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The European Innovation Council (EIC), which just adopted its 2023 work programme, will provide Euro 1.6 billion in support to researchers and entrepreneurs who can scale up game-changing ideas and open up new markets.
FREMONT, CA:Scientists and innovators who can scale up ground-breaking inventions and develop new markets will receive Euro 1.6 billion in financing under the European Innovation Council's (EIC) recently approved 2023 work programme. It is noteworthy that the EIC Accelerator, which assists entrepreneurs and SMEs in creating and marketing high-impact ideas, will get 70 per cent of this sum, or Euro 1.13 billion.
Euro 525 million is made available for entrepreneurs creating cutting-edge technology that will support the strategic goals of the EU. These include resilient agriculture, space technology, quantum or semiconductor components, biomarkers for cancer, decontamination for pandemic management, energy storage, and the New European Bauhaus programme. The remaining Euro 613 million will go toward technologies that are not subject-specific.
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Three other major goals are included in EIC's work programme for the upcoming year: to increase the flow of people into deep tech firms, to assist female innovators even more, and to make it easier for private and public procurers to work together.
EIC’s Funding is a Significant, But Small Step
EIC's assistance has so far produced several remarkable results. First of all, its portfolio of businesses which includes 12 unicorns and 112 centaurs, has a total valuation of over Euro 40 billion. Additionally, the European Innovation Council successfully encouraged follow-on private sector investments worth over Euro 10 billion. Incorporate a support fund of €100 million for the commercialization of ground-breaking ideas. And they can anticipate that the investment for the upcoming year will result in an even stronger push for the European tech sector.
However, even though Euro 1.13 billion appears to be a huge sum of money, it is insufficient. For example, private investment in deep tech firms in the UK reached USD 8.5 billion in 2021 alone, enabling the sector's rapid expansion.
Additionally, each nation would receive roughly Euro 42 million from the Euro 1.13 billion if they distributed the EIC's funding evenly among the 27 countries of the bloc in a hypothetical scenario. It becomes evident that public investment plays a crucial role in safeguarding innovation when these two factors are taken into account, together with the downturn the European tech sector experienced in 2022.
In the end, Europe possesses a significant number of tech firms, a talented labour population, and the necessary infrastructure to become a tech powerhouse, but it is sometimes constrained by a lack of proper support. If the continent is to compete with the top players in China and the US, both the EU and local governments must provide further funding for new digital businesses.
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