A major investment of £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) has been committed by the European Union to help support its deep tech research sector.

The European Innovation Council (EIC), part of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe, will provide this funding as the region works to rival global tech leaders, namely China and the United States. Many cutting-edge innovations are emerging out of the deep tech space, including quantum computing and autonomous robotics.

When compared to 2024, this new programme represents an increase of close to £167.3 million ($217.2 million), illustrating the renewed drive to enhance the EU’s tech industry.

A number of schemes are funded as part of the investment, with the new EIC STEP scale-up scheme holding a budget of £250.9 million ($325.9 million) in 2025, which is forecast to grow to £753.3 million ($977.4 million) over the period 2025 to 2027. This scheme gives large investments into firms to bring strategic technologies to the EU market and avoid strategic dependencies.

“The European Innovation Council has emerged as a game-changer in EU support to breakthrough innovation. In 2025, it will boost EU deep tech with even more resources, amounting to 1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) from Horizon Europe, our research and innovation programme. The targeted support, especially through the STEP scale-up call, will help bridge critical funding gaps and build a stronger, more resilient innovation ecosystem in Europe,” said Iliana Ivanova, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.

While this investment is substantial and can begin to bridge the gap in funding between the EU and other regions when it comes to deep tech, clearly much more will have to be done if the EU can claim to be the world leader in this space.