A record number of applications were submitted for the 7 October cut-off of the EIC Accelerator call: 4,223 proposals were received by the European Innovation Council from startups and SMEs. Of these, more than 1,700 are requests for blended finance (grant + equity, approximately 40% of the total), which is also a new record.

Applications were received from 48 different countries: Italy leads the way (457 applications), followed by Spain (396), Israel (386), Germany (358) and France (305). In terms of thematic areas, 952 applications were submitted in the health sector, 724 for ICT, 623 for engineering and technology, 343 for energy, and 263 for construction and transport networks.

The next step involves a pitch for the selected projects: the winners will be announced in December. The total funding available amounts to approximately 170 million euros.

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