EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges (Pilot)
Awards EU deep-tech teams up to €2.5 million in lump-sum grants across two stages.
Stage 1 pays a fixed €300,000 lump sum, over up to nine months, to a single legal entity — a start-up, SME, or a research-performing organisation — to benchmark a breakthrough solution and test its feasibility. Only entities that already hold Stage 1 funding can move on to Stage 2, which pays up to €2.5 million as a lump sum over up to two and a half years to develop the most promising solutions f…
The pilot backs high-risk, demand-driven deep-tech projects with strong commercial potential in fields that are research-rich but still short on real-world adoption. Its first round runs two named topics: embodied Physical AI for robotics, and non-animal testing methods (NAMs) for biomedicine.
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Guides for this application
All guides →Grants for Robotics Startups: SBIR, Defense, NSF, and Pilot Funding
A practical guide to grants for robotics startups, including SBIR/STTR, NSF, DoD, NASA, field validation, TRL, pilot evidence, budgets, and commercialization strategy.
Find grantsGovernment Grants for Startups: What Deeptech Founders Should Know
A practical guide to government grants for startups, including Grants.gov, SBIR/STTR, state programs, eligibility, fit, timelines, and when to apply.
Find grantsHow to Find Startup Grants for Deeptech and R&D Companies
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