Step 2 is a different exercise from Step 1, not a longer version of it. The short proposal argues that the opportunity is worth examining. The full proposal has to survive an external technology expert, a clarification meeting and a thematic panel that scores and ranks it against other companies.

The rules below follow the draft EIC Work Programme 2027 and stay provisional until the European Commission adopts it. Confirm the call conditions on the official call page before submitting.

Official reference: European Innovation Council, EIC Accelerator frequently asked questions.

Who Can Submit a Step 2 Full Proposal?

Step 2 is open to companies holding a valid Step 1 GO, and to projects entering the full-application stage through an approved Fast Track or Plug-in route. A Step 1 GO does not expire the moment the next batch closes, but it does not last indefinitely either, so confirm the validity window in the call conditions before planning a submission date.

Full proposals can be submitted continuously and are evaluated in batches. Under the draft 2027 schedule there are four full-proposal batching dates rather than the six used in 2026, which leaves less room to slip from one batch to the next. See the 2027 cut-off dates for the schedule.

Select the Correct Open or Challenge Topic

The draft 2027 Accelerator budget of EUR 578 million splits into EUR 428 million for Open and EUR 150 million for four Challenges. Applying under a Challenge means competing in a smaller, more defined pool against a specific scope, while Open imposes no thematic restriction.

Read the Challenge scope literally. A project that is thematically adjacent but does not satisfy the stated scope is weaker under a Challenge than it would have been under Open, and the topic cannot be changed after submission.

Create the Step 2 Draft

Create the full-proposal draft in the portal as soon as the Step 1 GO arrives, well before the content is ready. The draft confirms the correct call and topic and ensures the Commission can notify you of changes to the submission conditions.

What the Full Proposal Contains

Under the draft 2027 rules the full application comprises:

  • A narrative of no more than 20 pages covering the innovation, market, implementation and impact.
  • Detailed company and financial data, including historical accounts and projections.
  • Ownership information identifying the shareholding and control structure.
  • An IP and freedom-to-operate strategy.
  • A pitch deck and a video.
  • An implementation plan and lump-sum budget where grant funding is requested.

The financial, ownership and IP material is where most first-time applicants underestimate the work. These are diligence documents, and they are read as such.

The Lump-Sum Budget

Where a grant is requested, the budget is built as a lump sum tied to the work packages in the implementation plan. It is not a cost-reimbursement estimate that can be corrected later, so the work-package structure, the deliverables and the amounts need to be defensible at the point of submission.

A budget that does not visibly correspond to the activities described in the narrative is one of the easier weaknesses for an evaluator to identify.

The Technology Expert and Clarification Meeting

An external technology expert performs an in-depth assessment of the submission and holds a clarification meeting with the applicant. This is not a pitch. The expert has read the proposal and is testing specific claims in it.

Whoever attends must know the entire submission, not only the technical sections. Questions cover technology, market, financial viability, team and implementation, and an answer that contradicts a document already filed is more damaging than an imperfect answer.

A thematic panel then scores and ranks the proposal and decides which applicants proceed to the jury interview.

Keep Every Document Consistent

The narrative, financial projections, deck, video, implementation plan and budget are assessed together. Revenue figures, headcount, milestone dates, funding amounts and TRL claims must agree across all of them.

Inconsistency is read as weak internal control rather than as a formatting slip, and it is the most common avoidable problem in an otherwise strong application. Freeze the core numbers in one place and update every document from that source.

Step 2 Submission Checklist

  • Confirm the Step 1 GO is still valid for the intended batch.
  • Confirm the Open or Challenge topic and read the scope literally.
  • Create the Step 2 draft early.
  • Keep the narrative within 20 pages.
  • Prepare financial, ownership, IP and freedom-to-operate material as diligence documents.
  • Build the lump-sum budget from the work packages, not the other way round.
  • Reconcile every figure across all documents before upload.
  • Brief whoever attends the clarification meeting on the complete submission.
  • Submit ahead of the batching time rather than in the final minutes.

For the full 2027 rules, funding options and evaluation process, read the EIC Accelerator 2027 guide. For the equivalent administrative walkthrough at the short-proposal stage, see how to apply for Step 1 in 2027.

Deadlines / EIC Accelerator Cut-Off Dates 2025, 2026 and 2027

  • Step 1
    • Open now: Apply as soon as possible to be eligible for the next Step 2 submission deadline
      • Proposals are sent for evaluation on the first Tuesday of every month
  • Step 2 (closing 17:00 Brussels Time)
    • 1st cut-off 2025: March 12th 2025
    • 2nd cut-off 2025: October 1st 2025
    • 1st cut-off 2026: January 7th 2026
    • 2nd cut-off 2026: March 4th 2026
    • 3rd cut-off 2026: May 6th 2026
    • 4th cut-off 2026: July 8th 2026
    • 5th cut-off 2026: September 2nd 2026
    • 6th cut-off 2026: November 4th 2026
    • 1st cut-off 2027: February 3rd 2027
    • 2nd cut-off 2027: April 1st 2027
    • 3rd cut-off 2027: September 1st 2027
    • 4th cut-off 2027: November 3rd 2027
  • Step 3
    • 1st cut-off 2025: June 2nd 2025
    • 2nd cut-off 2025: January 19th to 23rd 2026
    • 1st cut-off 2026: June 2026
    • 2nd cut-off 2026: October 19th to 22nd 2026
    • 3rd cut-off 2026: January 2027 (exact date TBD)

Deadlines / EIC Accelerator Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Scale Up Cut-Off Dates 2026 and 2027

  • EIC STEP Scale-up Call
    • 1st cut-off 2026: February 11th 2026
    • 2nd cut-off 2026: May 6th 2026
    • 3rd cut-off 2026: September 9th 2026
    • 4th cut-off 2026: November 25th 2026
    • 1st cut-off 2027: January 28th 2027
    • 2nd cut-off 2027: April 29th 2027
    • 3rd cut-off 2027: September 6th 2027
    • 4th cut-off 2027: November 22nd 2027
  • EIC STEP Scale Up Defence
    • 1st cut-off 2027: June 1st 2027

Deadlines / EIC Pre-Accelerator 2027

  • EIC Pre-Accelerator Widening via WIDERA
    • 1st cut-off 2027: November 18th 2027

Deadlines / EIC Transition Cut-Off Dates 2025, 2026 and 2027

  • EIC Transition Open
    • 1st cut-off 2025: September 17th 2025
    • 1st cut-off 2026: September 16th 2026
    • 1st cut-off 2027: September 16th 2027

Deadlines / EIC Pathfinder Cut-Off Dates 2025, 2026 and 2027

  • EIC Pathfinder Open
    • 1st cut-off 2025: May 21st 2025
    • 1st cut-off 2026: May 12th 2026
  • EIC Pathfinder Open
    • Stage 1 cut-off 2027: February 25th 2027
    • Stage 2 cut-off 2027: September 16th 2027
  • EIC Pathfinder Challenges
    • 2nd cut-off 2025: October 29th 2025
    • 2nd cut-off 2026: October 28th 2026
    • 2nd cut-off 2027: September 29th 2027

Deadlines / EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges 2026

  • EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges
    • Stage 1 cut-off 2026: February 26th 2026
    • Stage 2 cut-off 2027: June 18th 2027

EIC Work Programme

EIC Accelerator Challenges

  • EIC Accelerator Challenges 2026
    • Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage System
    • Alternative Concepts and Key Enabling Technologies for Fusion Power Plants
    • Biotech for Regenerating Agricultural Soils
    • Boosting the European Critical Raw Materials value chain
    • Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation
  • EIC Accelerator Challenges 2027 (draft)
    • Advanced in-situ Ocean Observation Technologies for Scalable, High-Resolution Marine Monitoring
    • Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
    • Alternative Concepts and Key Enabling Technologies for Fusion Power Plants
    • Carbon removal and circularity for climate change mitigation and EU industrial resilience

EIC Accelerator STEP Scale-Up Topics

  • EIC Accelerator STEP Scale-Up Topics
    • Digital technologies, and deep tech innovations
    • Clean and resource-efficient technologies, including net-zero technologies
    • Biotechnologies, including medicinal products on the Union's list of critical medicines and their components.

EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges 2026

  • Accelerating Physical AI: Embodied Intelligence for the Next Frontier of AI-Powered Robotics
  • Translating Disruptive New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) into Practice

EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026

  • Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems
  • Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing
  • DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems

EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2027 (draft)

  • Breakthroughs in Advanced Materials for Electricity Generation, Storage and Transmission
  • Safe and Controlled Continual Learning in Open World for Reliable AI Agents (CLOWAI)
  • Quantum Energetics

EIC Fund Guidelines (Equity)

EIC Accelerator and EIC STEP Scale-Up Call Page, Proposal Templates and Submission Links

EIC Accelerator Jury Members

List of Eligible EIC Accelerator Countries

  • All Eligible EIC Accelerator Countries
  • EU-27 Member States
    1. Austria
    2. Belgium
    3. Bulgaria
    4. Croatia
    5. Republic of Cyprus
    6. Czech Republic
    7. Denmark
    8. Estonia
    9. Finland
    10. France
    11. Germany
    12. Greece
    13. Hungary
    14. Ireland
    15. Italy
    16. Latvia
    17. Lithuania
    18. Luxembourg
    19. Malta
    20. Netherlands
    21. Poland
    22. Portugal
    23. Romania
    24. Slovakia
    25. Slovenia
    26. Spain
    27. Sweden
  • Association Agreements with Legal Effect
    1. Albania
    2. Armenia
    3. Bosnia and Herzegovina
    4. Faroe Islands
    5. Georgia
    6. Iceland
    7. Israel
    8. Kosovo
    9. Moldova
    10. Montenegro
    11. North Macedonia
    12. Norway
    13. Serbia
    14. Tunisia
    15. Turkey
    16. Ukraine
  • Transitional Association Arrangements
    1. Morocco
    2. United Kingdom (grant but no equity)
    3. Switzerland
  • Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) Linked to Member States
    1. Aruba (Netherlands)
    2. Bonaire (Netherlands)
    3. Curação (Netherlands)
    4. French Polynesia (France)
    5. French Southern and Antarctic Territories (France)
    6. Greenland (Denmark)
    7. New Caledonia (France)
    8. Saba (Netherlands)
    9. Saint Barthélemy (France)
    10. Sint Eustatius (Netherlands)
    11. Sint Maarten (Netherlands)
    12. St. Pierre and Miquelon (France)
    13. Wallis and Futuna Islands (France)

Widening Countries (EIC Pre-Accelerator Eligibility)

The less advanced countries in terms of R&I performance eligible under the Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area (WIDERA) programme:

  • EU Member States
    1. Bulgaria
    2. Croatia
    3. Cyprus
    4. Czechia
    5. Estonia
    6. Greece
    7. Hungary
    8. Latvia
    9. Lithuania
    10. Malta
    11. Poland
    12. Portugal
    13. Romania
    14. Slovakia
    15. Slovenia
  • Associated Countries with equivalent characteristics in terms of R&I performance
    1. Albania
    2. Armenia
    3. Bosnia & Herzegovina
    4. Faroe Islands
    5. Georgia
    6. Kosovo
    7. Moldova
    8. Montenegro
    9. North Macedonia
    10. Serbia
    11. Tunisia
    12. Türkiye
    13. Ukraine
    14. Morocco (once associated)
  • Outermost Regions (defined in Art. 349 TFEU)

Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Status

  • SME definition
    • Staff headcount < 250
    • Turnover ≤ €50 million
    • Balance sheet total ≤ €43 million

This page contains all the relevant and up-to-date information about the EIC Accelerator. You can find the latest EIC Accelerator cut-off dates for the submission deadlines, the current EIC Accelerator submission links, information on EIC Accelerator templates, the EIC Accelerator Challenges, the EIC Accelerator Budget, the Eligible EIC Accelerator Countries and other general requirements here.