EIC Funding in 2026: Where Every Scheme Stands at the Halfway Point

The European Innovation Council is running close to a dozen schemes in parallel, each with its own budget, deadline, and odds of success.

Here's where each scheme stands at the mid-point of 2026, what's already closed, what's still open, and what the results published so far tell you about your chances.

Which EIC schemes have already closed?

Three calls closed in the first half of the year, and results are due imminently.

• EIC Pathfinder Open closed on 12 May 2026 with 2,103 proposals submitted, requesting more than €8.2 billion against a €166 million budget. That's roughly 55 to 58 projects expected to be funded, an anticipated success rate of around 2%. Results are due in October 2026.
• EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges, a new pilot for 2026, closed with 425 proposals for the Physical AI challenge and 284 for the NAMs (new approach methodologies) challenge. Expected success rates sit at 2.3% and 3.5% respectively, with ten organisations expected to be selected per challenge. Results are due this summer.
• Pre-Accelerator closed in 2025, with 70 companies selected from 1,083 proposals, a 6% success rate. It won't reopen until 2027, and it's restricted to widening countries.

None of these are relevant if you're planning a 2026 application. The schemes below are.

What's still open, and when are the deadlines?

Two things are worth flagging.

First, the EIC Accelerator's short application can be submitted at any time, but is collected in monthly batches, so your submission timing determines which full-application cut-off you're eligible for.

Second, the STEP Scale Up call runs on a continuous basis with quarterly evaluation windows rather than a single annual deadline, so there's no reason to wait for the next one if your company is ready now.

How is the EIC Accelerator performing so far?

38 companies were funded from the January and March cut-offs, a 44% face-to-face-to-win rate, the highest ever recorded. Myriad covered the full Q1 2026 breakdown, including how the new 2026 process changes are shaping outcomes and what it means for Irish applicants specifically. One Irish company secured €2.5 million in blended finance in that round.

The remainder of the year is expected to deliver a further 70 to 75 funded companies, with May and July cut-off applicants interviewing in Brussels in October 2026, and September and November applicants interviewing in February 2027. The cumulative full-application-to-funded success rate sits at 7%, a useful benchmark if you're deciding whether your project is ready.

STEP Scale Up: who's actually winning

The most recent STEP Scale Up results are a good illustration of what a competitive proposal looks like in practice. Out of 24 companies that submitted, 17 were invited to interview, and six were put forward for investment decisions worth a combined €97 million:

• Cailabs (France), building ground systems for laser communications
• Cylib (Germany), recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life batteries
• Paebbl (Netherlands), turning CO₂ into building materials
• SiPearl (France), designing CPUs for sovereign data centres
• Skeleton Technologies Group (Estonia), building power systems for AI compute infrastructure
• Vsora (France), delivering AI inference hardware

Every one of these sits squarely in a strategic technology category: digital infrastructure, clean tech, or critical raw materials. The STEP Scale Up grant is specifically targeting deep tech scale up; consider carefully if your project can stand up to the criteria.

Defence and dual-use: the biggest structural change this year

From 17 June 2026, the EIC Accelerator and STEP Scale Up opened to companies developing dual-use technologies, those with both civilian and defence applications, alongside a new €100 million EIC STEP Defence Scale Up call. It's the first time any EU funding programme has committed to direct equity investment in defence companies.

Myriad covered what the expansion means and who's eligible in detail. If you'd previously ruled out EIC funding because your technology has a defence angle, it’s time to revisit.

What this means for your application

With most 2026 deadlines now clustering between September and November, it’s important to consider whether you have enough runway to build a competitive submission before the deadline closes.

Full applications now need to earn a top ranking, not just clear a threshold, and STEP Scale Up's results show that even at interview stage, roughly two-thirds of applicants don't make it through.

If you're weighing up which EIC scheme fits your project, or want an honest view on whether you're ready to apply before the autumn deadlines, get in touch with Myriad's team.