European Innovation Council

The EIC is an HE subprogramme aiming to identify, develop, and scale up breakthrough technologies and game changing innovations.

Pathfinder

With its Pathfinder programme, the EIC supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies. It welcomes the high-risk / high gain and interdisciplinary cutting-edge science collaborations that underpin technological breakthroughs.

Pathfinder goes beyond what is already known, but stays at a low technological maturity, up to proof of concept only.

According to HE, applicants participating in EIC Pathfinder projects are typically visionary scientists and entrepreneurial researchers from universities, research organisations, start-ups, high-tech SMEs or industrial stakeholders interested in technological research and innovation.

Transition

With the Transition programme, the EIC funds innovation activities that go beyond the experimental proof of principle in laboratory to support both the maturation and validation of your novel technology in the lab and in relevant application environments and the development of a business case and (business) model towards the innovation’s future commercialisation.

EIC Transition projects should address both technology and market/business development, possibly including iterative learning processes based on early customer or user feedback.

The expected outcomes of an EIC Transition project are: a technology that is demonstrated to be effective for its intended application and a business model, its initial validation/demonstration in a relevant environment and a business plan for its development to market.