First “Green Deal” funding from European Innovation Council awarded over €307 million to 64 startups from 2071 applicants set to support the recovery plan for Europe. We are very proud and extremely grateful for this highly competitive grant with a success rate of only 2,3% in given Call. The funding of 2,3 million euros will boost our development of a novel, energy-efficient biotreatment technology for different type of ores and waste.
The EIC Accelerator (previously known as SME Instrument) is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot that supports top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies and scientists with funding opportunities and acceleration services. The Accelerator is designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with radically new ideas underpinned by a business plan for rolling out marketable innovation solutions and with ambitions to scale up.
The main purpose is to support high-risk and high-potential ideas. Selected companies receive funding – up to € 2.5 million grant or up to € 15 million equity funding – and are offered business coaching and mentoring to scale up their innovation idea. They get extra acceleration services to connect with investors, corporates, and likeminded entrepreneurs. The funded activities could include trials, prototyping, validation, demonstration and testing in real-world conditions, and market replication.
The European Green Deal is the EUs roadmap for making the EU’s economy sustainable and to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. Green Deal policy areas include clean energy, sustainable industry, building and renovating, sustainable mobility, biodiversity, sustainable food systems, eliminating pollution and climate neutrality.
The 19th of May cut off deadline of the EIC Accelerator was specifically limited to innovative ideas that align with Green Deal principles. Applicants were be able to apply with ideas specifically concentrating on those innovations that fuel the societal transition towards sustainability while supporting EU’s competitiveness and leadership in clean technologies. Of the total budget for 2020, which is €819.04 million, a whopping 37% was dedicated to the call open for the Green Deal topic!
