Deadline Date: February 26, 2026
The EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges aim to support high-risk, demand-driven deep tech innovation with transformative potential, especially in areas where there is extensive research but a lack of commercial uptake.
The key focus of the pilot is to assess whether competitive, stage-gated support can accelerate the path to market for high-risk deep tech innovations, and whether early integration of demand-side actors can enhance the relevance, validation, and ultimately the uptake of breakthrough solutions. It also seeks to provide evidence on whether these mechanisms lead to more efficient innovation cycles and broader market adoption than other instruments within Horizon Europe.
The programme provides targeted funding through two main stages. Stage 1 offers a €300,000 lump sum for up to nine months to prepare and benchmark breakthrough solutions and explore their feasibility and viability. This stage will run in 2026, supporting participants to advance their innovations and demonstrate their commercial potential.
Eligibility is open to single legal entities established in a Member State or an Associated Country, referred to as ‘mono-beneficiaries’. Eligible applicants include start-ups, SMEs, or research-performing organisations such as universities, research or technology organisations, teams, individual Principal Investigators, and inventors. Larger companies that do not qualify as SMEs are not eligible to apply as single legal entities.
For more information, visit European Innovation Council.
