The European Innovation Council (EIC) has selected 20 projects following the May 2022 EIC Transition cut-off. These successful proposals, selected among 165 submitted, will receive altogether €45.6 million of EU funding (up to €2.5 million each).
The EIC Transition scheme supports both single entities (research teams, SMEs, spin outs) as well as small consortia (up to 5 partners from different countries) to mature and validate their breakthrough technologies and to build a business case for future commercialisation. The successful participants come from 18 EU Member States and Horizon Europe associated countries.
Some examples of projects are:
- P.CAP – planar CAPacitors for high temperature and mid-frequency operation
P.CAP project brings an alternative to aluminium and tantalum electrolytic capacitors: planar electric double layer capacitors. Their prototype will be used as a minimum viable product to validate the device in applications where reliability and high-temperature are required, such as mining and electric vehicles. Their long term vision is to further miniaturise the technology and provide a tantalum-free solution for smartphones, tablets and printed circuit boards used in all electronic equipment.
- ASTEASIER – novel and sustainable biotechnological approaches for astaxanthin and ketocarotenoids production
Microalgae are photosynthetic unicellular microorganisms which can be cultivated at industrial level and adopted as sustainable platforms to produce high value bio-based products. Despite the high potential of microalgae, nowadays astaxanthin is mainly derived from chemical synthesis, due to the high costs for natural astaxanthin production and extraction. However, synthetic astaxanthin has a far less antioxidant power compared to natural one and its production processes present several sustainability issues. The ASTEASIER project starts from the results of ERC Proof of Concept project Asteasy, which developed novel biotechnological solutions to efficiently produce natural astaxanthin. In Transition phase, these innovations will be validated in demonstrator units and tested for aquaculture feed formulation. ASTEASIER proposal aims take the technologies to Technology Readiness Level 6 and to spin-off a company producing and selling natural products such as astaxanthin for human and animal nutrition and wellness.
- PB_LC – Clinical readiness of a live bio-therapeutic for treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents 80-85% of the worldwide lung cancer cases, which are the leading cause of cancer-related death. Several clinical trials have indicated better survival rates in NSCLC patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) antibodies. However, since many patients display innate or acquired resistance to these therapies, there is a pressing need to discover methods to help them overcome the resistance. This is the objective of this project.
This latest EIC Transition call included dedicated funding for clean, energy green digital devices and RNA-based therapies and diagnostics for complex or rare genetic diseases technologies as well as open funding for any area of technology. Among the 20 selected projects, we have:
- 15 under the open funding
- 3 under “Green digital devices for the future” challenge
- 2 under “Process and system integration of clean energy technologies” challenge
Background information
EIC Transition projects focus on results generated by EIC Pathfinder, FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) or European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept projects, to mature the technologies and build a business case for specific applications. Each project will receive a grant of up to €2.5 million to validate and demonstrate technology in application-relevant environment and develop market readiness.
EIC Transition funds innovation activities that go beyond the experimental proof of principle in laboratory to supports both:
- Maturation and validation of a novel technology from the lab to the relevant real world application environment;
- Development of a business case and (business) model towards the innovation’s future commercialisation.
Each project will have access to EIC Business Acceleration Services including coaching, mentoring, and partnering events. Projects are also eligible for the fast track scheme to access the EIC Accelerator for supporting the commercialisation and scale up phases.
More information
Source: European Innovation Council I News (https://bit.ly/3hIZmst)