Belgian regional funding bodies are implementing EIC pilot plug-in scheme

The EIC accelerator grew to one of the most desired and competitive funding and investment schemes for individual start-ups, SMEs and in some cases even small mid-caps (up to 500 employees) are also supported. With a subsidy of €500k to €2.5Mio at 70% for technology readiness levels (TRL) 6-8 and the option for investment up to €15Mio for higher TRLs, it is easy to see why. It is aimed at developing and scaling up game changing innovations for high growth potential companies.

As the amount of submissions was ever-increasing and the success chance steadily dropping below the 1% mark, the EIC made significant changes to the submission and evaluation process in 2021. Now there is a multi-step gated approach:

Step 0: diagnostic
Step 1: short proposal (10 questions answered, 10 slides presentation, 3 min. video)
Step 2: full proposal
Step 3: remote evaluation and face-to-face pitch

Recently the EIC launched the pilot plug-in scheme. This allows regional and national bodies to carry out a project review for about 20 companies in the pilot phase of the scheme. The advantage is that the selected companies can immediately go to step 2 (full proposal) of the EIC accelerator submission process.

In Belgium there are three regional funding bodies that aim to implement the pilot plug-in scheme:

Innoviris (Brussels): Details are not known yet, scheme to be launched this semester.
SPW Recherche [1] (Wallonia): Will implement the scheme, but no details known yet.
VLAIO (Flanders): Published details on the scheme, which starts in 2023. Preselection is ongoing.

Let us zoom in on the VLAIO case as the details here are known. The funding body is looking for:

Companies that:

have recently finished or will soon finish a VLAIO innovation project.
Demonstrate the potential for rapid and strong international growth.

Projects that:

Are at least at TRL 5 (technology validated in relevant environment).
Are “game-changing”
Either create a new market or radically disrupt an existing market

If you think you fit these criteria, VLAIO asks to submit the following documents before September 15th 2022 12:00:

A slide deck of 10-slides, based on the slide deck of the EIC pitching step
A 1-2 pager which summarizes the results of the VLAIO innovation project and gives a concise overview of the activities to be included in the EIC accelerator proposal

In case you are not or insufficiently familiar with the conditions or application modalities, you can always call on the experts of Leyton to guide you through the entire process from feasibility to payment. www.orion-testing.leyton.com

We will share details on the Innoviris and SPW Recherche if and when they become available.