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Article authored by the Director of X4 Technology, Andy Turton.

The European Commission have called upon start-ups and small businesses with technologies that could help treat, test and monitor the COVID-19 outbreak to apply for fast-track EU funding.

The European Innovation Centre (EIC) has made €164 million available for research and development – a European funding vehicle which supports the commercialisation of high risk, high impact technologies. The budget was proposed back in February by the EU’s Horizon Europe research framework program and signed-off in aid of supporting “game-changing, market-creating innovation and deep-tech SME’s to scale-up”.

The EIC has said it will consider the fast-track of EIC grants to coronavirus relevant innovations. EIC funding is already being used to support a number of start-ups and SME’s through funding awarded in previous rounds.

Check out two tech companies that have utilised the funding to develop coronavirus relevant innovations:

EpiGguard, comprises of a group of medical doctors who worked to contain the Ebola outbreak and they have developed the EpiShuttle solution, a one-person, hard-top, reusable special investigations unit (SIU). Combining modern gas disinfection technology with EpiShuttle technology, SIU presents a cost-effective and application solution for the wider global market.

Smart Separations Ltd has developed a ceramic filter known as the m-TAP project. The ceramic filter can be tailored to suit different applications in the underdeveloped global microfiltration industry and consists of highly ordered and self-assembled microchannels. It can be made into a filter system to provide provide a more controlled, versatile and low cost solution for various industries including indoor air purification.

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