The European Commission adopted the 2026 work programme of the European Innovation Council
It opens funding opportunities worth over €1.4 billion for strategic technologies and scaling up companies.
Funding and support in 2026
The EIC work programme 2026 details the funding in five main schemes:
EIC Pathfinder (€262 million) for multi-disciplinary research teams to undertake visionary research with the potential to lead to technology breakthroughs (grants up to €4 million).
EIC Transition (€100 million) to turn research results into innovation opportunities, following up on results generated by EIC Pathfinder, European Research Council Proof of Concept, Horizon Europe Pillar 2 (societal challenges) collaborative projects and Research Infrastructures projects (grants up to €2.5 million).
Advanced Innovation Challenges (€6 million) to support high-risk, demand-driven deep tech innovation with transformative potential especially in areas where there is extensive research but lack of commercial uptake (€300,000 lump sum)
EIC Accelerator (€634 million) for start-ups and SMEs to develop and scale up innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones (grants below €2.5 million, investments from €0.5 to €10 million).
The EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale Up (€300 million), which will provide additional equity funding to promising companies (SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs and small mid-caps) driving innovation in critical areas to help them secure larger private co-investment rounds of €50 million or above for further scaling their businesses (investments from €10 to €30 million).
In each case, the direct financial support to innovators is complemented with access to a wide range of Business Acceleration Services providing access to leading expertise, corporates, investors and ecosystem actors.
Highlights
Piloting EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges: a bridge to the next Horizon Europe Programme
The 2026 EIC work programme will test a new approach inspired by the US ARPA model: bold, challenge-driven funding for breakthrough technologies. The Advanced Innovation Challenges will support high-risk, high-reward projects in areas where Europe is strong in research, but too often slow to turn ideas into actual products and businesses.
Faster, simpler and more robust application process for the EIC Accelerator
From 2026, the application process will be simpler (for example reducing the application forms for full proposals from 50 to 20 pages), faster (e.g. evaluations every 2 months instead of every 6 months) and more robust (e.g. involving an in-depth assessment of the technology, anticipating the due diligence needed for investments).
Supporting the Startup and Scaleup Strategy
The 2026 work programme includes support to implement a number of actions set out under the Startup and Scaleup Strategy. This includes support to the European Corporate Network, building on the successful EIC corporate days and strengthened services to support access to international markets and partners, and a Gender index to track the participation of women in the innovation ecosystem.
This document presents the 2026 European Innovation Council (EIC) Work Programme funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. It sets out how the EIC will allocate its funding of for the year 2026 and has been prepared following the advice of the EIC Board.
Factsheets
EIC work programme 2026 - main elements Download
EIC work programme 2026 - companies Download
EIC work programme 2026 - researchers Download
Information days
All potential applicants can join the EIC information days that will take place on 13 (general one), 14 (EIC Accelerator Challenges) and 17 (Advanced Innovation Challenges) November 2025.
Tags
Related Articles
Continue reading our latest insights and updates from the AgriVentures ecosystem.
Biotechnology, Agri-Inputs and Biosecurity: Why the Future of Farming Needs a Wider Conversation in Sofia
Agriculture is undergoing a quiet transformation. Genomic tools, precision biological solutions, and new generations of crop protection and plant nutrition products are changing what is possible in the field and along the whole food chain. At the same time, the same advances raise questions that the sector is only beginning to ask. Who controls the genetic resources and seeds we depend on? How do we manage biosecurity when biological agents and genomic technologies can be used for more than...
Where Agrifood Biotech and Research Funding Is Actually Going in 2026
Basic research doesn't fund itself, and in agrifood, the gap between a promising lab result and a fundable project often comes down to knowing which of a dozen overlapping EU programmes to approach first. Food safety science, biotech platforms, and multi-country research consortia each follow their own funding logic, and 2026 has brought fresh calls across all three. Two Live Examples Worth Studying Safe-Agri, one of AgriVentures' active projects, is reinforcing the security assessment...
VerAgro launches a free self-assessment to help farms measure - and improve - their sustainability
"How sustainable is your farm?" It's a question most producers can answer instinctively, but rarely with hard numbers. A new Bulgarian startup wants to change that. VerAgro, a Bulgaria-based agtech startup, has launched a free online self-assessment that gives farms and processors a clear, structured picture of where they stand on sustainability — and what to do next. A 20-minute check-up for your farm The tool works like a health check-up for your operation. Farmers and processors answer 57...
A New Door Is Opening for Bulgarian Farmers and Agri-Innovators - And It's Fully Funded
For years, the biggest barrier between Bulgarian agriculture and Europe's most advanced farms hasn't been ambition. It's been access — to the right rooms, the right people, and the budget to get there. AgriVentures' new Missions program was built to remove exactly that barrier, and it does it in a way few programs in the region ever have: by covering the full cost of getting Bulgarian farmers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and companies in front of Europe's leading agri-food innovators. If you...
Inside projects.agriventures.co: Your Gateway to EU AgriFood Innovation
AgriVentures has launched projects.agriventures.co, a dedicated portal that brings the full portfolio of our EU-funded initiatives into one place. Where agriventures.co connects agrifood innovators with funding, the Projects site shows what happens next: the live programmes, Living Lab pilots, and network activity that funding makes possible. Here's what you'll find on the site — and how each part of our community can put it to work. A Live Portfolio of EU Projects The homepage opens with our...
Understanding Biomass Flows in Europe: A €6M Horizon Europe Call Agrifood Founders Shouldn't Miss
A question we've been getting a lot lately, including from our own LinkedIn community, is some version of: "Can my startup actually apply for this, and how?" This time it's about Understanding biomass flows in Europe (HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-05), a Horizon Europe call with a total budget of €6,000,000 that opened on 17 April 2026 and closes on 17 September 2026. It's exactly the kind of opportunity worth breaking down properly, because the honest answer is "yes, but not the way most...
Never Miss an Update
Join our community to receive the latest insights, funding opportunities, and industry news from AgriVentures.