EIC Work Programme 2027: Key Draft Changes for EIC funding
The EIC 2027 Work Programme draft has landed
The EIC Work Programme 2027 has been published in draft. It gives startups, SMEs, researchers and investors their first clear view of EIC funding in the final year of Horizon Europe.
The document is marked “DRAFT VERSION 07.07”. It states plainly that it has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission. That status matters more than usual this year.
The draft is detailed about process and almost silent about money. Eligibility rules, evaluation procedures and deadlines are all set out. The budgets are not — Annex 1 is present but entirely unpopulated, and the headline figure still reads “over EUR XXXX billion”.Below is what the draft proposes, what can be verified against the adopted 2026 programme, and what applicants should do now.
Alongside the Open calls, both Pathfinder and the Accelerator run Challenges — thematic calls targeting technologies of strategic interest to the Union. Every topic is new or substantially reshaped for 2027, so this is the part of the draft most likely to determine whether a given company has a route in at all.
Below is what the draft proposes, what can be verified against the adopted 2026 programme, and what applicants should do now.
Key points at a glance
- Draft, not final. Contents, budgets and deadlines may change before adoption.
- Most budgets are blank. Pathfinder, Transition, Accelerator and STEP Scale Up are all placeholders.
- Around €675m is confirmed. Mainly the Scaleup Europe Fund, Accelerator Challenges, STEP Defence and AIC Stage 2.
- Pathfinder Open splits into two stages (short & full application), and adds an interview for every above-threshold proposal.
- Transition becomes single-beneficiary, with a customer Letter of Intent now an admissibility condition.
- Accelerator cut-offs fall from six to four, offset by a new reserve list for strong near-misses.
- This is the last Work Programme under Horizon Europe, and several changes are framed as pilots for what follows.
The budget: what is confirmed, and what is not
The draft gives no total for 2027. Annex 1 lists every call and action line with the budget column empty, including the estimated total. The same is true at call level for Pathfinder, Transition, the Accelerator and STEP Scale Up. This means no percentage distribution by programme can be derived. Therefore, readers should treat any 2027 EIC total currently circulating with caution.
The allocations the draft does state:
| Stated allocation | Amount |
|---|---|
| Scaleup Europe Fund | €400m |
| EIC STEP Scale Up Defence | €100m |
| Accelerator Challenge — climate-neutral and smart cities | €50m |
| Accelerator Challenge — carbon removal and circularity | €50m |
| Accelerator Challenge — advanced in-situ ocean observation | €30m |
| Advanced Innovation Challenges, Stage 2 (restricted) | €25m |
| Accelerator Challenge — fusion power plants | €20m |
For reference, the adopted 2026 Work Programme as amended totals €2,125.1m.
What changes, programme by programme
EIC Pathfinder
The EIC Pathfinder Open moves from a single submission to two stages, with an interview added at the end.
- Stage 1 Short proposal, 8 pages — 25 February 2027
- Stage 2 Full proposal, 23 pages — 16 September 2027
- Interview 10-14 weeks after Stage 2, pitch of up to 10 minutes — new for 2027
- Two consequences matter in practice. The effective deadline moves forward by around six months. In addition, applicants must provide commitment letters from every intended beneficiary at Stage 1, so the consortium must exist before February.
- There is no fixed score threshold at Stage 1. Instead, the EIC ranks proposals and sets the cut so that the invited proposals total roughly 2.5 times the available budget.
- The Impact threshold rises from 3.5/5 to 4/5.
- At the same time, grants of up to €4m at 100% funding are unchanged, as is the requirement for at least three independent entities from three different countries.
EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2027
- Deadline 29 September 2027 — single deadline, 30-page limit
- Grant Up to €4m; budget not stated, split roughly equally across the three Challenges
- Who can apply Consortia or single entities; mid-caps and larger companies cannot apply alone
- Maturity Typically TRL 2 at start, aiming for proof of concept or lab validation
In addition, the draft advises dedicating a work package of at least 10 person-months to portfolio activities.
| 2027 Pathfinder Challenge | What projects must deliver |
|---|---|
| Advanced materials for resilient, sustainable and efficient energy grids | Address one of three pillars — generation, storage or transmission — and validate devices in the lab while reducing use of critical raw materials. Each project must produce a grid-integration roadmap. No more than three projects per pillar. |
| Safe and controlled continual learning in open world for reliable AI agents (CLOWAI) | AI agents that keep learning after deployment under explicit governance. Every project must demonstrate auditable, explainable model change and deliver a TRL 4 demonstrator evaluated under drift, applicable across at least two domains. |
| Quantum energetics | Tackle the energy cost of quantum technologies, in either full-stack quantum computing or quantum communication and sensing. Start at TRL 2, reach TRL 3-4, and empirically show lower energy use than classical counterparts. |
Pathfinder Challenges follow a portfolio-based approach. Each is overseen by a dedicated EIC Programme Manager who sets a common roadmap. In practice, selection happens in two steps — individual scoring, then a portfolio decision assembling a coherent mix of competing and complementary approaches. As a result, clearing the thresholds does not secure funding if a stronger proposal already covers your angle.
EIC Transition
- Grant range €0.5m to €2.5m
- Deadline 16 September 2027
- Who can apply? This is the most consequential change in the draft. EIC Transition becomes a single-beneficiary instrument. The 2027 draft no longer allows consortia of two to five entities, although applicants may still involve affiliated entities, associated partners and subcontractors
Three new requirements apply:
- A Letter of Intent from a potential customer or user — now an admissibility condition, not a scoring advantage. The Agency may verify the relationship at any stage, and can lower the score, exclude the proposal or terminate a signed grant.
- A video pitch submitted alongside the written proposal.
- A first-year review of technological objectives and KPIs, which can re-orient or terminate a project.
Eligibility: Check your route carefully. ERC Proof of Concept projects funded under Horizon 2020, and Horizon 2020 Research Infrastructures projects, no longer appear on the eligible feeder list.
EIC Accelerator
EIC Accelerator full-proposal cut-offs fall from six to four: 3 February, 1 April, 1 September and 3 November 2027.
Note the spacing. A five-month gap separates April from September, so missing the April batch is considerably more expensive than missing a 2026 cut-off. However, applicants can still submit short proposals at any time, and the EIC batches them monthly on the first Tuesday of every month.
The compensation is a reserve list. From the second interview session, the EIC Jury may place a proposal on a “GO Reserve” list rather than rejecting it. The EIC can fund reserve proposals if budget becomes available after it completes all 2027 selections.
For companies that have repeatedly cleared the thresholds and lost only to budget, this is a meaningful change.
Funding terms remain unchanged:
- Grants up to €€2,5m at 70% reimbursement
- Investment component of €1m to €10m
- Minimum TRL 5 completed
- The three-unsuccessful-submissions rule still applies
Accelerator Challenges follow the standard process. Same cut-offs and evaluation as the Open call, with the topic acting as a scope filter and a ring-fenced budget.
EIC Accelerator Challenges
Four topics replace the five run in 2026. These carry the only confirmed Accelerator budget figures in the draft, which makes them the most plannable route in the programme.
In addition, all four fall within the scope of the STEP legislation, so the EIC awards the Sovereignty (STEP) Seal to every Challenge applicant. If a Challenge does not use its full budget, the EIC transfers the remaining funds to Open call projects that align with that scope. Deadlines and process match the Accelerator Open call.
| 2027 Accelerator Challenge | Budget | Scope notes |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced in-situ ocean observation | €30m | Autonomous observation systems, AI-ready interoperable data, and scalable biodiversity monitoring including eDNA. |
| Climate-neutral and smart cities | €50m | Energy and buildings, transport and mobility, resource management. Applicants are strongly encouraged to secure a letter of intent from a Cities Mission city. |
| Alternative concepts and enabling technologies for fusion power plants | €20m | TRL 4-6 at application. Euratom-funded, with at least 50% expected to go to entities in countries associated to both programmes. |
| Carbon removal and circularity | €50m | Capture, carbon dioxide removal under the CRCF Regulation, utilisation and verification. Storing fossil CO₂ as a gas without chemical transformation, and hydrogen production, are out of scope. |
The four stated topic allocations total €150m, against €220m across five topics in 2026. That implies a reduction of roughly 32%, but the call-level Challenges budget is still a placeholder, so treat the comparison as indicative.
EIC STEP Scale Up
EIC STEP Scale Up continues with equity-only investments of €10m to €30m across four quarterly batches.
Here, timing matters more than in any other scheme. Allocation is first come, first served. Moreover, juries may commit no more than 70% of the annual budget in the first half of the year. And the fourth batch will not take place at all if the budget is exhausted by the third.
However, the key constraint remains the pre-commitment: a single investor covering at least 20% of the target round, fully uninvested at the date of the letter.
EIC STEP Scale Up Defence
EIC STEP Scale Up Defence holds at €100m — the second tranche of the €200m announced across 2026–2027. Establishment and control rules limit participation, with additional ethics requirements. Yet, its deadline is still blank in the draft.
EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges
The EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges pilot reaches Stage 2 with €25m. The call is restricted: only organisations already funded under Stage 1 in 2026 may apply.
Selection is by a live 15-minute pitch to a jury of up to six, chaired by the EIC Programme Manager. Notably, this is the only EIC scheme where Programme Managers sit as jury members rather than observers, which changes how you should pitch — portfolio fit is being judged in the room.
EIC programmes 2027 at a glance
The table below summarises what the draft proposes for every scheme. All figures and dates are proposals and may change before adoption.
| Programme | Grant range | Deadline | Who can apply | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EIC Pathfinder Open | Up to €4m, more if justified. 100%, lump sum | Stage 1: 25 Feb 2027 Stage 2: 16 Sep 2027 |
Consortia only — at least 3 independent entities from 3 countries | Early-stage research, reaching proof of concept or lab validation |
| EIC Pathfinder Challenges | Up to €4m. 100%, lump sum. Budget split equally across 3 topics | 29 Sep 2027 | Consortia or single entities. Mid-caps and larger companies not alone | Typically TRL 2 at start, reaching TRL 3-4 |
| EIC Transition | €0.5m to €2.5m over 1-3 years. 100%, lump sum | 16 Sep 2027 | Single beneficiary — start-up, SME or research organisation | Must build on an eligible feeder project. TRL 5 and beyond not eligible |
| EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges (Stage 2) | Up to €2.5m over max 2.5 years. 100% | 15 Jun 2027 | Restricted to 2026 Stage 1 awardees. Single entity, or consortium of 2-3 | Builds on Stage 1. Ready for real-world testing with users |
| EIC Accelerator Open | Grant up to €2,499,999 at 70%, and/or €1m–€10m equity | Short proposals any time. Full: 3 Feb, 1 Apr, 1 Sep, 3 Nov 2027 |
Single SMEs and start-ups. Small mid-caps up to 499 staff, investment only | At least TRL 5 completed |
| EIC Accelerator Challenges | As Open call. €150m stated across 4 topics | Same cut-offs as Open call | As Open call | TRL 5 completed. Fusion topic: TRL 4-6 at application |
| EIC STEP Scale Up | No grant. Equity €10m–€30m, plus up to €5m flexibility | 28 Jan, 29 Apr, 6 Sep, 22 Nov 2027. Fourth batch conditional | SMEs and small mid-caps up to 499 staff | Scale-up stage. Needs a 20% single-investor pre-commitment |
| EIC STEP Scale Up Defence | No grant. Equity €10m–€30m from a €100m budget | Single batch. Date not stated in the draft | SMEs and small mid-caps established in the EU, Ukraine or an associated EEA member | Primary defence application. Dual-use belongs in the general STEP call |
Deadlines are proposals in a draft Work Programme. Verify against the adopted version before committing to a submission timetable.
F2027 draft versus 2026
| Item | 2026 adopted | 2027 draft |
|---|---|---|
| Pathfinder Open | Single stage, no interview | Two stages plus interview |
| Pathfinder Impact threshold | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| Transition applicants | Single or consortia of 2–5 | Single beneficiary only |
| Transition application | Written proposal | Adds video pitch and customer Letter of Intent |
| Transition continuation | No first-year gate | First-year KPI review may terminate |
| Accelerator cut-offs | Six | Four |
| Accelerator near-misses | Seal of Excellence | Adds “GO Reserve” list |
| Accelerator Challenges | Five topics, €220m | Four topics, €150m stated |
| Advanced Innovation Challenges | Stage 1, open | Stage 2, restricted, €25m |
| Women TechEU | Not in the EIC programme | Funded, grant doubled to €150,000 |
| Estimated total budget | €2,125.1m | Annex 1 blank |
Unchanged: Pathfinder’s €4m ceiling, Transition’s €0.5–2.5m range, the Accelerator’s €2.5m grant and €1–10m equity component, minimum TRL 5, and the 20% STEP pre-commitment.
What this means for applicants
Taken together, the changes point in one direction. The EIC is asking for more evidence of real demand, earlier — and testing it in person.
The written proposal is no longer the decision
Live evaluation is becoming even more prominent across the EIC. For example, Pathfinder Open introduces an interview, while EIC Transition adds a video pitch to the application process and moves to a single-applicant model, no longer allowing consortia. Meanwhile, the Accelerator continues to include a technology-expert meeting, while Advanced Innovation Challenges require a 15-minute presentation. Overall, applicants will need to communicate their case clearly not only on paper, but also through increasingly important live and video-based evaluation stages.
Customer evidence is becoming mandatory
The clearest in Transition, where a customer Letter of Intent determines admissibility rather than score. The same logic runs through the Advanced Innovation Challenges, the new buyer-pilot support within Business Acceleration Services, and the encouragement to secure a Cities Mission letter under the smart cities Challenge.
Milestones now carry consequences
Transition gains an explicit first-year gate with termination as a stated outcome. In parallel, the draft also adds Business Readiness Levels alongside Technology Readiness Levels, giving the EIC a vocabulary for assessing commercial maturity as systematically as technical maturity.
What to do now
- Plan against the calendar, not the budgets. Deadlines and eligibility rules are unlikely to shift much; financial assumptions should wait for adoption.
- Form your Pathfinder consortium before the New Year — commitment letters are due at Stage 1 in February 2027.
- Verify your Transition feeder project against the revised eligible list before you invest in writing.
- Start Letter of Intent conversations now. A verifiable customer commitment determines whether your proposal is even assessed.
- Define first-year milestones you would be comfortable being reviewed against.
- Secure and document your pre-commitment if targeting either STEP call, ensuring the 20% portion is genuinely uninvested.
- Rehearse the pitch. Every route now ends in a room with a jury.
Conclusion
The draft EIC Work Programme 2027 is clear about process and deliberately incomplete about money. Consequently, applicants can already plan around the 2027 calendar and the qualification hurdles, while financial expectations should wait.
More importantly, the changes that matter most are not budgetary in any case. They concern who may apply, what evidence of market demand must exist before submission, and how convincingly a team can defend its case in person. All of those can be worked on before the final version appears.
Ultimately, only the version eventually published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal will be legally binding.
Preparing for EIC funding in 2027
Evolution Europe has 20 years of experience in grant funding and has raised more than €210m in EU grant funding for clients across Europe, Israel and Switzerland. Our team of over 60 specialists advises more than 300 clients a year from over 30 countries.
We can help you identify which of the EIC programmes fits your technology and maturity. We test eligibility before you invest in writing, build the demand-side evidence the draft now requires, and prepare you for the interview stages that increasingly decide outcomes.
Book a free diagnostic call or get in touch to discuss your 2027 plans.
Sources: draft EIC Work Programme 2027 (version 07.07) and EIC Work Programme 2026 as amended (second amendment, adopted 17 June 2026). All 2027 figures, dates and conditions are proposals and may change before formal adoption.
