For those who already have EU-funded project results and now you are ready for the next steps towards specific commercial applications, EIC Transition is worth investigating.
This funding programme helps SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs and research organisations mature and validate a technology that already has EU-funded results behind it. The aim is to move that technology from around Technology Readiness Level 3 or 4 towards TRL 5 or 6, while building the business plan and market evidence needed for the next stage of funding or investment.
Below is an overview of all the key information needed for anyone looking to apply to the EIC Transition this year.
At a glance
- Funding: grants between €500,000 and €2.5 million, plus booster grants of up to €50,000
- Technology scope: builds on results at TRL3 completed or TRL4, targeting at least TRL5 by the end of the project
- Who can apply: SMEs, start-ups, spin-offs, universities and research organisations, alone or in consortia
- Project duration: 1 to 3 years
What EIC Transition funds
The grant covers two things at once: demonstrating and maturing the technology in an application-relevant environment, and developing the business case for a specific commercial application. EIC Transition Open has no predefined themes, so proposals from any field of science, technology or application are welcome. The overall budget for 2026 was €100 million.
Who can apply
A single legal entity can apply on its own only if it is an SME, a start-up, a spin-off, or a research organisation such as a university or research and technology organisation, including individual researchers intending to form a spin-off. Academic-only consortia, without any SME or industrial partner, are also allowed.
Small consortia can also apply. This comes in two forms: two independent legal entities from two different EU Member States or Associated Countries, or three to five independent legal entities, with at least one established in a Member State and at least two others in different Member States or Associated Countries.
It is important to note larger companies cannot apply as a sole applicant, but they can join consortia.
The result you build on has to be eligible too
Proposals build on results already produced by a specific, named “eligible project”, which includes:
- EIC Pathfinder project,
- European Research Council Proof of Concept project,
- Eligible Research and Innovation Action (RIA) or Innovation Action (IA) funded under Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe
- European Defence Fund project,
That linked project must have reached at least TRL3 completed, ideally TRL4, at the point of submission, and the application must be made within 24 months of the linked project ending.
What you get
Successful applicants receive a non-dilutive grant of between €500,000 and €2.5 million, sized to the scope and duration of the work, plus the option of a booster grant of up to €50,000 for complementary activities or portfolio participation.
Beneficiaries also gain access to the EIC’s Business Acceleration Services: coaching and mentoring, the Tech to Market programme, and connections to a wider innovation ecosystem and network of global partners.
How to apply
EIC Transition is a single stage written application followed by an interview. This assessment process follows three steps followed by three steps:
- Applicants write and submit a single full proposal through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal, with the core sections and cover page limited to 22 A4 pages.
- EIC expert evaluators assess that proposal.
- Third, proposals that pass evaluation move to an online interview with a panel of up to six EIC Jury members, held roughly 11 to 13 weeks after the submission deadline, with results usually confirmed within about four weeks of the interviews starting.
Proposals that clear every evaluation threshold but miss out on funding due to budget limits are awarded a Seal of Excellence, which can help in securing funding from other sources and gives continued access to Business Acceleration Services.
What makes a competitive proposal
Three things tend to separate strong applications from weak ones.
Traceability: a clear, correctly referenced link between the proposal and the specific result from the named eligible project.
Credible early market evidence: including a preliminary business case, a value proposition, and realistic key performance indicators
Robust teams: that can be seen to combine technical depth with commercial drive, whatever the consortium’s composition.
EIC Transition in numbers
EIC Transition has become significantly more competitive since its first call in 2021. Submissions have more than doubled while the number of projects funded per cut-off has stayed roughly flat at 19–43, pushing the success rate down from 14.7% to an all-time low of 6.5% at the September 2025 cut-off.
Figure 1. Proposals submitted, projects funded and success rate by EIC Transition cut-off, 2021–2025. Sources: European Innovation Council press releases, eic.ec.europa.eu.
| Cut-off | Proposals submitted | Projects funded | Success rate |
| 2021 (first ever call) | 292 | 43 | 14.7% |
| 2022, 1st cut-off | 165 | 19 | 11.5% |
| 2022, 2nd cut-off | 287 | 32 | 11.1% |
| 2023, April cut-off | 180 | 19 | 10.6% |
| 2023, September cut-off | 257 | 27 | 10.5% |
| 2024, September cut-off | 413 | 40 | 9.7% |
| 2025, September cut-off | 611 | 40 | 6.5% |
Who is applying is also informative. At the September 2025 cut-off, more than half of applicants came from industry rather than academia – a sign that EIC Transition is increasingly seen as a bridge to commercial validation, not just a research-continuation grant.
Figure 2. Applicant type, September 2025 cut-off. Source: European Innovation Council.
How Venturenomix can help
Building the case for EIC Transition means getting two things right at once: the technical narrative and the commercial one, both anchored to a specific eligible project. We help SMEs, spin-offs and research organisations across Europe put that evidence together, structure a proposal that meets the Portal’s requirements, and prepare for the jury interview.
If you have a Pathfinder, ERC Proof of Concept, or other eligible project result that is ready for its next stage, get in touch to talk through whether EIC Transition is the right route.
Oliver Cressall
I help businesses unlock grant funding to fuel groundbreaking research and innovation. With expertise in both UK and European grants including Innovate UK (IUK), Eureka, Horizon Europe, UKRI, CINEA, and the European Research Council – I specialise in guiding research teams and innovation-led businesses through every stage of the grant process.
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