Europe’s innovation agenda has changed. In the context of growing geopolitical instability, pressure on global supply chains and a stronger EU focus on strategic independence, the European Commission is increasingly looking at technologies that can strengthen Europe’s security, resilience and industrial base.
The European Innovation Council has changed its policy accordingly. Through an amendment to the 2026 EIC Work Programme, the EIC is opening key funding instruments to dual-use and defence technologies, in contrast to the civilian application focus to date. For start-ups, SMEs and scale-ups developing advanced technologies with potential applications in both civilian and security or defence markets, this creates new funding opportunities by positioning their innovation within Europe’s strategic priorities.
With the amendment, the EIC Accelerator and EIC STEP Scale Up can now support dual-use technologies, while a new dedicated EIC STEP Scale Up Defence call has been introduced for companies with a primary defence application.
What does dual-use mean for your proposal?
Many advanced technologies are no longer easy to place in a purely civilian or purely defence category. A sensor platform developed for industrial monitoring may also be relevant for battlefield awareness. Wearable health monitoring can support hospitals, high-risk workers and soldiers in the field. Advanced materials may improve both protective workwear and military equipment.
This is the context behind the new dual-use opening. In the EIC programme, dual-use means that an innovation has a credible business case in both civilian markets and the defence or security market. Applicants will need to show that both markets are real, relevant and commercially substantiated.
That means the proposal should provide evidence of demand, such as market analysis, letters of intent, willingness to pay, procurement logic or other forms of traction from relevant end-users. The defence market does not need to be the only market, and Ministry of Defence alignment is not a formal requirement for dual-use applications.
Importantly, dual-use applications do not receive preferential treatment. They will be evaluated against the same criteria as purely civilian applications. We explain what opportunities do arise from the EIC amendment below.
Three funding routes are affected:
1. New EIC STEP Scale Up Defence call
The biggest amendment is the launch of the EIC STEP Scale Up Defence call. This call is intended for companies whose innovation is primarily defence oriented. This is a separate call under the EIC STEP Scale Up framework, with its own rules and a dedicated €100 million budget for 2026. It provides equity-only support, with investment tickets between €10 million and €30 million.
Priority areas include air and missile defence, artillery and precision strike, missiles and ammunition, drones and counter-drones, cyber, AI and electronic warfare, military mobility, ground combat, maritime, air combat, strategic enablers and medical countermeasures. Because this call is defence-focused, the perimeter is stricter. It is open to SMEs, start-ups and small mid-caps established in the EU, Ukraine or an EEA country associated to Horizon Europe. Applicants must show that they are not directly or indirectly controlled by entities from non-eligible third countries, unless adequate guarantees are provided. Moreover, additional ethics and security requirements apply.
2. EIC Accelerator dual-use
The EIC Accelerator is the EIC’s flagship instrument for start-ups and SMEs developing high-risk, high-impact innovations. It is aimed at companies with breakthrough technologies that can create new markets or disrupt existing ones, but whose development and scale-up require significant funding over a longer timeframe than private investors are typically willing to support alone. The Accelerator can provide grant funding of up to €2.5 million and equity investment for scale-ups. It is open to single companies, including SMEs and, in specific cases, small mid-caps for rapid scale-up.
The amendment does not change the basic logic of the Accelerator. Applicants still need a strong innovation, a convincing business case, clear market potential, a scalable commercial strategy and a capable team. What changes is that dual-use companies can now make their full market case visible, likely strengthening their proposal. Where a technology has both civilian and defence or security applications, the proposal can include both end-user groups in the market opportunity and impact sections.
This can be relevant for technologies that were originally developed for healthcare, industrial safety, environmental monitoring, logistics, communications or advanced manufacturing, but that also have a credible defence or security market. Non-exhaustive examples include wearable health monitoring, protective textiles and AI.
3. EIC STEP Scale Up dual-use
The EIC STEP Scale Up call is designed for companies that are already beyond early development and are preparing for a major scale-up phase. Its purpose is to support strategic technologies that are important for Europe’s long-term competitiveness, security and strategic sovereignty. STEP was originally built around three strategic technology areas: digital and deep tech, clean and resource-efficient technologies, and biotechnologies. With the 2026 amendment, defence technologies are added as a fourth strategic sector.
STEP is intended for ambitious companies that are preparing large financing rounds, often in the range of €50–150 million or more and need substantial equity investment to bridge the market gap. The EIC can provide co-investments of up to €30 million.
For dual-use companies, STEP can be relevant when the technology is already mature enough for scale-up and fits one of the strategic sectors. This could include, for example, a biotech platform relevant to both clinical and field medicine, a sensor company serving industrial and defence customers, or an AI or cybersecurity company with both commercial and security applications.
As with the Accelerator, the dual-use element does not create a separate evaluation track or automatic preference. The company still needs to show that it is strategically relevant, commercially ambitious and difficult to finance through the market alone. The difference is that the full civilian and defence market potential can now be included in the case.
Relevant deadlines
| Call | Relevant 2026 timing |
| EIC STEP Scale Up Defence | Opened 30 June 2026; deadline 28 October 2026 at 17:00 Brussels time, Interviews scheduled for 25–29 January 2027 |
| EIC Accelerator dual-use | First full proposal batch including dual-use: 2 September 2026; next batch: 4 November 2026 |
| EIC STEP Scale Up dual-use | Open to dual-use from the amendment publication; upcoming batches follow the regular STEP timing |
What this means for applicants
For many deep-tech companies, this amendment makes the EIC more aligned with the actual market potential of their technologies. A product may start in healthcare, industrial safety, logistics or environmental monitoring, but the same core technology can also solve urgent problems in defence and security. Until now, that second market was often difficult to position in an EIC proposal. From 2026, it can become part of and strengthen the story, provided that the case is credible and well evidenced.
For dual-use applications, simply adding the word “defence” to an existing proposal is not enough. The strongest applications will be those that clearly explain why both markets matter, how the technology creates value for different end-users, and what evidence already exists that these markets are willing to adopt or pay for the solution. The defence or security angle should strengthen the business case and the impact narrative, not distract from it.
Applicants also need to choose the right route. A company that is still developing and validating a breakthrough product may be better suited to the EIC Accelerator. A company preparing a major financing round for a strategic technology may be a stronger fit for EIC STEP Scale Up. A company with a primary defence application, sufficient maturity and a clear need for large-scale equity investment may consider the new STEP Defence call.
Preparing for the 2026 calls with FFUND
For the right companies, the opening of EIC funding to dual-use and defence technologies can be a powerful moment to act. Technologies that previously sat between civilian and defence markets may now have a clearer funding route. Companies that struggled to explain the full scope of their market opportunity can now build a stronger and more realistic case. Scale-ups working on critical technologies can position themselves not only as commercial ventures, but as part of Europe’s strategic technology base.
At FFUND, we help those companies turn these new opportunities into competitive applications. That starts with choosing the right instrument and framing the project correctly. We help assess whether the technology fits the new or dual market within scope, and we help build the evidence needed to support the business case, from market logic and end-user demand to strategic relevance, risk, scale-up plans and investor readiness.
Get in touch with FFUND to discuss your project and assess your fit with the 2026 EIC calls.
