The Innovation Fund is an essential resource for promoting renewable energy technologies in Europe, and submitting a thoroughly prepared application is vital for project success.
The Innovation Fund, the European Union’s main financial instrument for climate policy, plays a critical role in achieving the EU’s commitments regarding climate and the economy, meaning its aims go beyond decarbonisation – it also seeks to strengthen European competitiveness. As Europe continues to develop its energy market through manufacturing capacity, technological innovation and enhanced supply chain resilience, more projects are turning toward the Innovation Fund to sponsor innovative energy technology development.
Looking forward to the European Competitiveness Fund
Investment is key for renewable energy technologies to maximise their potential and advance through the innovation pipeline. In the European energy (and industrial) sector, this is essential to decarbonise industry, reduce GHG emissions, and contribute to further deployment of renewables. As Europe looks towards increasing its competitiveness and further decarbonising industry, the financial toolbox – including the Innovation Fund – will be key. The future European Competitiveness Fund should build upon the lessons learned from the Innovation Fund, expand financial instruments, and continue to support the deployment of innovative renewable technologies through a stable, sizeable budget.
The Innovation Fund is therefore an important opportunity for renewable energy projects to develop and deploy their technologies on a wider scale. However, an Innovation Fund application is not straightforward; it requires a dedicated team capable of thoroughly analysing the requirements and assembling a high-quality and ultimately successful application.
Several coordination and support actions (CSAs) are currently ongoing, with the objective to guide project promoters who have already successfully completed Horizon projects towards market deployment and to provide guidelines on the process of applying for Innovation Fund or alternative financing. Among them is the REALIZE project, focused on renewable energies, which is aimed at presenting a portfolio of innovative renewable generation technologies across the renewable energy sector. The project will allow these renewable energy technologies to progress towards commercialisation by offering expertise in the Innovation Fund and its application process – as well as other European and national funding schemes.
Know the keys to a successful application
Firstly, competitiveness is a critical factor in shaping Europe´s investment landscape. Weaknesses in the energy sector can significantly limit companies’ ability to develop competitive and technologically advanced products. For example, the European photovoltaic (PV) market remains relatively underdeveloped. Demonstrating how the project will concretely impact European competitiveness and the European energy market is a necessary component of a successful project proposal.
High costs represent a major barrier to market deployment and must be thoroughly addressed, particularly for large energy-intensive companies that bear the highest ETS burden. The Innovation Fund places a strong emphasis on specific eligibility requirements, including financial maturity and GHG emission avoidance. System and societal integration also play an important role in an application’s success; the applicants must clearly demonstrate a thorough understanding of how the project fits into the larger system, including analysing potential risks and well-defined strategies to mitigate them and overcome deployment challenges.
Finally, internal resources make a significant difference across the project lifecycle, from the beginning planning to final conclusions. Personnel and expertise will need to properly address the foreseen challenges and adequately plan strategies, build external support, and allocate resources properly to improve success rates. Commercial challenges require as much attention as technical ones.
David García Arrate (Euro-Funding), REALIZE project coordinator, said: “The transition from Horizon Europe to the Innovation Fund is a significant step for many projects. Our goal is to help researchers and innovators in the renewable energy sector navigate the complexities of the Innovation Fund application process, ensuring their groundbreaking ideas have the best chance of securing the funding they need to scale and make a real impact.”
Steer clear of common mistakes
Frequent mistakes made by applicants include presenting inconsistent or incomplete data and failing to provide sufficient evidence or justification for key assumptions. For example, projected revenues often assume a certain purchase or sales price, but some applications fail to provide evidence to support that data. Other challenges include a lack of capacity to define a clear reference case and a lack of a clear, coherent, and realistic business plan. In addition to financial clarity, technical elements can sometimes fall short. Applications should include clear evidence in terms of scale-up ability and technical feasibility, as well as a structured strategy to align innovation with feasibility and a pipeline to development and scale-up. In summary, demonstrating both financial and technical maturity is essential for a successful Innovation Fund application.
If you are interested in potentially joining the REALIZE consortium in time for the next Innovation Fund call in 2026, feel free to contact us.
The Innovation Fund, financed by EU Emissions Trading System revenues, is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The Fund focuses on highly innovative clean technologies and big flagship projects with added value from Europe that can bring significant reductions in emissions and greenhouse gas emissions.
The REALIZE project aims to present a portfolio of new renewable energy generation technologies to the EU Innovation Fund through proposals resulting from completed Horizon projects in Renewable Energy Sources.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 22nd edition of our quarterly publication.
