EIC Funding experts
About our experts
The EIC Funding experts spot the best of the best among thousands of innovations and the brilliant ideas that have the capacity to disrupt the markets. EIC Funding experts are experts in innovation, finance and business who can bring their know-how to the selection process.
Th EIC finances the best innovations in Europe that can create new markets and disrupt the existing ones. In order to select the small companies behind these innovations the EIC needs the best evaluators, with experience in innovations, investment and business.
The experts are carefully chosen to guarantee proposals are evaluated independently by experts with different profiles with expertise in for example technology a specific industry sector, business and finance.
The experts
| Name | Affiliation | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Kristin Aamodt | Managing Director Statoil Technology Invest | NO |
| Luis Acevedo | Founder and CEO of SpectCell with the University of Edinburgh - Researcher and project supervisor | ES |
| Patrick Albert | Managing Director at PAt Partners Consulting Sàrl | FR |
| Taryn Andersen | Investor Relations Director | ES |
| Mali M. Baum | Founder & CEO of WLOUNGE ecosystem | IL |
| Dr. Barak Ben-Avinoam | Partner at Benhamou Global Ventures | IL |
| Julianna Borsos | Private Equity Investor and manager of growth fund | FI |
| Andy Cars | CEO @ Seedcap AB | SE |
| Diego Diaz Pilas | Head of New Ventures & Tech Prospects at Iberdrola | ES |
| Marcus Erken | Founding Partner at Sunfish Partners | DE |
| Eli Frydman | Managing Director - Healthcare at Aurum Ventures | IL |
Evaluation process
Evaluation criteria
All proposals are evaluated based on three award criteria:
- Excellence: your project has high innovation potential and is beyond the state of the art. It has a strong added-value, it is viable and better than existing solutions.
- Impact: your innovation meets a pressing need on European and global markets, it will generate revenue and create jobs and has an international dimension.
- Implementation: your work plan is efficient and coherent with a realistic time-frame. Your team has the technical and commercial competence to deliver.
Evaluation steps
All EIC proposals are evaluated in two steps. In Step 1, proposals are evaluated remotely by four independent expert-evaluators with different profiles.
The experts are carefully chosen to guarantee proposals are evaluated independently by experts with different profiles with expertise in for example technology a specific industry sector, business and finance. Proposals are ranked in descending order and the best scores get funded until available budget is exhausted. All applicants are informed about the outcome through the Participant Portal with a letter and an Evaluation Summary Report (ESR).
Companies that pass the initial selection stage, will be invited to pitch their innovation projects in front of a panel of jury experts, consisting of private investors, business angels and other players in the innovation ecosystem. This Step 2 complements the existing paper based assessment in order to take full account of the personal qualities and motivations of the applicant innovators. At this stage around 50% of the companies will get selected for funding.
The face-to-face interviews will be in English and last 30 minutes. More question time may be granted for proposals asking for blended finance. Companies selected for the interview will receive a pitch document in the invitation to participate to the second step - a template will be attached to the invitation letter.
The dates for the interviews in 2020 are:
- interview week for 1st cut-off date: 17-21 February 2020;
- interview week for 2nd cut-off date: 11-20 May 2020;
- interview week for 3rd cut-off date: 29-3 July 2020;
- interview week for 4th cut-off date: 16-20 November 2020.
The Jury consists of around 15% business angels, 20% entrepreneurs, 20% venture capitalists, with other experts coming from larger corporates, innovation hubs and accelerators. The majority of the experts are women. The list of experts is regularly updated as new experts join the Jury. Around 70 members evaluate proposals during each interview week.
The maximum delay to inform applicants will be 4 months from the date of the cut-off. The indicative date for the signing of grant agreements is maximum 6 months from the date of the corresponding cut-off.
For full details on the evaluation procedure read the guidelines for applicants on the Horizon 2020 Funding and Tenders Portal.