plug-in scheme. The Plug-in scheme to apply to the EIC Accelerator is detailed in Annex 4 of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 2. Eligible CountriesDescribed in Annex 2(B. Eligibility) of the EIC Work Programme 2026. Applicants from the United Kingdom can apply to the EIC Accelerator, but can only request and receive funding in the form of “grant only”. 3. Other Eligible ConditionsDescribed in Annex 2(General conditions for proposals) of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusionDescribed in Annex 2(C. Financial and Operational Capacity) of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholdsDescribed in section IV of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processesDescribed in section IV of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreementDescribed in section IV of the EIC Work Programme 2026. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grantsDescribed in Annex G of the HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes. Specific conditions Described in Section IV.1, Section IV.2.3 and Section IV.2.4 of the EIC Work Programme 2026. Call DocumentsEIC Work Programme 2026 Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE EIC Accelerator stage 1 - short proposal) Standard application form (HE EIC Accelerator stage 2 - full proposal) Guidance HE Programme Guide Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Information on clinical studies (HE) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes HE Programme Guide EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046 Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement To access the Electronic Submission Service, please click on the submission-button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement that corresponds to your proposal. You will then be asked to confirm your choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system (NOTE: Applicants may change their funding requests between the short proposal and full proposal phases. Open and Challenge Topic can only be selected at the full proposal phase). Upon confirmation, you will be linked to the correct entry point. To access existing draft proposals for this topic, please login to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section.

• HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes ↗
• Standard application form (HE EIC Accelerator stage 1 - short proposal) ↗
• Standard application form (HE EIC Accelerator stage 2 - full proposal) ↗
• HE Programme Guide ↗
• Lump Sum MGA ↗
• Detailed budget table (HE LS) ↗
• Information on clinical studies (HE) ↗
• Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" ↗
• Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment ↗
• Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions ↗
• Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement ↗