Artykuły
Analizy dotyczące IPCEI i finansowania unijnego.
Treść artykułów jest obecnie dostępna w języku angielskim.
The three biotechnology IPCEIs: what they are, and what fits where
Bio-based chemicals, bio-based materials, and food and feed ingredients: Europe's three biotechnology IPCEI candidates share one bar (beyond the global state of the art, first industrial deployment) and may yet be merged into one. A detailed map of the three scopes, their exclusions, and what to prepare for the national call.
Five ways to give back: drafting the spillovers chapter
Spillovers are a compatibility condition and an annual reporting obligation. The Commission's five commitment types, from FRAND licensing to open fabs, the extra-mile test, and the seven things that do not count, including the open-source release itself.
Show every euro: how the funding gap template treats revenues
The funding gap grows when revenues shrink, so the Commission's template is engineered against understated revenues: main sales, cost savings, adjacent products and upgrades all have their own tabs. The rules behind the four streams, and the one about loss-making projects.
Green, yellow, blue: the staggered IPCEI application
The AI wave staggered the project portfolio into three colour-coded tiers: green sections without which the file is sent back, yellow parts for the national State aid experts, and blue chapters that can wait for a second pass. How to sequence your effort accordingly.
The discount rate is not yours to choose: WACC and terminal value in the FGQ
Two technical inputs move the funding gap more than almost anything else. The template requires a company-level CAPM WACC with no project risk premiums, sourced parameters as of pre-notification, and a positive terminal value, Gordon growth by default.
Inside the funding gap questionnaire: the workbook that decides your aid amount
Every IPCEI participant fills in the same Commission spreadsheet, and no other document translates so directly into money. Two conditions cap the aid, three layers of tabs structure the file, and there is no aid-intensity percentage anywhere in the logic. Here is the map.
Do you really need an expensive IPCEI adviser?
The biggest IPCEI beneficiaries could file without any consultancy — what they pay for is a third-party stamp on their numbers. And everyone else pays stamp prices. An honest look at what your project actually needs: the full mission, a single task, a workshop, or a pre-submission review of your funding-gap file.
IPCEI Advanced Semiconductor Technologies: Europe's next chips wave
Fifteen Member States endorsed the Advanced Semiconductor Technologies candidate IPCEI, covering seven fields from AI chips to photonics. National selections ran in early 2026 and notification to the Commission is targeted for the second half of 2026. Here is the state of play.
IPCEI Artificial Intelligence: State aid for a European AI ecosystem
Ten Member States back a candidate IPCEI for a European AI ecosystem: foundation models, AI services and the software in between. National calls closed in early 2026 and a Commission decision is expected in 2027. What is in scope, and how to position.
The project portfolio is the notification: 50-75 pages that become binding
The project portfolio is not a funding application; it is the aid notification itself. One set of facts across all documents, commitments that become obligatory once approved, prescribed file names, and sections that will be published. The rules that surprise first-time applicants.
No redactions, no flat assumptions: the evidence rules of the funding gap
Applicants treat the FGQ as a modelling task; the Commission treats it as an evidence file. Market studies with exact page references, quotes behind every cost, no redactions, and a counterfactual with a contemporaneous paper trail. The standards, in one checklist.
IPCEI Compute Infrastructure Continuum: the infrastructure behind Europe's AI push
The Compute Infrastructure Continuum candidate IPCEI covers the sovereign cloud and edge infrastructure Europe's AI push will run on. Because ordinary State aid rules barely cover infrastructure investment, this wave favours direct participants. Here is why that matters.
How long does an IPCEI take? Honest timelines from past waves
From first working group to Commission approval, an IPCEI wave typically takes three to four years, and money arrives later still. Real timelines from the hydrogen, microelectronics and semiconductor waves, and what they mean for your cash-flow planning.
From national call to Commission decision: the IPCEI journey, step by step
There is no IPCEI application form and no Brussels portal. The route runs through your own government, in six steps: national call, national selection, matchmaking, joint design, notification and Commission decision. Here is the map, with real dates from the current semiconductor and AI wave.
The claw-back clause: when success means paying some aid back
IPCEI aid is calculated from your own financial projections. If the project outperforms them, the claw-back mechanism returns part of the surplus to the state. How it works, why it is not a penalty, and how to build your financial model around it.
IPCEI or GBER? Two routes to State aid, and why the bigger one is worth the wait
GBER caps aid at 25–50% of costs and €25–55 million per project. IPCEI can cover 100% of your funding gap and pay for your first factory. How the two State aid routes compare, and how to combine them in one funding strategy.
Case Study 2: The innovation bar is real — why we now stress-test before the national phase
A health-technology project reached the IPCEI pre-notification stage without a sufficiently strong case for going beyond the global state of the art. This case study explains why innovation claims must be stress-tested before the national application fixes the project scope and supporting evidence.
Case Study 1: Knowing when to walk away — IPCEI timeline risk in fast-cycle markets
Two strong technology projects entered the IPCEI process, but a multi-year review cycle outlasted their market window. This case study shows why instrument choice should begin with a realistic time-to-market stress test.
Direct, associated, indirect: three ways into an IPCEI
You do not need a €50 million project to be part of an IPCEI. The framework has three tiers: direct participants notified to the Commission, associated partners funded under GBER, and indirect partners in the supply chain. Choosing the right one is a strategic decision, not a formality.
Inside the chapeau: how dozens of companies become one European project
Legally, an IPCEI is a single integrated project, and the document that makes it one is called the chapeau. How it works, why your project portfolio must plug into it, and what that means for how you write your application.
What Brussels wants in return: the spillover deal behind IPCEI money
IPCEI money comes with a price, and it is not equity or interest. It is knowledge. Spillover obligations require you to share results beyond your company and your country, and understanding them separates a fundable application from a rejected one.
No percentages, no caps: how the IPCEI aid amount is actually calculated
IPCEI has no fixed aid intensity. Aid is calculated project by project as the gap between your costs and expected revenues, and it can cover up to 100% of that gap. Here is how the calculation works and what it means for your business case.
First Industrial Deployment: the funding stage nobody else covers
Research grants stop at the prototype. Banks start at the proven factory. IPCEI is the one instrument that funds the step in between: First Industrial Deployment, from lab to first plant, up to but excluding mass production.
TRL 1 to 9: the single number that decides which EU funding you can get
Your Technology Readiness Level decides which EU funding doors are open to you. This guide walks through the nine-step scale in plain terms, explains the funding “valley of death” in the middle, and shows where IPCEI fits.
€92 billion and counting: the EU funding instrument most companies have never heard of
IPCEI lets your own Member State fund breakthrough technology at levels ordinary subsidy rules never permit, up to 100% of the funding gap. Since 2018 the Commission has approved 326 individual projects, backed by more than €92 billion in aid and private investment. Here is how it works, in two minutes.