EIC Accelerator application platform Frequently Asked Questions

The EIC Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform for applying to the EIC Accelerator, which had been used since April 2021, was discontinued on 2 June 2023 due to a contractual dispute. Consequently, as an emergency measure, the EIC has restructured the EIC Accelerator application forms on the Horizon Europe Funding & Tenders Portal Submission & Evaluation Platform (SEP) and will continue to improve them.   

No. This situation only concerns EIC Accelerator applicants. Other parts of the EIC Work Programme are not affected. 

The cut-off deadline previously set on 4 October is postponed to 19 October 2023.  

The full (Step 2) proposals are now being evaluated by independent experts. The companies receiving a GO, will then be invited to pitch in front of a jury of investors and business experts at interviews in the first week of October and will be informed at the very end of October 2023.

The interviews for successful applicants to the June cut-off are currently scheduled for the first week of October.

From now on, all full (Step 2) proposals will be submitted via the Submission & Evaluation Platform (SEP) on the Horizon Europe Funding and Tenders Opportunities portal. More information on how to submit a proposal can be found in the online manual. 

Full (Step 2) applications can be submitted at any time  before the next cut-off on 19 October 2023 (17:00 CET). See the EIC Work Programme 2023 for the full details about the application process. The 2024 cut-off dates will be published with the 2024 EIC work programme, planned to be adopted in November 2023.  

No. The new structure of the proposal forms within the Submission & Evaluation Platform (SEP) will follow the recommendations of the EIC Board and feedback from  applicants, better reflecting requirements imposed by private investors. The number of questions has been reduced and re-organised to simplify the application. More information on the criteria that proposals are expected to meet can be found in the EIC Work Programme 2023.  

The new template for the EIC Accelerator full proposal is available under the Reference Documents section on the Horizon Europe Funding and Tenders Opportunities portal. Please note that the editable Part B form, the templates for the mandatory data and consent as well as the financial information forms are available for download by eligible applicants once they begin to prepare their full (step 2) proposal within the Submission & Evaluation Platform (SEP).  

...will I no longer be eligible to submit my step 2 proposal? 

Due to the exceptional circumstances of the extension of the June cut-off, it is expected that some successful step 1 applicants will not be not able to submit a step 2 proposal before the new cut-off deadline on 21 June 2023 (due to the need to redo/finalise their step 2 proposal application on time within a new submission platform) and would consequently lose their eligibility as the 12-month period would have elapsed during this period.

As a result, the Commission has decided to exceptionally extend the 12-month eligibility rule for applicants in this situation. Therefore, those successful step 1 applicants who pass the maximum 12 months for submitting a step 2 proposal between the original 7 June 2023 cut-off date and the next cut-off date on 19 October 2023 will now be allowed to submit a step 2 proposal to the 19 October cut-off date. 

Yes, the Submission & Evaluation Platform (SEP) will recognise all eligible applicants whose proposals were submitted via the Fast Track and Plug In schemes.  

The financial form has been simplified and streamlined based on feedback received from applicants and along the lines of the statement published by the EIC Board in March 2023, and companies will be able to use the existing information from their business plans in a similar way as on the EIC AI Platform.   

We will, however, continue to refine the financial form in order to make it user-friendly for companies (reflecting the fact that the overall simplification process will continue for all parts of the application forms). This includes the method for calculating the investment needs, which has been corrected in an updated version of the financial form available as of 13 June.  

Yes, except that the 30% co-financing for the grant part is no longer added to the total of investments needed (as this normally should not be covered by the equity investment). The investment needed is now calculated based on cash flow data (the proceeds from issuance of equity) and, when applicable, on the costs estimated for the work packages to be covered by the investment component.  

This should be specified on the basis of the previous financing round that your company completed.

This should be the information for the year 2023 so far.

Yes.

Indeed, the row of the driver requires you to select the main driver from a drop/down menu. The figures on the cash burned are to be provided in the row just above.  

Yes, you can copy the last columns in table 1. 

The estimated eligible costs and requested grant amount are included in the worksheet ‘budget grant’ of the financial information template. The maximum grant amount is 70% of the total eligible costs. In addition, applicants have to request less than €2.5 million unless it is justified to ask for more.   

Regarding equity (included in the worksheet ‘budget investment’), the applicant must determine which part of the total investment needed for the company (calculated on the basis of the figures entered in the financial information worksheet and when applicable, on the costs estimated for the work packages to be covered by the investment component) is requested to the EIC.  In addition, the amount of investment that the applicant wants to reserve to potential co-investors (lead investors) or own resources is shown in the field ‘Total funding from other sources’ in the worksheet ‘budget investment’.  

Estimated figures on the balance sheet are requested here, as it is important to understand major changes. For example, if you acquire new assets for substantial value, if you need more raw materials to support a targeted increase in quantities sold, or if you intend to plan next funding rounds. This is crucial for evaluators to understand your business plan. Figures until year N+5 are required. 

Yes, you can copy-paste the last column.

The requested EIC funding amount should be specified in the following places:

• as ‘other revenue’ in row 25 (P&L - Other revenues/expenses (including grants)).
• in the row 35 (Cashflows - Proceeds from grants), and
• in row 45 (Balance Sheet - Cash and cash equivalents).

This is not limited: these three lines correspond to these key positions, however extra lines can be added (while these three lines are not mandatory either).

Applicants who were eligible to submit a full proposal for the extended cut-off on 21 June 2023 were sent an email with the information and full proposal data that they had saved on the EIC AI Platform.  The short proposal data are accessible  in the new platform (https://myeic.eismea.eu/) as of 3 July 2023. 

These are more precise sub-questions, rather than one general question asking for a description of the company. The purpose of these new sub-questions is the same: to provide a clear picture of the company and to help illustrate its key activities.  

The formatting rules follow the general Horizon Europe rules and are indicated in the new EIC Accelerator template. There is a 50-page recommended length including the description of the challenges and re-submission information.    

There is no limit on the number of pages or slides. The only limit remains the 10 minutes maximum time for the presentation.  

No, this is only made available to evaluators. The proposal abstract for those proposals selected for funding will be made available on the EIC website and on CORDIS, once the grant agreement has been signed.  

Yes, SEP provides access to the Step 1 proposal and evaluator comments. 

Yes, they will. 

If the proposal is a resubmission, the evaluators will have access to the most recent full proposal result and evaluator comments.

Applicants should provide CVs as this is essential core information of the proposal, for which evaluators should not be forced to refer to the Step 1 application. Moreover, in many cases the information on team members might need to be updated at the time of the full proposal submission. It is important for evaluators to assess at each stage of the evaluation, the team members proposed for the project.

Yes, there is still space in Part B of the proposal template for applicants to summarise the main changes compared to the previous (rejected) full proposal and to provide a rebuttal (if any) to the experts’ comments on the previous proposal. 

You are able to use another font as long as the overall formatting rules are respected. Using Times New Roman is simply a recommendation intended to ensure consistency amongst all the proposals submitted.  

No, this is not required. 

The risks related to the Work Packages are for potential risks/issues in implementing the project, whereas the risks detailed within Section 7 should be wider (for example, risks related to the technology or the market). 

The description of the Challenges and resubmission information should be included within the updated Step 2 proposal template. It is now recommended that proposals do not exceed 50 pages, therefore this is no longer a strict maximum page limit.     

PICs do not have to be validated in order to submit a proposal at step 2. Validation of the PIC is only necessary at the step before the grant can be signed. 

NCPs can use their current EULogin account and create a test account (having received the same dedicated links that applicants for the June cut-off have received by email) for this purpose.  

The applicants that have already submitted a proposal (received a “NO GO” either at the remote or the interviews stage) and are now re-submitting a full proposal, should choose the option “Yes” and enter the proposal number of the most recently submitted proposal. The applicants of first-time submissions (at full proposal stage) should choose the option “No”.

https://eic.eismea.eu/mydashboard/mycoaching

Applicants who are eligible for the coaching service can access the service via the SME Dashboard. 

• For more information on how this affects different steps of EIC Accelerator applications, please consult our Frequently Asked Questions on the EIC Website.   

• The FAQs will be regularly updated with answers to questions that are received by the EIC from applicants.  

• The EIC organised a training session on 12 June about the new application process and to support applicants. The recording is  available below.  

• Please contact your “National Contact Point (NCP)” for any other questions.  

• If you haven’t found the reply to your question in the FAQs and the NCP cannot help you, you can contact us by e-mail: supporteic [dot] eismea [dot] eu (support[at]eic[dot]eismea[dot]eu). The EIC is doing its utmost to quickly respond to questions.