HIL Applied Medical: EIC Accelerator Laser Protons, What Came Next

Proton therapy destroys tumours with less damage to surrounding tissue than X-rays, but the machines that accelerate the protons are so large and costly that few hospitals can afford them. HIL Applied Medical, a Jerusalem company built on laser physics research at the Hebrew University, promised to shrink them to a single room by accelerating protons with an ultra-intense laser fired at nanostructured targets. The European Innovation Council backed it twice: an EIC SME Instrument Phase 2 grant of €2,349,306.75 from the June 2019 cut-off, and an EIC Accelerator pilot grant of €1,456,875 from the October 2020 cut-off, both under the acronym HIL PT System, according to CORDIS and CORDIS.

No HIL system was ever sold or installed. In July 2023, three months after the second EIC project ended, the company "formally informed the stakeholder of the financial difficulties encountered and the start of a voluntary dissolution", according to the mid-year 2023 report of IBA, its Belgian shareholder, which wrote its stake down to zero. The Israeli companies register now lists HIL Applied Medical Ltd as being wound up by the court, with an order to open proceedings, so it is now insolvent and in liquidation, according to the register's open data and OpenCorporates.

Where HIL Applied Medical Stands Now

The Israeli register, in data updated on 8 October 2026, gives the company's status as "in liquidation by the court" with the sub-status "order to open proceedings", the first step of a corporate insolvency case in Israel. Its last filed annual report is for 2021. The date of the court order is not in the open data and could not be found in any public source, so the July 2023 start of the voluntary dissolution reported by IBA is the earliest dated evidence of the wind-down. Start-Up Nation Finder lists the company as non-active and says it ceased to operate in December 2023. The data provider Tracxn still showed it as active when checked for this article, which the register and IBA's report contradict.

The company's website went too. The last news item on hilappliedmedical.com is dated 10 February 2022, according to the Internet Archive; by February 2024 the domain served an online gambling page, and it now redirects to unrelated sites.

The Technology: Lasers Instead of a Cyclotron

Conventional proton therapy accelerates protons in a cyclotron or synchrotron and steers them to the patient through heavy magnets. HIL's own Phase 1 study, on CORDIS, put the cost of a proton therapy centre at $150 to 250 million to build and about $10 million a year to run, and said single-room systems cost $30 to 45 million. HIL proposed to fire an ultra-high-intensity laser at targets coated with nanostructures, which concentrate the field and accelerate protons over a tiny distance, combined with fast magnets for delivery. It claimed this would cut the system's size by up to 50% and let hospitals save up to two thirds on purchase and installation.

The approach comes from Arie Zigler's laser lab at the Hebrew University. A 2011 paper by Zigler, Eisenmann and colleagues reported protons of 5.5 to 7.5 MeV from laser pulses of 4.5 × 10¹⁷ W/cm² hitting water-ice nano-wire targets, according to the university's research database and SPIE. In January 2022 HIL said it had "demonstrated proton acceleration to clinical levels" and was building an Alpha system in Jerusalem, according to its announcement of a BIRD Foundation grant. No independent publication of those clinical-level results could be found.

What the Two EIC Projects Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The two awards are separate grant agreements with the same acronym and the same title. Each time, the European Commission's list named HIL as the only company in the project: the June 2019 SME Instrument Phase 2 list and the October 2020 EIC Accelerator list, where the award is marked blended finance.

The first project, grant agreement 880828, ran from 1 October 2019 to 30 November 2022 with a total cost of €3,356,152.50. HIL said it would "scale-up the performance of the laser proton accelerator, customise the design of the delivery system, and clinically validate the laser proton performance", and would scout customers. The second, grant agreement 968496, ran from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2023 with a total cost of €2,081,250. CORDIS describes it as a "complimentary blended finance project" in which HIL would "develop and manufacture its pre-Beta system in Israel's first PT centre" and develop a Beta version "which will enable the company to launch its first sales".

Both projects are closed on CORDIS, and neither has a periodic report or any listed result (880828, 968496). Only the 2017 Phase 1 feasibility study has a published report, which said HIL had built two low-energy proton accelerators and planned to apply for a CE mark after demonstrating clinical performance.

1. Scale up the laser proton accelerator (2019 award)ClaimedHIL said in January 2022 it had reached clinical levels; no independent data found.
2. Clinical validation of laser protons (2019 award)Not deliveredNever announced; no CE mark.
3. Pre-Beta system in Israel's first proton centre (2020 award)Not deliveredIsrael's first proton systems went to IBA instead.
4. Beta system and first sales (2020 award)Not deliveredNo sale announced; dissolution began July 2023.
5. EIC equity investment (2020 award)Not foundHIL is not in the EIC Fund portfolio.

The blended award's equity part cannot be confirmed. HIL does not appear among the 315 organisations on the EIC Fund's list of invested companies, checked page by page for this article, and no announcement by HIL or the EIC mentions an EIC equity investment. Tracxn lists the EIC Fund among HIL's investors, but it records HIL's 2021 and 2023 rounds as grants, which matches the EU grant rather than equity.

What HIL Achieved Around the Awards

HIL raised money steadily before its EIC grants. By May 2016 it had raised $4 million from investors including Integra Holdings, the fund of the university's technology transfer company Yissum, and OurCrowd, and it bought the US company Nanolabz, which became its development centre HIL US, according to Globes and DOTmed. In August 2016 IBA, the largest maker of proton therapy systems, invested $2 million to lead a Series C round with OurCrowd and signed an agreement giving it the right to buy HIL's accelerators, according to IBA and Globes. In March 2019 HIL announced a NIS 18 million (about $5 million) R&D and manufacturing centre on 700 square metres at the Givat Ram campus, where it planned to build its first beta units, according to Calcalist.

In January 2022 HIL and Proton International, an American operator of proton centres, received a $900,000 grant from the Israel-US BIRD Foundation to prepare an HIL installation at a future Proton International centre, with early commercialisation targeted for 2022, according to PR Newswire and BioSpace. A sponsored article in the Times of Israel a month later said Proton International was "in the process of committing to add two therapy rooms based on HIL technology by the end of this year", priced HIL's single room at $15 million, cited more than 60 patents and said HIL was raising a round on OurCrowd. No installation at a Proton International centre has been announced, and the result of that round is not public.

The Money

HIL's accounts are not public in Israel, so its losses, staff numbers and the total raised cannot be checked against filings. IBA's report gives the one outside valuation: after recording a €1.0 million value increase on its stake at the end of 2022, based on a discounted cash flow valuation, IBA cut the stake to zero in mid-2023. How much of the two EU grants was paid out, and whether the EU has sought to recover any of it in the liquidation, is not public.

Why Europe Should Care

Cheaper particle therapy fits the EU's cancer policy. The Commission's SAMIRA action plan, adopted in February 2021 as part of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, makes innovation in medical radiation technology one of its three priorities. A European-funded route to proton systems small enough for ordinary radiotherapy departments would serve that priority; HIL's case shows how far a promising lab result can be from a hospital machine.

The Verdict

HIL Applied Medical, its liquidator and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records, company statements and EU project data, linked throughout.