€1.4bn of new innovation grant funding for 2025 is launched for SMEs across Europe.
EIC Transition
Summary
The EIC Transition programme under Horizon Europe supports the maturation and validation of novel technologies beyond the laboratory setting, facilitating the transition to market readiness. It targets promising technologies originating from EU-funded projects, aiding them in achieving higher technological maturity (TRL 3-6).
| Deadline | Maximum Grant | External Link |
| Q3 2025 | €2.5 million | EIC Transition |
Project Size
Grants up to €2.5 million are provided to support the validation and demonstration of technology in application-relevant environments.
Scope of the Fund
The programme aims to:
- Support technology validation and maturation towards a market-ready stage.
- Facilitate the commercialisation of results from eligible EU-funded projects (e.g., EIC Pathfinder, ERC Proof of Concept).
- Offer additional business and market readiness support, including Business Acceleration Services (BAS).
Eligibility Criteria
- Single applicants (e.g., SMEs, research institutions) or small consortia (2-5 entities).
- Applicants must demonstrate a prior EU-funded project with results at TRL 3-4.
- Projects should aim to progress the technology to TRL 5-6 and achieve market readiness.
EIC Funding in General
The European Innovation Council (EIC) 2025 Work Programme offers over €1.4 billion in funding to support strategic technologies and the scaling up of companies.
Funding Opportunities
| Programme | Deadline | Maximum Grant | External Link |
| EIC Pathfinder | 21.05.25 (Open)29.10.25 (Challenges) | €4 million | EIC Pathfinder – European Commission |
| EIC Transition | To be announced | €2.5 million | EIC Transition – European Commission |
| EIC Accelerator | 12.03.25 (Open)01.10.25 (Open)October 2025 (Challenges) | €2.5 million | EIC Accelerator – European Commission |
| STEP Scale Up | To be announced | €30 million | STEP Scale Up – European Commission |
Project Size:
- EIC Pathfinder – Grants up to €4 million for visionary research projects.
- EIC Transition – Grants up to €2.5 million to transform research results into innovation opportunities.
- EIC Accelerator – Grants below €2.5 million and investments from €500K to €10 million for start-ups and SMEs.
- STEP Scale Up – Investments from €10 to €30 million to help companies scale up strategic technologies.
Scope of the Fund:
- EIC Pathfinder – Supports multi-disciplinary research teams to undertake visionary research with the potential to lead to technology breakthroughs.
- EIC Transition – Aims to turn research results into innovation opportunities, following up on results generated by EIC Pathfinder projects and other EU-funded projects.
- EIC Accelerator – Assists start-ups and SMEs in developing and scaling up innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones.
- STEP Scale Up – Provides additional equity funding to promising companies driving innovation in critical areas to help them secure larger private co-investment for further scaling their businesses.
Eligibility Criteria:
- EIC Pathfinder – Open to multi-disciplinary research teams from various sectors.
- EIC Transition – Targets projects building on results from eligible EU-funded projects.
- EIC Accelerator – Designed for start-ups and SMEs with high-risk, high-potential innovations.
- STEP Scale Up – Focuses on companies aiming to bring strategic technologies to the EU market and avoid strategic dependencies.
For more detailed information, please visit EIC 2025 work programme – European Commission.
Alex Chalkley
I have over 20 years experience in founding and scaling businesses, mainly focused on the non-dilutive funding sector. Since 2008, I have built, trained and mentored teams to successfully draw down over €100m in non-dilutive funding from the UK and EU for clients spanning multiple sectors.
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