A total of 57 small and medium-sized companies have been selected for funding under the recently launched European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot. 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.
Examples of the projects selected include a 3D printer for food; an innovative treatment for breast cancer; a virtual reality and augmented reality headset capable of human eye resolution; a multi-active cardboard packaging that extends the shelf life of vegetables by 40%, a new type of biodegradable bioplastic, and, of course, our intelligent cow-monitoring system for dairy farmers – Ida.
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.”
In this phase of the SME Instrument (the so-called Phase 2), each project will receive up to €2.5 million to finance innovation activities such as demonstration, testing, piloting and scaling up. In addition, the companies will also benefit from 12 days of free business coaching and business acceleration services.
