Deadline Date: December 31, 2025
The National Innovation Agency has launched a dedicated opportunity to strengthen its deep tech startup ecosystem and enhance the competitiveness of national SMEs with global ambitions.
The focus areas include defining the strategy, managing, and consolidating Intellectual Property rights; support for regulatory processes, including certification costs; defining strategy and providing legal and negotiation support in investment processes; technical and legal support for agreements with large companies; support for prototyping and system-level demonstration processes, including identification of industrial partners; acquisition of product development services; development of operational plans for integrating environmental and societal governance (ESG) criteria into business processes; support for headhunting and recruitment processes, as well as the implementation of talent management and HR processes; market research to support Go-to-Market strategies; services for preparing the application for Phase 2 – Step 2 – Full Proposal, to the European Innovation Council Accelerator, including the production of the mandatory documents attached to the application; graphic design and video production services for creating pitch decks and video pitches.
Portugal recognises the relevance of deep tech companies in generating disruptive innovation and attracting high-value talent, aligned with European initiatives such as the EIC Accelerator, a programme dedicated exclusively to supporting breakthrough deep tech projects. At the national level, the Government’s Accelerate the Economy Program emphasises the importance of technology, R&D, and innovation to strengthen competitiveness, promote growth, and support startups, especially those positioned to compete in high-level European funding mechanisms.
The geographic scope covers the entire territory of mainland Portugal, and each entity may submit only one application per voucher type. The support is provided as a non-refundable grant, with €60,000 available under the Deep Tech Voucher and €10,000 under the Go to EIC Accelerator Voucher.
Under this opportunity, support is offered to business projects through the categories “Deep Tech Voucher” and “Go to EIC Accelerator Voucher,” enabling companies to access essential services ranging from product development and IP management to regulatory support and investor-readiness. These vouchers also facilitate the preparation of EIC Accelerator applications, ensuring companies can compete more effectively at the European level.
To be eligible, applicants must be legally constituted, meet all legal activity requirements, have a regularised tax and social security status, not be classified as an undertaking in difficulty, hold an SME Electronic Certificate, demonstrate the necessary human and physical resources for the project, and present a positive net worth. Some requirements may be completed by the agreement signing stage or before project closure.
For more information, visit National Innovation Agency.
