The Grant Proposal Evaluation Criteria (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 6)

The EIC Accelerator funding (grant and equity, with blended financing option) awards up to €2.5 million in grant and €15 million in equity financing per project (€17.5 million total). It is a popular funding instrument specializing in DeepTech startups and small mid-caps which aim to finalize their product developments, enter the market and scale globally.

The EIC's 2023 Work programme

While the European Innovation Council (EIC) has remained silent regarding the 2023 Work programme that is yet to be released, ScienceBusiness has published the second draft of the highly anticipated document dated July 2022. This article series is exploring some changes and interesting aspects of the EIC Accelerator that are relevant for startups and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) and for professional writers, freelancers or consultants.

ScienceBusiness has likewise published the entire library of Horizon Europe documents by the European Commission (EC) that are mostly in draft form and can be found here.

All the information and conclusions provided in this article are subject to change and the opinion of the author. The following statement by the EIC is part of the 2023 EIC Work Programme draft that this article is based on:

"This document represents a working draft of the EIC work programme for the purpose of feedback and comments from members of the Horizon Europe Programme Committee for the EIC and European Innovation Ecosystems. This draft has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission. Any views expressed are the views of the Commission services and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Commission. The information transmitted is intended only for the Member State or entity to which it is addressed for discussions and may contain confidential and/or privileged material."

Evaluation Criteria for the Short Application (Step 1)

The evaluation criteria for the EIC Accelerators short application have remained largely consistent whereas the 2023 EIC Work Programme outlines the following scoring criteria for Step 1 applications.

1. Excellence

• Breakthrough and market creating nature: Does the innovation have a high degree of novelty – compared to existing products, services and business models – with the potential to create or significantly transform markets?

• Timing: Is the timing right for this innovation in terms of market, user, societal or scientific of technological trends and developments?

2. Impact

• Scale up potential: Does the innovation have scale up potential, including the potential to develop new markets and impact on the growth of the company? Does the company show a clear and convincing vision, taking into account its current level of development and maturity, in relation to the targeted market, the business model and growth forecasts?

• Broader impact: Will the innovation, if successfully commercialized achieve positive broader societal, economic, environmental or climate impacts?

3. Level of risk, implementation, and need for Union support

• Team: Does the team have the capability and motivation to implement the innovation proposal and bring it to the market? Is there a plan to acquire any critical competencies which are currently missing, including adequate representation of women and men?

Complaints and Rebuttals for Step 1 Rejectees

In 2021, the EIC has made a significant step towards transparency by allowing all EIC Accelerator applicants to view comments from the evaluators who have reviewed their proposals. While this is of tremendous benefit to applicants, it has likewise exposed a certain degree of randomness in the way applications are graded including mistakes, negligence or plain ignorance.

This is, of course, to be expected and only natural when facing thousands of applications and multiple reviewers per proposal. Still, this has inevitably led to complaints regarding specific Evaluation Summary Reports (ESR) and especially the remote evaluators.

While the EIC has tried to investigate such complaints in the past, the vast majority of applicants were simply told to re-apply to the next cut-off and summarize their rebuttal in the resubmission of their proposal (i.e. via the email of the European Innovation Council and SME's Executive Agency: support@eic.eismea.eu).

The new 2023 Work Programme is outlining the conditions for issuing a formal complaint as opposed to relying on the resubmission of rejected Step 1 proposals.

“You may file a complaint if you believe that the evaluator(s) made an incorrect assessment on the following grounds:

1. a factual mistake;
2. absence of information which is not required at short proposal stage; and
3. a manifest error of appreciation on the scope and purpose of the Accelerator.”

Unfortunately, this has only limited use since the EIC Accelerator's Step 1 is by far the easiest step. If the same rule was applied to Step 2 full applications then the EIC would likely find themselves with a valid complaint for the majority of rejected applicants since it is common to encounter at least one factual mistake in any given Evaluation Summary Report (i.e. misreading Letters of Intent, Freedom to Operate analyses or missing critical information).

In case a rejected Step 1 application is retroactively given a GO grading (i.e. passing the step successfully) then they are able to apply to Step 2 at the original deadline that was reachable in their previous submission.

“If your proposal is reevaluated as a GO, you will be eligible to introduce your full application to the same cutoff date that you would have been able to submit to, with a GO from the initial evaluation.”

This second quote from the EIC's 2023 Work Programme draft is obscure but this can be understood as the EIC allowing Step 2 applicants to hand in applications past the deadline in case a complaint was approved. But this seems unrealistic due to time constraints in the preparation of Step 2 applications and the limited time window of the evaluation prior to the fixed interview deadlines.

Evaluation Criteria for the Full Application (Step 2)

For the EIC Accelerator's Step 2, the evaluation criteria are defined as follows

1. Excellence

• Breakthrough and market creating nature: Does the innovation have a high degree of novelty, compared to existing products, services and business models, with the potential to create or significantly transform markets?

• Additional sub-criterion for EIC Accelerator Challenges ONLY: How relevant are the proposal objectives in contributing to the specific objectives of the Challenge?

• Timing: Is the timing right for this innovation in terms of market, user, societal or scientific of technological trends and developments?

• Technological feasibility: Is the innovation based on a technology or technologies that have been adequately assessed at least in a laboratory environment and relevant environments to characterise the potential and assess the level of risk (at least TRL 5/6)? Is the technology developed in a safe, secure and reliable manner?

• Intellectual Property: Does your company have the necessary Intellectual Property Rights to ensure freedom to operate and adequate protection of the idea?

2. Impact

• Scale up potential: Does the innovation have scale up potential, including the potential to develop new markets and impact on the growth of the company? Are the associated financial needs well assessed and realistic?

• Broader impact: Will the innovation, if successfully commercialised achieve positive broader societal, economic, environmental or climate impacts?

• Additional sub-criterion for EIC Accelerator Challenges ONLY: Does the proposed application have the potential to contribute to the expected outcomes and impacts set out in the Challenge?

• Market fit and competitor analysis: Has the potential market for the innovation been adequately assessed, including conditions and growth rates? Has a competitive analysis been thoroughly performed, including identification of potential customers and relevant types of users, including women and men, definition of unique selling points and key differentiation from competitors?

• Commercialisation strategy: Is there a convincing and well thought-through strategy for commercialisation, including regulatory approvals/compliance needed, time to market/deployment, and business and revenue model?

• Key partners: Have the key partners required to develop and commercialize the innovation been identified and engaged, including their roles/competences and a sufficient level of commitment and incentivisation?

3. Level of risk, implementation, and need for Union support

• Team: Does the team have the capability and motivation to implement the innovation proposal and bring it to the market? Is there a plan to acquire any critical competencies which are currently missing, including adequate representation of women and men?

• Milestones: Is there a clear implementation plan with defined milestones, work packages and deliverables, together with realistic resources and timings?

• Risk level of the investment: Does the nature and level of risk of the investment in your innovation mean that European market actors are unwilling to commit the full amount alone? Is there evidence that market actors would be willing to invest, either alongside the EIC or at a later stage?

• Note: Small mid-caps will be expected to provide documentary evidence that their bank has refused the financing needed for the project.

• Risk mitigation: Have the main risks (e.g. technological, market, financial, regulatory) been identified, together with measures to take to mitigate them?

Step 3 Interview Criteria

For the Step 3 interviews, the same vague criteria used in the previous iterations of the EIC Accelerator apply (read: How to Prepare for the Interview). An interesting feature of the Step 3 interviews is that the EIC Jury can consult external analysts who will assess the project prior to the interview.

“Jury members will also have access to analyses (for example on financial metrics) generated by the EIC AI-based platform and in certain cases the independent assessment of a specialised expert in the field of science or technology. Such analyses will be made available to applicants after the decision.”

This might provide only limited usefulness since it would be more beneficial to make the scientific and technical aspects a fundamental part of the Step 3 selection rather than an optional add-on.

Otherwise, a groundbreaking battery startup without revenues or customer commitments could consistently lose against a software company with excellent financial health and competitive advantages but only limited technological or scientific breakthroughs. In the same way, a scientific team with only 2 or 3 employees will have a difficult time convincing the EIC Jury while a technical Jury member might be impressed by the technology and achievements while being more optimistic.

Through the outsourcing of the EIC Fund's management to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Alter Domus (Luxembourg), the EIC could become more risk-averse and, while it claims to fund DeepTech at TRL5, it might end up only picking projects that are already in the market or have significant customer commitments.

This article is part of a series whereas the remaining articles can be found here, once published:

• The Eligible Applicants (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 1)
• How Grant-First Projects get Equity Investments (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 2)
• The Conditions for EIC Equity Investments (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 3)
• Technology Readiness Levels, Timelines and Interview Priorities (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 4)
• Cancelling Funding and Changing Grant Requests (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 5)
• The Grant Proposal Evaluation Criteria (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 6)
• The EIC’s 2023 Strategic Challenges and Topics (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 7)
• The New EIC Ecosystem, Fast-Track and Pilot Plug-In Schemes (2023 EIC Accelerator Work Programme Part 8)

These tips are not only useful for European startups, professional writers, consultants and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) but are generally recommended when writing a business plan or investor documents.

Deadlines: Post-Horizon 2020, the EIC Accelerator accepts Step 1 submissions now while the deadlines for the full applications (Step 2) under Horizon Europe are listed below. The Step 1 applications must be submitted weeks in advance of Step 2. The next EIC Accelerator cut-off for Step 2 (full proposal) can be found here. After Brexit, UK companies can still apply to the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe albeit with non-dilutive grant applications only - thereby excluding equity-financing. Switzerland has resumed its participation in Horizon Europe and is now eligible for the EIC Accelerator.

Contact: You can reach out to us via this contact form to work with a professional consultant.

AI Grant Writer: ChatEIC is a fully automated EIC Accelerator grant proposal writer: Get it here.

Eureka Network: The Eureka Network delivers various international collaborative R&D initiatives such as Network Projects, Clusters, Eurostars, Globalstars, and Innowwide, providing funding from €50K to €6.75M per project based on the specific initiative. This network emphasizes market-driven innovation and deep-tech advancement across multiple technology sectors including ICT/Digital, Industrial/Manufacturing, Bio/Medical Technologies, Energy/Environment, Quantum, AI, and Circular Economy. Eligible participants include SMEs, large enterprises, research organizations, universities, and startups, with Eurostars particularly focused on R&D-performing SMEs. Get Started

EIC Transition: EIC Transition delivers up to €2.5 million in funding to overcome the 'valley of death' gap between laboratory research and market deployment, emphasizing technology maturation and validation. The initiative supports single legal entities or small consortia of 2-5 partners including SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs, and research organizations. Key technology domains include Health/Medical Technologies, Green/Environmental Innovation, Digital/Microelectronics, Quantum Technologies, and AI/Robotics. Get Started

EIC STEP Scale-Up: EIC STEP Scale-Up delivers significant equity investments of €10-30 million for established deep-tech companies prepared for hyper-growth and large-scale expansion. The initiative targets SMEs or small mid-caps with up to 499 employees who have obtained pre-commitment from qualified investors. Primary focus areas include Digital & Deep Tech (Semiconductors, AI, Quantum), Clean Technologies for Net-Zero objectives, and Biotechnologies. Get Started

EIC Pre-Accelerator: EIC Pre-Accelerator represents a 2025 pilot initiative delivering €300,000-€500,000 in funding for early-stage deep-tech development and preparation for the EIC Accelerator program. This program is exclusively accessible to single SMEs or small mid-caps from 'Widening countries' to foster regional innovation development. The initiative encompasses deep-tech innovations across physical, biological, and digital domains. Get Started

EIC Pathfinder: EIC Pathfinder delivers up to €3 million for Open calls and up to €4 million for Challenge-based calls to support early-stage research and development with proof-of-principle validation. The initiative requires research consortia with a minimum of 3 partners from 3 different countries, including universities, research organizations, and SMEs. Primary technology focus areas include Health/Medical, Quantum Technologies, AI, Environmental/Energy, and Advanced Materials. Get Started

EIC Accelerator: EIC Accelerator delivers flexible funding options including blended finance (€2.5M grant + €0.5M-€10M equity), grant-only (up to €2.5M), or equity-only arrangements for scale-up and market deployment of breakthrough innovations. The initiative targets SMEs, start-ups, and small mid-caps with up to 499 employees, with MedTech/Healthcare representing 35% of funded projects. Additional technology areas include Biopharma, Energy, AI, Quantum, Aerospace, Advanced Materials, and Semiconductors. Get Started

Innovation Partnership: Innovation Partnership enables collaborative innovation between public and private sectors with typical funding of €1-5 million per project. The initiative supports cross-sectoral strategic technologies through public-private partnerships and consortia. Projects concentrate on addressing societal challenges through collaborative innovation approaches. Get Started

Innovation Fund: The EU Innovation Fund delivers substantial funding of €7.5 million to €300 million for large-scale demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The initiative targets clean energy, carbon capture, renewable energy, and energy storage technologies to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. Eligible participants include large companies, consortia, and public entities capable of implementing large-scale demonstration projects. Get Started

Innovate UK: Innovate UK delivers various programs with funding ranging from £25K to £10M depending on the specific initiative, supporting business-led innovation, collaborative R&D, and knowledge transfer. The organization funds projects across all sectors with particular emphasis on emerging technologies and supports UK-based businesses, research organizations, and universities. Programs are designed to drive economic growth through innovation and technology commercialization. Get Started

Industrial Partnership: Industrial Partnership delivers €2-10 million in funding for industrial research and innovation partnerships focusing on manufacturing, industrial technologies, and digital transformation. The initiative supports industrial consortia and research organizations in developing collaborative solutions for industrial challenges. Projects aim to strengthen European industrial competitiveness through strategic partnerships. Get Started

Eurostars: Eurostars represents a joint EU-Eureka initiative delivering €50K-€500K for international R&D collaboration specifically led by SMEs. The program adopts a bottom-up approach, accepting projects from all technology fields without predefined thematic restrictions. R&D-performing SMEs must lead the consortium and demonstrate significant R&D activities. Get Started

LIFE Programme: The LIFE Programme delivers €1-10 million in funding for environmental protection, climate action, and nature conservation projects across the European Union. The initiative supports environmental technologies, climate adaptation strategies, and biodiversity conservation initiatives. Eligible participants include public authorities, private companies, NGOs, and research institutions working on environmental and climate challenges. Get Started

Neotec: Neotec represents a Spanish initiative delivering €250K-€1M in funding for technology-based business creation and development, supporting the growth of innovative Spanish SMEs and start-ups. The program covers all technology sectors and aims to strengthen Spain's technology ecosystem. Funding is specifically targeted at Spanish technology-based SMEs and start-ups to enhance their competitiveness and market presence. Get Started

Thematic Priorities: EU Thematic Priorities encompass various programs aligned with EU strategic priorities including green transition, digital transformation, health, and security initiatives. Funding amounts vary based on the specific program and call requirements, with projects designed to address key European challenges. Applicant eligibility varies by specific program and call, with different requirements for different thematic areas. Get Started

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