The newly adopted 2023 work program of the European Innovation Council (EIC) empowers scientists and innovators who can scale breakthrough technologies and create new markets. 1.6 billion euros will provide financing.
Specifically, 70% of this amount (€1.13 billion) is dedicated to the EIC Accelerator, which supports startups and SMEs in the development and marketing of high-impact innovations.
Specifically, for initiatives that develop future technologies that will contribute to the EU’s strategic goals. 525 million Euros provided. These include biomarkers for cancer, decontamination for epidemic management, energy storage, quantum or semiconductor components, resilient agriculture, space technology and the New European Bauhaus initiative.
Remainder 613 million euroswill include innovations without the need for a specific topic.
EIC’s work program for the year comes with three more key goals: increasing talent flow to deep tech startups, further supporting female innovators, and facilitating collaboration between private and public suppliers.
EIC funding is an important but small step
To date, EIC’s support has yielded a number of impressive results. First, the company portfolio has achieved a total valuation of over €40 billion, including 12 unicors and 112 centaurs.
The European Innovation Council has also managed to incentivize over €10 billion following private sector investments. Add to this the €100 million support for the commercialization of groundbreaking ideas. And we can expect next year’s funding to result in further advancement of the European technology industry.
But even though 1.13 billion euros may seem like a lot of money, in reality it is not nearly enough. For reference, private investment in UK deep tech companies reached $8.5 billion in 2021 alone, allowing the industry to grow exponentially.
And if – in a hypothetical scenario – we split EIC’s funding equally among the bloc’s 27 members, each country basically gets about 42 million euros out of that 1.13 billion euros. Combine this with the slowdown the European tech industry saw in 2022 and it’s clear that public investment represents an integral part of securing innovation.
Ultimately, Europe has a high density of companies, a skilled workforce and the necessary infrastructure to become a technology hub, but is held back in some respects by a lack of support.
If the continent is to compete with leading players in China and the US, both the EU and local governments need to further fund upcoming technology initiatives.