GRANT OPPORTUNITIES OF THE EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL "EIC TRANSITION" PROGRAM

The article discusses the grant opportunities of the European Innovation Council EIC Transition program. Its main goals, priorities, and capabilities are demonstrated. An analysis of the features of attracting its financial instruments for Ukrainian innovators was carried out. It is emphasized that the EIC Transition program supports innovative activities with grant resources that go beyond experimental proof-of-principle in the laboratory. Projects applying for EIC Transition funding should address both technology and market/business development, possibly including iterative learning processes based on early customer or user feedback. 2 types of competitions were explored, namely: EIC Transition Open and EIC Transition Challenges. It is emphasized that the financing of EIC Transition Open projects is carried out to ensure the support of any technologies and innovations related to various sciences, technologies, industries, and the financing of EIC Transition Challenges projects takes place in accordance with strategic challenges, in which the goals, expected results and impact are previously are defined by the program as important. It was demonstrated that in 2023 the following areas were prioritized: full-scale micro-nano-bio devices for medicine and medical research; environmental intelligence; optical frequency combs based on microcircuits. The paper outlines the expected results of the EIC Transition project: a technology that has demonstrated its effectiveness for the intended application (TRL 5/6) and a business model, its initial validation and a business plan for its development in the market. It is emphasized that the amount of grant funding is up to 2.5 million euros and can be 100% of the cost of eligible project costs for testing and demonstrating the technology in an appropriate environment and developing market readiness. It is summarized that participants in EIC Transition projects can be: individual applicants (SMEs, start-up spin-offs, research organizations, universities) or a consortium (3-5 partners), they can receive a grant for the implementation of ideas for the maturation and testing of new technology in laboratory and in relevant applied environments, as well as the development of a business model for the future commercialization of the innovation.