EIC Transition: from a result to market readiness

Transition closes the gap in which most scientific results die: the technology is proven in the laboratory but has not yet been shown in real conditions, and so for an investor it does not exist.

How it differs from its neighbours

Pathfinder tests whether the principle works at all. Transition takes an already tested principle and carries it to application: validation in a relevant environment, first trials with users, development of the business case.

Accelerator starts where a company already has something to scale.

The entry ticket

This is the strand's defining feature: you cannot apply with just any idea, only with a result from an eligible earlier project. The classic sources are EIC Pathfinder and ERC Proof of Concept, but the list of eligible sources is set by the work programme of the year and must be checked before applying.

Money

The strand's 2026 budget is around €100 million and the grant is up to €2.5 million. A single entity or a small consortium applies, depending on whether proving the technology needs a partner with manufacturing or clinical facilities.

What is assessed

The key difference from the rest of Horizon Europe: here the market is already a question. The application must show who exactly the user will be, why they would switch from the existing solution, and what happens to the technology once the grant ends. A project describing only technical work looks unfinished in Transition.