The EIC Summit 2026 unveiled bold steps for Europe’s innovation landscape, including the Scaleup Europe Fund and key insights from the EIC Impact Report.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) moved “from addressing a market gap to becoming a market player”: This was MEP Christian Ehler’s message on stage at the EIC Summit 2026 when asked about lessons learned from the EIC. During an exchange moderated by Andreas Schwarz (Head of Cabinet for Commissioner Zaharieva), MEP Ehler, Anita Krohn (EIC Board Member) and Marc Lemaître (Director-General, DG RTD) shared some reflections on the past and future of the EIC – what it has achieved so far and which reforms are still needed in light of the upcoming 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10).
MEP Ehler recalled that, when looking back, the European Commission – under the helm of Carlos Moedas for research and innovation at that time – was asking itself “whether there was a market for the EIC”. Today, DG Lemaître testifies, “it demonstrated there was a real need and a place for the EIC”. Yet, speakers also reminded the audience that some reforms are needed to improve the model, such as adopting a more (D)ARPA-style approach, supporting Pre-Commercial Procurement, improving scaling-up for promising companies, providing more independence to Programme Managers, or just giving more autonomy to the EIC overall. Lemaître also called for more national initiatives modelled on the EIC, such as Germany’s SPRIN-D, the UK’s ARIA or the newly established NADI in the Netherlands.
Those were some reflections shared already towards the end of the event’s second day, which were preceded by discussions on how to achieve greater autonomy, how to improve the path from lab-to-market, or what policy and regulatory conditions it takes to deliver on a true Single Market, notably through the Savings and Investments Union and EU Inc. These discussions were accompanied by broader calls for a more integrated, scale-up-friendly European innovation environment.
One action, which is no longer a wish but a reality, was the Commission’s official announcement of the Swedish firm EQT as the preferred fund manager for the Scaleup Europe Fund (SEF). During his remarks, EQT’s partner, Christian Sinding, stated that the SEF will invest in major deep-tech fields (AI, manufacturing, biotech, medtech, including dual-use technologies). More importantly, Sinding stressed that they already have a pipeline of over 1’000 potential deals, of which 125 companies they were already in contact with in the past few weeks – showing the strong momentum for this initiative. But before being able to invest, EQT will have to finalise the investment guidelines with the Commission and start fundraising from the founding investors who initially committed to this new Fund (e.g. Novo Holdings, CriteiraCaixa, Intesa Sanpaolo, etc). Once completed, this will allow “ultra-fast” investments to start around the end of Q3 2026, and companies raising and scaling can already reach out here.
The EIC Summit was also an occasion to publish the annual EIC Impact Report 2026, which provides evidence of the programme’s achievements. Since 2021, the EIC has disbursed €6.5 billion in grant and equity support, distributed across 800 companies, and translated into hundreds of highly innovative research and innovation projects – from EIC Pathfinder to the Accelerator. In terms of investments, the EIC mobilised over €5 billion in co-investments, with a leverage effect of €3.5 per euro invested. This resulted in several scale-ups and, most notably, 3 EIC portfolio companies which reached unicorn status.
But beyond the facts and figures that prove the EIC is maturing, there is an underlying ecosystem of people, with innovators and entrepreneurs from across the board. A growing part of that ecosystem is women innovators, and rightly so. According to the Impact Report, the EIC Accelerator supported over 30% of women-led companies in 2025, defined as companies with at least one woman in a C-level position. Although figures for the entire EIC are lacking, the EIC Summit provides greater visibility for this underrepresented group through the yearly European Prize for Women Innovators 2026. Among the prize’s three categories, this year saw one finalist from Switzerland for the EIC Rising Innovators award, celebrating women innovators under 35. Carin Lightner received the bronze medal for her role as co-founder and CEO of Enantios, an ETH spin-off accelerating drug discovery through faster and more precise analysis of complex molecules, paving the way for next-generation medicines. Carin Lightner’s recognition also highlights the growing visibility of Swiss-based women innovators in Europe’s deep-tech ecosystem.
The last announcement of relevance during the EIC Summit was the launch of the new EU Innovation Platform. The platform aims to become the “single digital entry point for European innovators, investors, and service providers to find, compare and access funding, services and infrastructure”. This latest Commission initiative, released in partnership with other entities such as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the Enterprise Europe Network and the European IP Helpdesk, aims to reduce fragmentation of the landscape – another key issue widely discussed in view of FP10.
At the Summit, participants welcomed the willingness to reduce fragmentation. Yet, Europe also needs a mindset shift. In fact, circling back to this article’s starting point, Marc Lemaître reminded the audience that, out of the ~350 companies that received equity funding from the EIC Fund, only 27 folded, representing a total “lost investment” of ~€50-70 million. Yet, he cautioned that this amount represents only a fraction of the value the other remaining companies are generating, citing the Finnish, EIC-backed Quantum firm IQM, which raised several hundred million. More than any single announcement, this signals a broader cultural shift inside the Commission: if Europe is serious about backing breakthrough innovation, it must accept that a credible innovation policy includes visible failures alongside outsized successes.