EIC pilot: European Commission announces €2 billion of funding for 2019-2020 and calls for members of EIC Advisory Board

The European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot was launched in 2017 under the current Horizon 2020 programme to support market-creating innovation. Since then it supported 1276 highly innovative projects with the total amount of €730 million.

Building on a first set of pilot activities, the European Commission announced on 18 March 2019 important steps for the remaining two years of the initiative.

In 2019-2020, the Commission will provide over €2 billion covering “Pathfinder” projects to support advanced technologies from the research base (call opened on 19 March), and “Accelerator” projects to support start-ups and SMEs in developing and scaling up innovations (call opens in June).

In addition, the Commission launched a call for applications for the selection of members to an EIC Advisory Board to oversee the EIC pilot and prepare the future EIC in the framework of Horizon Europe. The Board is expected to consist of 15 to 20 high-level academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and others, and it will act as a transition structure until 2021 when the formal EIC Board is expected to be appointed under Horizon Europe. The call is open until 10 May 2019.