I am a Verified Expert Evaluator and a venture builder, and I help companies apply to the EIC Accelerator. That is exactly why I will not ask you to take my word for how to choose a consultant. In February 2025 the EIC Board published a review of how applicants should use consultants, on top of a Code of Conduct for consultants it adopted in November 2023. Most of what follows comes from those two documents, from the EIC Accelerator Guide for Applicants v6.0 and from the EIC Work Programme 2026. Where something is my own judgment, I say so.
First question: do you need a consultant at all?
The EIC Board is blunt about it. It does not advise for or against consultants, it says the application system is designed so that applicants do not need external help, and it calls the claim that a consultant is "a must" to succeed "manifestly untrue". Many winners apply without one.
The Board also separates the two stages. The short application (Step 1) is a form, a pitch deck of up to 10 slides and a three-minute video, and the Board says you should not normally need consultancy services for it. The full application (Step 2) is much heavier, but the Board describes it as close to a market-standard business case: if you have already built one for investors, adapting it is relatively little effort.
Before you pay anyone, use what is free:
- Your National Contact Point (NCP). Every Member State and Associated Country has one. NCPs will not write your proposal, but they can point out gaps and inconsistencies, and the Board suggests using them as a reality check on any consultancy offer.
- The Enterprise Europe Network, your university's technology transfer office, investors in the Trusted Investors Network and companies that already went through the process.
- Three days of free coaching from the EIC Business Acceleration Services if you pass Step 1. Coaches are independent business experts. The EIC's own FAQ says coaching cannot be used for proposal writing or other consultancy, so it complements a writer, it does not replace one.
- Past winners. The Board points to the EIC Data Hub to find them. My EIC Accelerator winners database lets you filter them by country and technology, so you can find companies like yours and ask them how they did it.
My judgment: a consultant earns their fee in three situations. Your team has never written a business case for investors; nobody on the team can give you a hard, critical read; or you have been rejected and cannot see why. If none of these applies, start with the free options and keep the money.
What you are actually buying
The Board splits consultancy for the full application into three services you can buy separately: proposal management (including the administrative work to reach an eligible proposal), technical writing, editing and critical review, and interview training for the jury stage. It adds a fourth that is easy to forget: honest advice to postpone or stop a proposal.
It also warns that the Accelerator is not a normal research grant. It is essentially a business plan and an investment strategy, so a grant writer who is excellent at research proposals is not necessarily equipped for it. Financial planning, IP and the cap table matter as much as the technical narrative. The Board even suggests you can hire one firm for writing and use another (for example a technology transfer office or the NCP) for the critical review.
The checklist: 10 questions to ask before you sign
What is your EIC Accelerator track record?
The Code of Conduct asks consultants to state, at the offer stage, how many proposals they submitted in previous EIC calls against how many were approved, for that specific call. The Board tells applicants to ask for it, together with client references you can actually contact. A track record built by freelancers outside their core team should not be presented as their own.
Which winners can I check?
Consultants are not listed in the official records, only the companies are. So ask for the names of companies they helped win, then look them up. Every grant agreement is on CORDIS, and the winners database groups all of them since 2021 by country, year and technology. If none of the names appears, ask why.
Who will actually write my proposal?
The Board's advice is never to select a consultant before you have spoken with the person who will handle your file, and to beware of firms that use commercial acquisitors to sell. Under the Code, any subcontracting of your work to freelancers or third parties has to be disclosed and approved by you in advance.
Do you know my sector?
The Board notes that a good full proposal needs real industry knowledge and that specialisation shows in the client list. Consultants often work across borders, so you do not have to hire in your own country.
Do you evaluate or sit on juries for the calls you write for?
The Code says no one who supports an application should act as an evaluator or jury member for those calls, and the Board adds that EIC jury members are not permitted to provide consultancy at all. Evaluators sign conflict of interest and confidentiality obligations; ask the question directly and get the answer in writing.
Do you claim inside knowledge?
If the answer is yes, walk away. The Board warns against consultants who claim insider knowledge, influence on the work programme or close contacts with the Board or EIC staff: consultants get no preferential treatment or advance information, and there are no hidden criteria beyond the Work Programme.
Will you tell me not to submit?
This one matters more than it looks. Under the Work Programme 2026, after three unsuccessful submissions of the same or an improved proposal, at any stage, a company cannot apply to the EIC Accelerator again under Horizon Europe. Attempts are scarce. A consultant who submits whatever is ready, to hit a cut-off and a fee, can burn one of them.
Will I keep access to everything?
The Code requires consultants to give you access to all accounts related to your application, such as the Funding & Tenders Portal, to tell you where the official call is published, and never to stop you sharing information with your NCP. A consultant who wants to control the portal account or keep you away from the NCP is a red flag.
Do you use AI tools on my data?
Under the Code, consultants must ask your permission before using AI tools, including generative AI, explain what data they would share, and give you a clear way to opt out.
How do you protect confidentiality and handle competitors?
The Code asks for confidentiality terms in writing, signed by both sides, and for disclosure if the consultant works for your direct competitors, with separate teams. The Board recommends an NDA before you share anything sensitive.
The contract: fees, exclusivity and IP
Fees
- Fees are negotiable. The Board advises getting at least three offers and never accepting a single offer on the spot.
- Fixed fee vs success fee. If you win, a fixed fee for the days worked is usually the cheapest option; if you lose, it is the most expensive. That is why success fees, often tapered as the amount grows, and mixes of fixed and success fee are common. I compare the three models in detail in how EIC Accelerator consultants charge.
- The grant does not pay your consultant. The Board says consultants' success fees are not eligible costs. The lump sum budget table must respect the basic eligibility rules of the Annotated Grant Agreement, which require costs to be incurred during the project and needed to carry it out, and writing the proposal happens before the project starts. Plan the fee from your own cash.
- Read what triggers the success fee. Some contracts trigger it at the invitation to prepare the grant agreement, others only at signature. A positive evaluation is technically an invitation to negotiate. The Board notes that if you decide not to sign, you normally still owe the fee.
- Equity as payment. The Code says consultants must not propose a share of your company or your IP as the only way to pay. If you choose that route, you should get an option to buy it back at a fixed price within a set period, for example three years.
- Project management after the award. If it is not included, the Code requires the offer to say so in writing.
Exclusivity
The Board accepts exclusivity in some cases but sets limits: it should come with a lower success fee, be limited in time (often two to three years or two to three submissions), and release you in writing if the consultant cannot serve you. It calls a claimed right to submit your proposal multiple times on your behalf "totally unacceptable", and gives exclusivity over five submissions as an example of what is not acceptable, since the limit is three unsuccessful applications anyway.
IP and liability
Writing, editing or reviewing your text gives the consultant no rights over your innovation, your application or the ideas in it. The one reasonable exception, per the Board, is the consultant's own templates and methods. Make sure the contract also has liability clauses for the consultant's mistakes, because the content of the proposal remains your responsibility.
What no consultant can do for you
The interviews are yours. At Step 2 the technology expert interview allows at most three participants from the company and no consultants. At the jury interview in Brussels you send at most three representatives, and the EIC's FAQ says they must be directly affiliated with the company: consultants and other third parties must not take part, and any misrepresentation discovered during or after the interview can lead to rejection. The Board adds that juries recognise applicants who have not understood their own proposal.
After selection, the agency that manages the grant and the EIC Fund want to deal with you, not with a consultant. And you remain fully responsible for everything in the proposal, including the consultant's mistakes.
Red flags at a glance
| Red flag | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|
| "You need a consultant to win" | The Board calls this claim manifestly untrue | EIC Board review, 2025 |
| Claims of insider contacts or influence | Consultants get no preferential treatment or advance information | EIC Board review, 2025 |
| No verifiable EIC track record | Submitted vs approved should be stated at the offer stage | Code of Conduct, 2023 |
| You never meet the person who writes | Select only after speaking with whoever handles your file | EIC Board review, 2025 |
| Keeps your portal account or blocks the NCP | You must have access to all accounts and can always talk to the NCP | Code of Conduct, 2023 |
| Open-ended exclusivity or a right to resubmit for you | Called unacceptable; you only have three unsuccessful attempts | EIC Board review, 2025; WP2026 |
| Equity or IP as the only form of payment | Not allowed as the only option; buy-back expected | Code of Conduct, 2023 |
| Offers to join your interview | Consultants must not take part in the interviews | Guide v6.0; EIC FAQ |
| Plans to pay the fee from the grant | Success fees are not eligible costs | EIC Board review, 2025; AGA Art. 6 |
How it looks from the evaluator's side (my judgment)
Evaluators are not told who wrote a proposal, and a consultant's involvement is not scored. What gets scored is whether the story holds together. In my experience the proposals that suffer from bad outsourcing share a few traits: polished generic language that could describe any company, market figures that do not match the financial plan, a work plan that the team clearly did not build, and claims that the technology expert can check against third-party sources and cannot confirm. The Guide is explicit that the technology expert fact-checks claims against third-party sources. None of that is fixed by better writing. It is fixed by a team that owns its numbers, which is why the Board insists that it is your business plan.
If you want to see the scoring logic in detail, read how EIC Accelerator evaluators score a proposal, and for the whole process the complete application guide.
Apply the same checklist to me
On question 5, the rule I apply to myself is the one I apply to everyone: nobody should ever be in a conflict of interest. Whoever supports an applicant should never evaluate or judge that applicant's call, should declare any possible conflict before an evaluation starts, and should never use what they see as an evaluator, which is confidential, to help a client.
I offer EIC Accelerator support, so hold me to every question above. My first step is deliberately small: the fixed-price EIC Fit Assessment tells you, in one week, whether your project can compete and what to fix first, including a plain "not yet" when that is the answer. If you would rather start free, the EIC readiness check takes a few minutes.
Questions
Do I need a consultant to apply to the EIC Accelerator?
No. The EIC Board says the application system is designed so that applicants do not need external help, that many winners apply without consultants, and that the claim that a consultant is a must is manifestly untrue. For the short application (Step 1) the Board says you should not normally need consultancy. A consultant can add value on the full application if your team lacks business case experience or a critical reader.
Can I pay my EIC Accelerator consultant with the grant?
No. The EIC Board states that consultants' success fees are not eligible costs. The lump sum budget table must respect the basic eligibility rules of the Annotated Grant Agreement, which require costs to be incurred during the project and necessary to carry it out, and proposal writing happens before the project starts. Budget the consultant from your own resources.
Can my consultant attend the EIC Accelerator interview?
No. The technology expert interview at Step 2 allows up to three company participants and no consultants. For the jury interview the EIC FAQ says participants must be directly affiliated with the applicant company and that consultants or other third parties must not take part. Misrepresentation discovered during or after the interview can lead to rejection.
How do I check an EIC consultant's success rate?
Ask for it in writing: the EIC Code of Conduct expects consultants to state, at the offer stage, the number of proposals submitted in previous EIC calls against the number approved, and to say which parts of the work are subcontracted. Then ask for the names of companies they helped win and look them up on CORDIS or in a winners database, because consultants themselves are not listed in official records.
What is a fair success fee for the EIC Accelerator?
The EIC Board gives no fixed figure. It says fees are negotiable, that you should compare at least three offers, and that a reasonable fee depends on the days of work, the consultant's success rate and the size of the grant and any equity. Check whether the fee is triggered by the invitation to prepare the grant or by the signed agreement, and limit any exclusivity in time and number of submissions.
What free help exists for EIC Accelerator applicants?
Your National Contact Point, the Enterprise Europe Network, university technology transfer offices, investors in the Trusted Investors Network and past winners. If you pass Step 1, you can also get three days of free coaching from the EIC Business Acceleration Services, although coaching cannot be used for proposal writing.
Verified Expert Evaluator · 3,700+ companies and proposals reviewed
Want an honest read before you hire anyone?
The fixed-price EIC Fit Assessment scores your project against the three EIC criteria in one week and tells you whether to apply now, later or not at all. If you want to talk it through first, book a call.
Book a discovery call →