For businesses, research organisations and technology start-ups, the calls represent an extraordinary opportunity to finance investment-intensive projects that would be difficult to find without public support.

Schedule and subsidy instruments

Applications for support can be submitted from 4 December 2025 to 23 April 2026. The total allocation is €2.9 billion, which can be further increased by up to 20%.

The support is directed primarily to the areas of general decarbonization of industry, the production of components for clean technologies and highly innovative pilot solutions leading to the achievement of climate neutrality. The following IF25 calls and auctions are available:

• Zero net emissions (General decarbonisation, Clean-tech manufacturing, Pilot Projects)
• Auctions to support the production of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen
• Industrial Heat Decarbonization Auction

Type of aid and evaluation criteria

Projects submitted to the Innovation Fund are evaluated by external experts according to five main criteria:

• the degree of innovation compared to the current state of the art;
• the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the overall contribution to the EU’s climate goals;
• the maturity of the project in terms of technical, financial and operational;
• the technical and market potential for wider application or replication;
• cost-effectiveness, i.e. the ratio of the required public support to the achieved emission savings.

The subsidy can cover up to 60% of eligible costs. The support is disbursed gradually based on the achievement of key project milestones, with up to 40% of the grant being released before the overall financial closure of the project.

In addition to classic grants, the Innovation Fund also offers competitive auction mechanisms, which have so far focused mainly on the production of renewable hydrogen. In the upcoming calls, they have been extended to low-carbon hydrogen and the decarbonization of industrial heat. In these cases, it is not the degree of innovation that is decisive, but the amount of aid required per unit of production.

The key is to start preparing on time

Experience from previous calls shows that success in the Innovation Fund requires an exceptionally high-quality and comprehensively prepared project. Although the fund has already supported more than 120 projects with a total value of EUR 7.2 billion, only three projects have succeeded in the Czech Republic so far. This confirms not only the high competition, but also the complexity of the preparation – especially in the field of technological concept, financial modeling and quantification of emission savings.

Therefore, we recommend that companies start their preparation on time and systematically, ideally with a clear strategy on how to align the project with the evaluation criteria of the program and the company’s long-term business goals. Our team of subsidy consulting experts is ready to provide you with comprehensive support from the initial eligibility assessment to the submission of the application and subsequent implementation of the project – so that your investment has the maximum chance of succeeding in one of the most prestigious European subsidy calls.