European Innovation Council

The European Innovation Council (EIC) was created under the EU Horizon Europe programme. It has a budget of €10.1 billion to support disruptive innovations throughout the lifecycle from early stage research, through to the financing and scale up of start-ups and SMEs.

The strategy and implementation of the EIC is directed by the EIC Board, which has independent members such as entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, corporates and others from the innovation ecosystem.

The EIC takes a practical approach to managing funding under the leadership of EIC Programme Managers who develop innovation and technology breakthroughs and drive portfolios of projects to achieve these goals. 

Uniquely, the EIC is that it provides funding for individual companies (mainly startups and SMEs) through both grants and investments. The investments currently come from direct equity or quasi-equity investments and are managed by the EIC Fund.