The internet in space; floating offshore wind-power generation; a healthcare robot; and a minimally invasive heart valve device: these are just a few of the Irish-developed advanced technologies that have received funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme.
The programme offers grants of up to €2.5 million and follow-on investment of up to €10 million to support start-ups and SMEs that have innovative, game-changing products or services with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and beyond.
The programme is aimed at ambitious companies that are seeking substantial funding but have difficulty attracting private-sector investment due to the high level of risk involved. Importantly, the programme funds individual SMEs rather than consortiums, and grants of up to 70 per cent of the project cost are available.
“The EIC covers all the different stages, from the conception of the idea up to market entry, but the Accelerator specifically looks at when the innovation had reached a certain level of maturity and helps the company bring that to market,” says Dr Daniela Angione, the national delegate and a national contact point for Horizon Europe’s EIC and European Innovation Ecosystem (EIE), based at Enterprise Ireland.
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“It’s a very interesting programme. Some of the companies supported are spin-outs from universities where the innovation has been conceived and then brought to the next level. They tend to be more aware of EU funding opportunities.
“But there are many other companies where the innovation is not coming from a spin-out, and those are the ones that can have difficulties in accessing the programme. It can be a bit overwhelming for them; it’s a three-step process involving a short application, a long application and a face-to-face interview in Brussels.”
Angione and her colleagues in Enterprise Ireland assist companies with that process. “We support them throughout the application process, not only in explaining the process but also by providing feedback on their application,” she says. “The team reviews the draft applications and advises companies on how to improve them. Once they get through the first two steps and are invited for interview, we provide mock interviews in Enterprise Ireland where we replicate what’s going to happen in Brussels. We prepare them to be successful. That’s our role.”
She points out that the European Commission is working on simplifying the process to make it more straightforward, but many companies will still need assistance to navigate it.
The Accelerator supports deep tech and breakthrough innovation, she adds. “These are advanced technologies, like artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing. It has to be a technology that is making a big leap in comparison to what is currently available on the market, and the company is aiming to either create a new small, niche market or disrupt what is currently available.”
There is no shortage of Irish companies engaged in such breakthrough innovations. “We’re lucky because in Ireland there’s a flourishing innovation ecosystem,” she says. “For example, we have Equal1, which has developed the world’s first silicon-based quantum computer. It went through the accelerator and is now scaling up.
“Then there’s Akara Robotics, a spin-out from TCD developing disinfection robots for the healthcare environment. They got the grant funding of €2.5 million, and they also are at the stage where they are getting investment from the EIC Fund, the investment arm of the EIC. They’re raising money from private investors as well.”
Other companies that have benefited from EIC Accelerator funding include Croivalve, which helps patients suffering from tricuspid regurgitation with a new, minimally invasive heart-valve device called the DUO System; encryption technology specialist Vaultree; Loci Orthopaedics, which specialises in medical devices for extremity orthopaedics and which raised €12.8 million last year; floating offshore wind company TFI Marine; Bluedrop Medical, which has developed technology to reduce the burden of diabetic foot ulcers; and internet-in-space pioneer mBryonics, which has just opened a new manufacturing facility in Galway.
Many of companies that come through the EIC Accelerator go on to raise money from private investors, according to Angione.
“Getting a prestigious award like the EIC Accelerator usually triggers conversations with investors. The role of the EIC is to catalyse this. It’s not just getting the money and then the project finishes. The EIC Fund that manages the equity side of the programme also looks at bringing private investors close to the companies.”
The EIC has established the EU Scale Up Fund, which brings together large European private investment firms to provide funding to Accelerator companies to scale up to scale up and bring their innovation to the next level. “This is a multibillion euro fund that will provide investments of the scale of €100 million to help the companies to scale up and become the next unicorns.”
For further information on the EIC Accelerator programme and assistance in accessing it go to horizoneurope.ie
