On Wednesday 17 June, the European Commission announced that the EU was extending its research and innovation funding to defence and dual-use technologies with civilian and defence applications, following the amendment of the 2026 work programme of the European Innovation Council (EIC).
Accordingly, start-ups, and small and medium-sized companies developing dual-use technologies can now apply for grants of up to €2.5 million and equity investments of up to €30 million under the EIC Accelerator and the STEP Scaleup programmes.
At the same time, the European Innovation Council launched a new €100 million EIC STEP Defence Scale Up call for projects open to companies in the EU, in countries from the European Economic Area associated to Horizon Europe, and Ukraine.
These companies will be able to receive up to €30 million in direct equity financing to accelerate the scale-up of their industrial capabilities, particularly in the fields of air and missile defence, drones and counter-drone systems, as well as other critical defence technologies.
The EIC will co-invest in the major funding rounds, with amounts typically ranging between €50 million and €150 million.
More information: https://aeur.eu/f/mef (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)