About the workshop
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) organised the fi-compass thematic workshop 'ERDF financial instruments for innovation - Exploring new models combining equity and loans with grants', on Tuesday, 30 September 2025, in Berlin, Germany.
With Member States actively implementing financial instruments under the 2021-2027 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the next programming period approaching, it is crucial to consider how innovative instruments can be leveraged to address evolving policy objectives and market needs - especially in a rapidly changing global economic landscape. Bridging innovation gaps remains a key priority, ensuring that businesses across regions have access to the financing needed to develop and scale breakthrough technologies. Promoting and expanding the use of equity instruments emerges clearly as the way forward in the current context.
As the EU works to strengthen its competitiveness and economic resilience, ERDF financial instruments for innovation play a key role in mobilising both public and private resources effectively.
In this context, the workshop explored two new innovation-focused ERDF model financial instruments that combine equity and loans with grants to support the EU’s broader innovation and competitiveness agenda:
- Innovation equity financial instrument combined with grant;
- Innovation loan financial instrument combined with grant.
Workshop participants had the opportunity to explore these models in depth and discuss key practical implementation topics such as combination with grant components (technical support subsidy and capital grant), State aid implications, how the EIC Seal of Excellence can be linked to ERDF financial instruments. The workshop also featured first-hand insights from Berlin's successful ERDF VC and loan financial instruments, with Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and IBB Ventures sharing how they fuel innovation. Final recipients supported by these instruments also shared their experiences, providing valuable practitioner perspectives on the real-world impact of ERDF-backed financial instruments. Engaging panel discussions addressed the current challenges faced by innovative start-ups and explored how ERDF-powered equity and loans instruments combined with grants can help overcome these barriers.
The event was organised in cooperation with Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB), the promotional bank of the Federal State of Berlin.
Presentations
New ERDF financial instrument models for innovation
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