EIC Tech report 2023

For the EIC to achieve its mission it must be at the forefront of developments in science and technology and look to identify technologies emerging from the science base that could create new value propositions and/or disrupt existing markets.

To this end, technologies and sectors to be supported by the EIC must be assessed through an anticipatory lens, an essential starting point for which is a robust analysis of the EIC’s current portfolio of activity.

Chapter 1 of this report therefore highlights novel technologies and innovations submitted to the EIC under Horizon Europe, with an emphasis on early-stage research projects funded following extensive  independent expert review. It also includes some areas of technology that have attracted high quality proposals, but not funded to date by the EIC. This identification was supported by an ongoing partnership with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) that informs EIC activities through qualitative and quantitative foresight and subsequently informed by discussions with EIC Programme Managers, who bring domain expertise to guide and connect projects and companies in key parts of the EIC portfolio.

The main criterion for selection was the relative novelty of the topics to the EIC. The listed technologies have not been prioritised based on their potential scientific, technological, economic, environmental, and social impacts, nor benchmarked against wider global technology trends. Such benchmarking and assessment will be essential to inform future priorities. Further, topics with a longer history of support by current and legacy EIC programmes are not highlighted in this Chapter.

Chapter 2 of the report complements the analysis in Chapter 1 and provides the perspective of the 10 EIC Programme Managers on parts of their portfolio. These ‘deep dives’ consider the potential of some of the relevant technologies identified in Chapter 1 and provide an overview of EIC activity and wider trends alongside insights on gaps and/or other barriers that may need to be overcome.

Looking forward

The analysis shared here will help inform future explorations of the EIC portfolio, mapping internal EIC data to global trends based on patents, publications, funding and investments. More detailed studies will be taken forward relying on the role of EIC Programme Managers, the continuous support of JRC qualitative and quantitative foresight, and inputs from external experts. The ambition is subject to further explorations on the scope of the annual EIC Tech Report, to identify new and emerging areas that could in time inform future priorities and activities where relevant through the EIC, or more broadly, across the Commission and/ or at national and regional levels. (Taken from the Scope of the report)