EU should replicate US public procurement strategy, says EIC chief

04 Jun 2024 | News
R&D Funding
European Innovation Council
Start-ups

The European Innovation Council wants to double its success rate and give start-ups access to public contracts, says Michiel Scheffer

By Martin Greenacre

European Innovation Council (EIC) president Michiel Scheffer during the Web Summit 2023 at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo credits Oliver Hardt / Web Summit / Flickr

The European Innovation Council (EIC) is one of the biggest investors in deep tech in the world, but its potential is being held back by inadequate funding and lack of access to government contracts, says its president Michiel Scheffer.

The €10 billion fund launched in 2021 to support researchers and innovators through both grants and equity investments. But its largest instrument, the EIC Accelerator, which funds start-ups and SMEs to scale up, is only able to fund around 4% of applicants.

“We are the lowest instrument in terms of success rates inside Horizon Europe,” Scheffer said. “It would be much more impactful if we could fund twice the number of companies,” he told Science|Business.

There have been calls for the next…

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