Details revealed in leaked work programme for 2023 imply the European Commission expects there will be less money for the innovation funding agency in 2024, after the pandemic recovery fund runs out
The EU’s innovation funding agency, the European Innovation Council (EIC), is set distibute €1.65 billion in 2023, of which more than a quarter will come from the COVID-19 recovery fund that is coming to an end next year, according to the latest draft work programme leaked to Science|Business.
The draft, dated in October, says €449 million of EIC funding in 2023 will come from Next Generation EU, the temporary package of grants and loans approved by member states in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to support the economy during the crisis.
The recovery fund is ending next year, implying funding for EIC work programmes from 2024 onwards will be lower than in 2023.
The information in the October draft adds colour to an earlier version Science|Business published as part of a treasure trove of unapproved Horizon Europe work programmes for 2023 and 2024. In that batch, the EIC document dated in July had no details of the budget.
As for the 2023 budget, the figure is not set in stone. This year, the EIC had €1.14 billion and the Commission had proposed a slight increase for next year. However, the Council proposed the budget should be cut to €1.08 billion as part of broader cuts to the Horizon Europe programme.
The European Parliament fought back against the cuts and has recently voted on its position for the 2023 budget ahead of negotiations with member states. That includes a €311 million increase for Horizon Europe.
At the same time as voting for more money for Horizon Europe, MEPs lifted a threat they had made to press for a cut to the EIC’s 2023 budget, over concerns about how the EIC Accelerator programme was being administered.
Earlier this year, German MEP Christian Ehler put forward a proposal to withhold €811 million from the EIC Accelerator programme for start-ups in 2023, unless the Commission sorted out management issues plaguing the fund. After the Commission appointed a Luxembourg-based fund manager in September to oversee high risk equity investments funded by the Accelerator, MEPs backed off.
The latest draft programme has an indicative budget breakdown across the EIC’s main calls for next year:
Estimative EIC budget for 2023
|
Calls/Actions (1) |
Budget in € millions |
|
|
Horizon Europe budget |
Next Generation EU budget |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDEROPEN-01(2) |
179.50 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01(2) |
163.50 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-TRANSITIONOPEN-01-01(2) |
67.86 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-TRANSITIONCHALLENGES-01-01/02/03(2) |
20 |
40.5 |
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-ACCELERATOROPEN-01-01 (3-5) |
459.99 |
152.01 |
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-ACCELERATORCHALLENGES-01-01/02 (3-5) |
266.41 |
257.33 |
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-INNOPRO-01 |
3 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-SWEDPC-IBA-01 |
0.4 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-SPAIN-IBA-01 |
0.3 |
|
|
HORIZON-EIC-2023-XIR-IBA-01 |
2 |
|
|
Prizes |
2.62 |
|
|
Public Procurement Actions |
31.3 |
|
|
Expert contracts |
9.08 |
|
|
Scientific and technical services by the Joint Research Centre |
0.3 |
|
|
ESTIMATED TOTAL BUDGET |
1 206.31 |
449.84 |
The EIC draft work programme dated October 2022 is available here.
A comprehensive list of Horizon draft documents for 2023 and 2024 is available here.
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