The €2.5M Grant That Hasn’t Moved in 20 Years

A simple question is starting to matter in European innovation policy:

Does it still make sense that Europe flagship programme for disruptive innovation offers the same €2.5M grant as it did more than a decade ago?

🏛️When the SME Instrument (today’s EIC Accelerator from the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), EIC - European Innovation Council) was launched in 2014, the maximum grant available to a company was €2.5 million.

Fast forward to today.

That number is exactly the same.

But the world is not.

Europe is currently discussing the structure of FP10, the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

What has changed in real terms

To explore this, I looked at the EU Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) since the launch of the SME Instrument.

📊 According to Eurostat data:

• €2.5M in 2014 ≈ €3.27M in 2025

This means that, in real terms, the value of the maximum grant has declined substantially even though the nominal ceiling has not changed.

What inflation implies for the future

If we project inflation forward using the average EU HICP from 2014–2025 (~2.5%), by 2034 the equivalent value would be:

💡 More than €4 million

In other words:

To provide the same real support to Europe most ambitious innovators as in 2014, the EIC Accelerator grant would eventually need to exceed €4M.

Of course, this does not mean every grant should suddenly jump to that level.

A possible benchmark for FP10

But if FP10 extends until around 2034, a reasonable benchmark could be the average inflation-adjusted grant for the FP10 period (2028–2034):

📈 ≈ €3.8M per project

That figure offers a useful reference point for discussing whether the programme is preserving the same level of real support over time.

Why this matters strategically

Because if Europe wants to support deep-tech companies competing globally, we should ensure that our flagship innovation instrument does not quietly lose one third of its real value over time.

Maybe FP10 is the moment to have that conversation.

The FP10 question

💬 What do you think? Should the EIC Accelerator grant ceiling be increased in FP10?

Source: Eurostat – Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/SEPDF/cache/4176.pdf