EIC Summit 2026: News Tank looks back at the event's main topics

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Summit 2026 focused on scaling up Europe's deep-tech ecosystem, strengthening public and private investment in innovation, improving the transition from research to market and fostering a more risk-tolerant innovation culture. The event brought together European policymakers, investors, researchers and entrepreneurs in Brussels on 03 and 04/06/2026.

A major announcement of the summit was the launch of the Scaleup Europe Fund, which started with an initial budget of €5 billion and aims to reach €20bn in the medium term. Presenting the initiative, Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for startups, research and innovation, argued that Europe didn't lack scientific excellence or talent but faced a significant scaling challenge due to insufficient late-stage financing. The new fund will target critical technologies with investments of €100 million per company. The first investments are expected in autumn 2026.

Several speakers stressed that access to capital alone would not solve Europe's competitiveness challenges. Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings…