The European Innovation Council (EIC) has selected 40 new projects for funding under the 2025 EIC Transition call, strengthening its mission to turn cutting-edge research into market-ready innovations
Chosen from a competitive group of 611 submissions, each project will receive up to €2.5 million to support technology validation, demonstration, and business development.
The 40 selected projects bring together participants from 17 EU Member States and Horizon Europe associated countries.
With no predefined thematic priorities, the EIC Transition call continues to attract proposals from across all fields of science, technology, and application.
Turning research results into market opportunities
EIC Transition call focuses on maturing technologies that have already demonstrated promising research results. The programme supports projects in moving from early proof-of-concept stages towards application-relevant environments, while also building a robust business case for future commercialisation.
Among the 611 submissions received, 130 originated from European Research Council Proof of Concept projects, showing the strong pipeline from frontier research to innovation. Selected projects will work on validating their technologies, reducing technical and commercial risks, and preparing for market entry.
In addition to funding, the projects will benefit from EIC Business Acceleration Services, including coaching, mentoring, and access to partnering events. They are also eligible for the EIC fast-track scheme, offering a direct pathway to the EIC Accelerator to support scale-up and commercialisation.
Seals of excellence widen the impact
For the first time, the EIC Transition call awarded 228 Seals of Excellence to high-quality proposals that could not be funded due to budget limitations. These projects were assessed as meeting the EIC’s excellence standards and are recommended for support through alternative EU, national, or regional funding sources.
The introduction of the Seal of Excellence significantly extends the impact of the EIC Transition programme, helping promising innovations continue their development journey even without direct EIC funding.
Examples of selected projects
The BELFORT ASIC project addresses a critical challenge in digital security. Its hardware accelerator enables the use of fully homomorphic encryption at practical speeds, allowing encrypted data to be processed without decryption.
By delivering performance gains up to 2000 times those of general-purpose processors, the technology opens new possibilities for secure data processing across sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government.
The OFFSPRING project tackles a long-standing challenge in in vitro fertilisation. Rather than focusing solely on embryo selection, the project aims to improve the developmental potential of fertilised eggs. By optimising metabolic conditions for each egg, OFFSPRING aims to increase the number of high-quality embryos and improve IVF success rates, thereby reducing emotional and financial strain for patients.
In sustainable energy, the EASY project is advancing a new approach to ammonia production. Using the Atmonia process, the project enables ammonia to be produced from air and water using renewable energy, without the high pressures and temperatures of conventional methods. The goal is to deliver a scalable prototype suitable for decentralised, on-farm use, along with a market-validated business plan and clear regulatory pathway.
EIC Transition projects build on results from programmes such as EIC Pathfinder, FET, ERC Proof of Concept, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe Pillar II actions, as well as civil-focused European Defence Fund projects. With grants of up to €2.5 million, the programme plays a critical role in bridging the gap between research and market deployment.
The next deadline for EIC Transition applications is 16 September 2026.
