Key deadlines and updates in Innovation Fund
11 Mar 2026: Cinea Info Day, Madrid
23 Apr 2026: Current submission deadline
Nov 2026: Expected evaluation results
Dec 2026: Next call opening
INNOVATION FUND
Funding for first-of-a-kind low-carbon industrial investment projects
Innovation Fund
The EU Innovation Fund is one of the largest funding programmes globally for the demonstration and deployment of innovative low-carbon technologies. With an overall budget of around €40 billion (2020–2030), it supports projects that significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while strengthening Europe’s industrial competitiveness. The fund awards grants through calls for proposals and through competitive bidding procedures (auctions).
Unlike research-focused programmes, the Innovation Fund targets projects close to market that require substantial capital investment and face high technological and financial risk. Typical projects involve industrial-scale facilities, novel production processes or system-level solutions that go beyond incremental improvements.
Success in the Innovation Fund requires more than technical excellence. Projects must demonstrate strong climate impact, financial viability, replicability and long-term contribution to Europe’s climate neutrality goals. A successful project proposal calls for a clear funding strategy, robust project concept and credible implementation plan.
In 2025, the European Commission announced the opening of three new funding opportunities under the Innovation Fund with a total budget of €5.2 billion in EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) revenues. The 2025 Net-Zero Technologies call with a budget of €2.9 billion, the third auction for hydrogen production under the European Hydrogen Bank with €1.3 billion, and the first-ever auction for decarbonisation of industrial process heat under the Industrial Decarbonisation Bank with a €1 billion budget. The auctions had their deadlines on 19 Feb 2026. Stay tuned for new auction dates.
What does the Innovation Fund support?
This funding programme supports projects across a range of low-carbon technology areas.
The projects are assessed based on their emission reduction potential, degree of innovation, technical and operational maturity, replicability plan and financial robustness.
Energy-intensive industries
Breakthrough industrial technologies and process transformations that enable deep greenhouse gas emission reductions in sectors such as steel, cement, chemicals and refining.
Energy storage
Advanced energy storage solutions that provide long-duration capacity and system flexibility to support high shares of renewable energy
Renewable energy
Innovative renewable energy generation and system integration technologies that enable large-scale decarbonisation of the energy system.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
Technologies that capture, utilise or permanently store CO₂ emissions from industrial and energy processes.
Net-zero mobility and buildings
Low-carbon technologies and integrated solutions that significantly reduce lifecycle emissions in transport systems and the built environment.
Who is eligible?
The Innovation Fund is open to a wide range of applicants in EU member states, Norway and Iceland. A single legal entity, or a consortium of legal entities, can apply for funding for larger than €2.5 million CAPEX investments with planned financial close in 1.5-4 years.
Three size windows (CAPEX) for:
- Small-scale: €2.5-20 million
- Mid-scale: €20-100 million
- Large-scale: more than €100 million
In addition, there are windows for Clean-tech component manufacturing and Pilots.
Eligible entities:
Large enterprises
SMEs with innovative technologies
Industrial project developers
Energy companies and infrastructure operators
Technology providers
Consortia combining industrial and technology partners
What evaluators really look for
Many strong projects fail not because of the investment project’s idea and potential, but because the proposal does not answer Innovation Fund award criteria in a clear, evidence-backed, “evaluator-friendly” way. Innovation Fund evaluators assess:
- Degree of innovation: A clear, substantiated breakthrough case covering both commercial and technological state-of-the-art, and making the project memorable with credible evidence and comparisons.
- GHG emission avoidance: Strong absolute and relative emissions avoidance, plus high-quality and well-justified calculation assumptions Project maturity: Convincing readiness across the three maturity dimensions:
- Technical maturity
- Financial maturity
- Operational maturity
- Replicability: Impact beyond the single site including
- Efficiency gains and environmental benefits
- Contribution to Europe’s industrial leadership and competitiveness, supported by a credible replicability strategy and knowledge-sharing approach.
The most common weakness in Innovation Fund proposal is insufficiently evidenced financial and technical maturity.
Why Spinverse?
We are the trusted partner for the entire Innovation Fund proposal preparation. Our approach has been put into test several times, and we have received highly positive feedback from our customers.
We support and accelerate your large-scale investment planning:
Creation of a business & financial plan
High-quality feasibility study with concepting support for a holistic approach
Credible implementation, scale-up and replicability plan with scheduled tasks & budget estimates
Greenhouse emission calculations according to Innovation Fund methodology
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
End-to-end strategic project planning and grant management expertise
Our strategic planning process is well facilitated and comprehensive. Our experienced project managers ensure efficient coordination, well-defined innovation description and successful project execution. In addition to supporting your funding proposal preparation, Spinverse offers support in the Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) and in project management of a successfully funded project.
We understand what evaluators look for and help translate large, complex industrial projects into clear, credible and competitive funding proposals.
Successful projects with our customers
Spinverse has extensive experience in preparing projects and background studies in the field of sustainable industries. In total, we have supported more than 18 winning Innovation Fund cases, several with a grant of €100+ million. So far, our customers’ Innovation Fund projects have been granted over €1 billion in funding.
SAGITTA
Scalable automated gigawatt initiative for technology accelerating decarbonisation
Hystar, a Norwegian manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers for the large-scale production of green hydrogen, has been granted €26 million by the Innovation Fund. The grant will be used to install and operate Hystar’s automated gigawatt (GW) production line for its PEM electrolyser stacks in Norway. The project is set to radically increase the PEM electrolyser capacity in the EU by introducing a novel mass-manufactured high-efficiency PEM stack to the market.
Successful projects with our customers
Spinverse has extensive experience in preparing projects and background studies in the field of sustainable industries. In total, we have supported more than 18 winning Innovation Fund cases, several with €100+ million grant. So far, our customers’ Innovation Fund projects have been granted over €1 billion in funding.
L1X
A commercial pilot biorefinery plant demonstrating a novel method for biomass fractionation based on ionic liquids
Lixea Sweden AB aims to build and operate a commercial pilot plant, demonstrating a completely new method for biomass fractionation based on ionic liquids. The project will enable the replacement of fossil materials with biobased alternatives in applications where it has not been previously possible, thereby advancing the transition to a bio-based economy.
Successful projects with our customers
Spinverse has extensive experience in preparing projects and background studies in the field of sustainable industries. In total, we have supported more than 18 winning Innovation Fund cases, several with €100+ million grant. So far, our customers’ Innovation Fund projects have been granted over €1 billion in funding.
ROBOTIC REPAIR
Robot-enabled turbine blade repair services
In the project, 30 first-of-a-kind robotic systems for wind turbine generator rotor blades repair are manufactured and developed by Aerones. This will enable faster leading-edge repair tasks and in similar or better quality than human personnel. The robotic rotor blade leading edge repair services will make production of wind energy more efficient, affordable and sustainable, while also considerably reducing the risks associated with human personnel working at heights.
Successful projects with our customers
Spinverse has extensive experience in preparing projects and background studies in the field of sustainable industries. In total, we have supported more than 18 winning Innovation Fund cases, several with €100+ million grant. So far, our customers’ Innovation Fund projects have been granted over €1 billion in funding.
BIO ÖSTRAND
Biorefinery for sustainable aviation fuels
Biorefinery Östrand, a company jointly owned by Swedish SCA and Finnish energy company St1, is one of eight projects currently earmarked for support in CINEA’s general emissions reductions category. The support will be distributed on an ongoing basis in several different steps, provided that SCA and St1 decide to invest in the biorefinery.
Talk to our experts
Get in touch to discuss whether the Innovation Fund is the right funding programme for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Janne Kaukojärvi
Sergei Chekurov
