The Best European Countries for Deep Tech Startups and the National Programmes Behind Them
A deep tech startup (quantum, chips, biotech, robotics, new materials, fusion or climate hardware) chooses a country before it chooses a city. The country decides which innovation agency funds your first prototype, which public investor can join your seed round, whether you get the full EU EIC Accelerator, and which national research institutes you can partner with. This guide compares 14 European countries on exactly those points. We checked every agency and programme on its own website in October 2026 and removed the funding totals and rankings that older lists repeat without a source.
Quick answer: Germany has the deepest public toolkit (SPRIND, High-Tech Gründerfonds, EXIST) and France the most structured national deep tech plan (Bpifrance's Plan Deeptech). The United Kingdom has ARIA and strong universities but only grant-only access to the EIC Accelerator. The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark are the EU's Innovation Leaders according to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2026, and Switzerland, Finland, Austria and Spain run dedicated deep tech or tech-startup funding lines.
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Europe's Deep Tech Countries at a Glance
Sources: the official websites of the agencies, programmes and institutes named, checked October 2026. Amounts and dates are quoted from those pages only.
EU Support That Works in Every Country on This List
Before comparing countries, know the one programme they share. The EIC Accelerator is the European Innovation Council's programme for startups and SMEs with innovations at TRL 6 to 8. It offers a lump-sum grant below €2.5 million and equity investments of €1 million to €10 million, with higher amounts in its STEP Scale-up scheme. It is open to applicants from EU member states and countries associated to Horizon Europe; applicants from the United Kingdom can only apply for the grant-only scheme. Short proposals are batched on the first Tuesday of each month, and the last full-proposal cut-off of 2026 is 4 November 2026. Our sister site explains how to apply in its EIC Accelerator guide.
The 14 Best Countries for Deep Tech Startups in Europe in 2027
1. Germany
Germany is the only country on this list with a national agency for breakthrough innovation, a large public seed investor and a federal university-startup programme all at once. SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation based in Leipzig, finances breakthrough technologies through projects and open challenges; in October 2026 its open challenges included AI-Native Chip Design (closing 30 November 2026) and Measuring with Entanglement. High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in startups no more than three years old with a German base, has an Industrial, Climate & Deep Tech team, puts €800,000+ into initial pre-seed and seed rounds and can invest up to €30 million in growth rounds of its portfolio companies. The federal EXIST programme (exist Gründungsstipendium, exist Forschungstransfer for development-heavy research spinouts with a proof of principle, and exist Women) is run for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. For research partners, look at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institutes, Max Planck Innovation (the technology transfer arm of the Max Planck Society) and Munich's UnternehmerTUM. Our sister site covers the EXIST grants in detail.
2. France
France has a dedicated national plan. The Plan Deeptech was launched by the French State in 2019 and is run by Bpifrance on its behalf as part of France 2030. In its press release of 13 March 2025, Bpifrance reported 385 deeptech startups created in 2024, 2,589 active deeptech startups and €1.3 billion of non-dilutive funding to about 1,000 startups in 2024, plus €400 million invested directly. Its 2030 strategy, published in October 2025, keeps the goal of bringing 500 deeptech start-ups to the fore each year. The research base is national: CNRS, the CEA (including CEA-Leti in Grenoble) and Inria, and in Paris Station F runs dedicated deep tech, AI and quantum programmes.
3. United Kingdom
ARIA, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs. It funds through seven opportunity spaces, from Nature-Inspired Computation and Programmable Physiology to Scalable Neural Interfaces, and in October 2026 had open calls such as Robot Locomotion (closing 4 December 2026) and Forecasting Tipping Points Phase 2 (closing 2 December 2026). Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, says it backs the country's most promising deep tech businesses in priority sectors with funding, expert support and connections. Most UK deep tech startups come out of university spinout offices in Oxford, Cambridge, London and Bristol, covered city by city in our deep tech cities guide. The limit: UK applicants can only use the grant-only part of the EIC Accelerator.
4. Netherlands
The Netherlands is one of the EU's three Innovation Leaders according to the European Commission's European Innovation Scoreboard 2026. The national investor Invest-NL runs a Deep Tech Fund with €250 million of venture capital for Dutch companies with significant capital needs, working on key technologies from the National Technology Strategy at TRL 3 to 9. Techleap adds Deep Tech Scaling Programmes and valorisation work that helps turn academic research into investable companies. Research partners include TNO, and in Delft the quantum institute QuTech and the incubator YES!Delft, which says it has supported more than 600 startups.
5. Switzerland
Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency, supports SMEs, start-ups and research institutions in their R&D, and runs start-up innovation projects for start-ups that are not yet on the market. The big change for founders: Innosuisse states that since 1 January 2025 Swiss companies can fully participate as beneficiaries in the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe, so the national stand-in, the Swiss Accelerator, has no call planned. The research base is ETH Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne, each with its own spin-off support.
6. Sweden
According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2026, Sweden is one of the EU's three Innovation Leaders. Its innovation agency Vinnova funds innovation for sustainable solutions and Swedish competitiveness through open calls, including a topic area for incubation, startups and scaleups. Deep tech founders usually start at a technical university: KTH Innovation has supported KTH students and researchers since 2007, and in Gothenburg Chalmers Ventures describes itself as a leading deep tech investor and venture builder in the Nordics.
7. Finland
Business Finland has a funding line built for deep tech: its Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) is for startups established to commercialise the latest research results and expertise. The company must be less than five years old at the first funding decision, with fewer than 50 employees. Research partners include VTT, Finland's technical research centre, and Aalto University.
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8. Denmark
Denmark is also one of the three EU Innovation Leaders in the European Innovation Scoreboard 2026. Innovation Fund Denmark (Danmarks Innovationsfond) runs Innofounder for entrepreneurs, Innobooster for knowledge-based development projects in SMEs and Innoexplorer for maturing research results, and reported about DKK 8 billion in active investments in 2025. In Copenhagen the BioInnovation Institute offers up to DKK 4 million to early-stage start-ups in human and planetary health and runs a quantum startup programme with NATO DIANA, and DTU is the technical university behind many hardware spinouts.
9. Belgium
Belgium's deep tech magnet is imec in Leuven, the nanoelectronics research centre. Its imec.istart programme gives tech founders pre-seed funding, a year of coaching, guidance to imec technology and infrastructure, and introductions to investors, with calls three times a year. KU Leuven's tech transfer office supports researchers who start companies. Read more in our guide to startup incubators in Europe.
10. Austria
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) runs a grant written for deep tech: aws Preseed Deep Tech gives up to €267,000 (up to €300,000 with its gender bonus, which applies when women hold more than 25% of the shares) as a non-repayable grant covering 80% of costs (90% with the bonus), paid in milestone tranches over up to two years. It is meant for deep tech projects usually at TRL 3, before or up to six months after incorporation, and applications are ongoing with several decision dates a year. Research partners include ISTA (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) and TU Wien.
11. Spain
Spain's innovation agency CDTI runs Neotec, a grant for young technology-based companies. The Neotec 2026 call had a budget of €20,383,300, with at least €5 million reserved for women-led companies, and paid up to €250,000 per company (€325,000 when the company hires a PhD holder); companies had to be at most three years old. Its application window ran from 14 April to 14 May 2026 and has closed, so watch for the next call. ENISA adds loans for SMEs and certifies companies as startups (empresas emergentes). Research partners include ICFO, the Institute of Photonic Sciences, and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.
12. Ireland
Enterprise Ireland's Pre-Seed Start Fund invests €50k or €100k in early-stage companies and adds 10 mentoring sessions. For hardware, photonics and microelectronics, the Tyndall National Institute in Cork is the main research partner. Ireland is an EU member, so the full EIC Accelerator is open to Irish startups.
13. Estonia
Startup Estonia, a government initiative managed by the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, says plainly that it does not fund startups but builds the environment around them; deep tech is one of its named focus areas, and it runs the Estonian startup visa for non-EU founders. e-Residency lets founders start and run an EU company online. Research partners include the University of Tartu and TalTech.
14. Italy
Smart&Start Italia, managed by Invitalia, funds business plans of €100,000 to €1.5 million for innovative startups with high technological content, including those commercialising research. It is an interest-free loan covering 80% of eligible costs, rising to 90% for teams made up entirely of women and/or people under 36 or that include a PhD working abroad. CDP Venture Capital calls itself the main venture capital fund manager in Italy, with €4.9 billion under management across 15 funds, and leads SophIA, a national technology transfer hub for AI and cybersecurity. The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa is the best-known research partner.
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What Changed Since the Older Rankings
- Switzerland is back in the EIC Accelerator. Innosuisse states that Swiss companies have been full EIC Accelerator beneficiaries since 1 January 2025, so the Swiss Accelerator transitional scheme has no call planned.
- The UK has grant-only EIC access. The EIC Accelerator page states that UK applicants can only apply for the grant-only scheme, so UK startups cannot get EIC equity.
- Removed figures: the 2025 version quoted deep tech funding totals for London, Paris and Stockholm, a UK half-year investment figure, an EIC budget for 2025 and an EIT talent target for 2025. None had a working source (its eu-startups.com and techcrunch.com links now return 404), so we removed them.
- Added countries: Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Italy, because each runs a deep tech or tech-startup programme we could verify. Norway has Innovation Norway for financing and advice, but we found no dedicated deep tech line on its pages.
Which Country Should a Deep Tech Founder Choose?
- You need large public seed money and research partners: Germany (High-Tech Gründerfonds, Fraunhofer, EXIST) or France (Bpifrance Plan Deeptech).
- You are a researcher with a moonshot: Germany's SPRIND challenges or the UK's ARIA programmes.
- You build chips, photonics or hardware: Belgium (imec.istart), the Netherlands (Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, QuTech) or Ireland (Tyndall).
- You want a non-dilutive deep tech grant right after founding: Austria (aws Preseed Deep Tech), Finland (Deep Tech Accelerator) or Spain (Neotec, when its next call opens).
- You build in biotech or health: Denmark (BioInnovation Institute), Switzerland (EPFL, ETH Zurich) or the UK's university spinout offices.
- You want EU equity from the EIC: base the company in an EU member state or a Horizon Europe associated country such as Switzerland, not the UK.
- You are a remote founder testing the EU market: Estonia's e-Residency gets you an EU company online, though Startup Estonia itself does not fund startups.
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How Founders Use Country Programmes
Most founders stack support: a national grant or soft loan for the first prototype, a public seed investor such as High-Tech Gründerfonds or Invest-NL to anchor the round, and the EIC Accelerator once the technology reaches TRL 6. Pick the city inside your country with our deep tech cities guide, then find investors in our lists of deep tech VCs in Europe and deep tech angel investors in Europe. Early teams can compare deep tech incubators in Europe and deep tech accelerators in Europe. If your technology is AI, read our ranking of the best countries for AI startups; for a general comparison, see the best countries for startups in Europe. For non-dilutive money, start with our grants for early-stage startups in Europe, Eurostars for cross-border R&D, the EmpoWomen deep tech grants and a check of your technology readiness level. Before you commit years to a technology, validate your startup idea with real customers, and meet the community at the top deep tech startup events.
FAQ About Deep Tech Countries in Europe
Which European country is best for deep tech startups?
There is no single winner. Germany has the broadest public toolkit (SPRIND, High-Tech Gründerfonds, EXIST, Fraunhofer), France the most structured national plan (Bpifrance's Plan Deeptech), and the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark are the EU's Innovation Leaders according to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2026.
What is a deep tech startup?
A startup built on a scientific or engineering breakthrough, such as quantum computing, semiconductors, biotech, new materials, robotics or climate hardware. It usually needs longer R&D, labs and specialised investors.
Can UK deep tech startups get EIC Accelerator funding?
Partly. The EIC Accelerator page states that applicants from the United Kingdom can only apply for its grant-only scheme, not for the equity part.
Can Swiss startups apply to the EIC Accelerator?
Yes. Innosuisse states that since 1 January 2025 Swiss companies can fully participate as beneficiaries in the EIC Accelerator under Horizon Europe.
How much does the EIC Accelerator give?
A lump-sum grant below €2.5 million for innovation activities at TRL 6 to 8 and equity investments of €1 million to €10 million. See the EIC Accelerator guide on grant-grants.com.
What is SPRIND?
Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, based in Leipzig. It finances breakthrough technologies through projects and open challenges, for example on AI-native chip design and quantum sensing.
What is the French Plan Deeptech?
A national plan launched by the French State in 2019 and run by Bpifrance as part of France 2030. Bpifrance's goal is 500 new deeptech startups a year.
Which countries give a grant made for deep tech startups?
Austria (aws Preseed Deep Tech, up to €267,000 or €300,000 with the gender bonus), Finland (Business Finland Deep Tech Accelerator) and Spain (CDTI Neotec for young technology-based companies) all run dedicated lines.
Is Estonia good for deep tech startups?
For setting up and running a company, yes: e-Residency lets you start an EU company online and deep tech is a focus of Startup Estonia. But Startup Estonia says it does not fund startups, so plan your funding elsewhere.
Why did you remove the funding figures from the older version?
The 2025 version quoted deep tech funding totals for London, Paris and Stockholm whose source links now return 404. We could not verify them on official sites, so we replaced them with facts the agencies publish themselves.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
