6.6M€ raised for Portugal

Three Portuguese companies have raised 6.6 million euros (M€) under the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme. The call, which closed on March 23^rd, received 1091 proposals from 35 countries, of which 74 were approved for funding.

This is a programme that aims to support start-ups and SMEs with disruptive technologies in developing their local businesses on a global scale, by offering funding grants of up to 2.5M€ combined with equity investments from the EIC Fund.

In addition to financial support, all projects benefit from a range of Business Acceleration Services that provide access to worldwide investment and growth opportunities. This programme has been open continuously since 2021, with three annual dates for assessing applications.

The approved Portuguese projects operate in the food and beverage sector (WATGRID LDA - a technology that collects data in real time through an analysis platform to automatically adjust the parameters of the winemaking process, which can make the process more sustainable) and in the area of digital for health (AI4MedImaging Medical Solutions S.A. - has created an AI-based clinical software for fully automated cardiac MRI reporting; Peek Health, S.A. - an AI-based system for orthopaedic surgery that helps surgeons fully automate the preoperative planning of knee osteotomy). All three promise to bring differentiated innovation to the markets in which they operate.

The EIC Accelerator is a very competitive call, as it receives applications from all EU countries, as well as those associated with Horizon Europe. In this call, Portugal had seven companies reach the interview stage, which is the best result since this instrument was launched. Although only three were funded, two more companies were invited to return directly for the interview.