Which annexes does your EIC Accelerator proposal actually need?

What changed for 2026, in one paragraph

Part B version 2.0, published 6 November 2025, is the first simplified template for the 2026 Work Programme, and it broke with the version before it in three ways at once. The narrative dropped to 20 pages including the cover page. The question architecture became three topic areas — Technology, Market, and Team/Financial needs/Implementation — mapping one-to-one onto Excellence, Impact, and Level of risk, implementation and need for Union support. And the work-package machinery moved out of Part B entirely into a separate 10-page implementation plan annex. If you are writing against a template you downloaded before November 2025, your material is in the wrong documents, and that is a cheap thing for an evaluator to notice.

One quieter change catches people out. The ownership control declaration used to be triggered by AI and quantum applications. In 2026 it is triggered by Challenge 2.4, Critical Raw Materials — and only for grant-only requests. Blended finance and equity-only proposals under 2.4 do not file it.

The traps that are in the official files themselves

These are not applicant mistakes. They are hazards built into the templates, and knowing them in advance saves a resubmission or a wrong number.

• The budget workbook cannot be submitted in the format you have to complete it in. It uses macros and must be saved as .xlsm while you fill it in, but the submission system refuses .xlsm for security reasons. Use the workbook's own action to generate a macro-free .xlsx and upload that.
• The equity sheet's own instruction points at the wrong row. The “Equity needed” sheet tells you to take the figure from “line 39 of your Financial plan”. Its formula reads row 38, Proceeds from issuance of equity. Row 39 is Dividends. The formula is right; the printed instruction is stale. If you type the figure in by hand, take it from equity issuance.
• The macro buttons have to be re-run after every edit. “Add WP”, “Add AE” and “Apply changes” are double-click macros. The three summary sheets used in evaluation are generated by them, so a summary that disagrees with your detail sheet usually just means nobody pressed the button again.
• Depreciation is transferred by hand. It is calculated on its own sheet from purchase cost, project use and lifetime use, then typed into the right C.2 row. Nothing checks that you put it in the right row.
• The budget workbook still refers to “Table 3.1a in the main proposal”. In the 2026 structure that table lives in the implementation plan annex. Follow the reference; the table is not missing.
• A blank template is compliance, not an omission. Equity-only proposals upload the lump-sum workbook and implementation plan as blank documents. The #DIV/0! values in an untouched financial workbook are template artefacts.

Constants worth memorising

• The grant covers 70% of eligible costs. Your proposal has to say where the other 30% comes from. It is asked routinely and it is easy to leave out.
• Indirect costs are 25% of A + C — direct personnel plus direct purchase costs. Subcontracting is not in the base.
• SME owners and natural person beneficiaries are budgeted at a fixed unit cost of EUR 8 745.40 per month, hard-coded in the workbook.
• One beneficiary. The Accelerator is a mono-beneficiary action; affiliated entities can be added, with the link and role explained.
• Thresholds are 4 out of 5 on each of the three criteria, and 13 out of 15 overall, at full-proposal stage.
• Minimum 11 point body text, including inside tables, standard character spacing, at least single line spacing, A4, margins at least 15 mm.

Sources and attribution

Built from the official European Commission templates for the EIC Accelerator 2026 calls — Part B v2.0 (6 November 2025), the implementation plan and financial plan templates (11 November 2025), the budget table EIC 1.3 (1 September 2025), and the ownership control declaration and its guidance v5.0 (1 January 2026) — together with the Lump sum funding: what do I need to know? guide v3.0 (24 June 2024) and the Horizon Europe clinical-studies annex. © European Union. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU and the CC BY 4.0 licence; changes are indicated where we have summarised, restructured or commented. The European Commission does not endorse this tool.

Practice guidance marked as such comes from the Access2EIC annotated templates (first edition, February 2026) and pitch deck guide (April 2023), produced by the official Horizon Europe National Contact Point network for the EIC under Grant Agreement No 101046298. © Access2EIC, reused with credit as their licence permits. NCP guidance explains how criteria have been read in practice; it is not an official requirement, and the live call always takes precedence.