The companies, selected following face-to-face interviews with a jury of innovators, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, will receive a total amount of €94.25 million to share between their projects to scale-up and internationalise.
Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “With the European Innovation Council pilot, we set out to support high-flying entrepreneurs with breakthrough ideas and a clear ability to create new markets. This very first group of innovators certainly has that potential.”
Most companies selected for funding are in the field of health, engineering and information and communication technology (ICT), and are based in Spain (13), the Netherlands (6), followed by France and Finland (both 5). The European Commission received 1154 eligible proposals for this first cut-off of the SME Instrument.
