EIC Accelerator: Challenges and Open

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that:

• Offer an innovative, game-changing product, service, or business model with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and globally
• Demonstrate ambition and commitment to scale and grow
• Require substantial funding for a high-risk project that private investors alone are unlikely to invest in

The EIC Accelerator Challenges 2026 welcomes any projects that match the predefined topics, while the EIC Accelerator Open is for proposals in any field of technology.

EIC Accelerator Challenges 2026

This call is open to proposals in predefined topics that have been identified in areas where breakthrough technologies or game-changing innovations developed by startups or SMEs can have a major impact on EU objectives.

Challenges announced for this EIC Accelerator programme include:

• Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Systems
• Alternative Concepts and Key Enabling Technologies for Fusion Power Plants
• Biotech for Regenerating Agricultural Soils
• Boosting the European Critical Raw Materials Value Chain
• Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation

EIC Accelerator Open

For projects that don’t match any of the predefined topics of the EIC Accelerator Challenges, the EIC Accelerator Open is for innovations in any field of technology and innovations that cut across different scientific, technological, sectoral, and application fields.