The European Innovation Council (EIC) has announced it will support deep tech research and high-potential start-ups with €1.4 billion in funding next year.

The EIC, part of the Horizon Europe research programme the UK is also associated with, adopted the Work Programme 2025 as part of the new funding promise, representing an increase of nearly €200 million (£166 mn) in comparison with 2024. 

Along with a bigger budget, the EIC said that the 2025 work programme will include better access to scale-up equity funding with the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale-up scheme, introduced following regulation adopted earlier this year. 

The STEP Scale-up scheme will initially work with a budget of €300 million (£249 mn), expected to grow to €900 million (£747 mn) by 2027, to provide larger investments in companies that aim to bring strategic technologies to the EU market.

Investments of between €10-€30 million (£8.3-£25 mn) will be made through the EIC Fund, the institution’s investment arm, to leverage private co-investment, with the hope of achieving at least €50-€150 million (£41-£124 mn) in total investments.

According to the EIC, the STEP scheme will address a market gap in deep tech scale-up funding in Europe, targeting digital, clean, and resource-efficient technologies including biotechnology and net-zero tech.

Aside from the STEP initiative, the EIC will allocate €994 million (£826 million) across key areas, including money for early-stage technology R&D, grants to support practical research applications, and funding to help startups and SMEs develop, commercialise, and scale their innovations.

The remaining funds are set to be split across a series of ‘EIC Challenges’, which will focus on the development of emerging technology like autonomous robots, climate resilient crops, and genAI, as well as pushing for innovation in areas like medicine and agri-tech.

“The European Innovation Council has emerged as a game changer in EU support to breakthrough innovation,” said Iliana Ivanova, commissioner for innovation, research, and culture.

“The targeted support, especially through the STEP scale-up call, will help bridge critical funding gaps and build a stronger, more resilient innovation ecosystem in Europe.”

So far, under Horizon Europe, the EIC claims to have supported more than 630 companies and more than 450 research projects, while the EIC Fund has reached €1 billion (£830 mn) in actual investments in deep tech start-ups, making it the largest and the most active deep tech co-investment fund in Europe.

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Earlier this year, the UK government urged British startups and researchers to apply for Horizon Europe funding, with the average Horizon grant being worth £450,000.  

Among the UK firms to benefit from Horizon funding are Nova Innovation, whose consortium won over £17 million to develop tidal energy in Orkney, and South Yorkshire tech firm The Floow, part of a project awarded just under £3 million, which is looking into road safety.