Open Call Watch: Non-dilutive grants, accelerators and cloud credits in climate tech and battery recycling
Orbit climate deep-tech accelerator for Germany-based startups closes applications 16 Oct 2026
A thin week: one accelerator closes in 11 days and two further calls are open or opening. Assumptions: Germany-based, under 10 staff, pre-seed; EXIST and AWS programmes skipped; nothing in the window was specific to battery recycling.
Green.AI BW (SICOS BW) pays up to €8,000 per tandem; deadline 29 Oct 2026 per press release.
EIC Accelerator short proposals are rolling; full-proposal batch 4 Nov 2026, but it requires at least TRL 5.
01Zukunft.Gründen · Oct 16
Orbit accelerator for German climate deep-tech closes applications 16 October
Closing soon. Orbit Accelerator (Cohort 1) by Zukunft.Gründen is a six-month, online programme with biweekly 1:1 coaching, introductions to buyers and partners, and an in-person Orbit Deal Day in Berlin in March 2027. Applications opened 14 Sept and close 16 Oct 2026 (no time zone stated). Review runs 16–20 Oct, interviews 26–30 Oct, kick-off 16–20 Nov.
Focus is Built Environment and Energy Transition (the page lists storage under Energy); battery recycling is not named. The page describes the target as late pre-seed and seed-stage, based in Germany with a focus on East Germany. It asks for a working product, first funding in place, and an early pilot and LOIs. No funding amount, fee or equity terms are stated on the page; it is an accelerator, not a grant.
Next step: Check eligibility: confirm you have a piloted product and LOIs, and ask the organiser about any fee or equity terms before applying.
Green.AI BW offers €8,000 non-repayable sprint funding for Baden-Württemberg tandems
New this week. SICOS BW's Green.AI BW call funds five challenges of €8,000 each as a non-repayable grant. Applicants must apply as a tandem: at least one user partner with a real problem and one technology partner (a startup, an established AI/data firm or a research institute). Both must be based or implement in Baden-Württemberg. Fields include circular data and secondary resources (e.g. recyclate quality prediction) and robotic disassembly. Sprint runs Dec 2026 – Feb 2027, with a mandatory Demo Day in March 2027.
The official page gives the call as October 2026 and says the application phase lasts four weeks, but shows no exact date. The 29 Oct 2026 deadline comes from a press release dated 1 Oct 2026 (secondary source), so confirm it with SICOS BW. Funds go to the technology partner; no own contribution is required but substantial own effort is expected.
Next step: Check eligibility: only relevant if your team or a partner is in Baden-Württemberg; confirm the 29 Oct deadline with [email protected].
EIC Accelerator takes rolling short proposals; next full-proposal batch is 4 November
Worth watching. The EIC Accelerator offers a grant component below €2.5 million for 24 months plus optional equity of €1–10 million; the grant-only option is non-dilutive. Short proposals can be submitted any time and are batched monthly on the first Tuesday at 5pm Brussels time. Full proposals, by invitation after a GO, are batched at 5pm Brussels on 4 Nov 2026 (the last 2026 date listed).
It targets TRL 6-8, and CORDIS says technology must have been validated to at least TRL 5, so most pre-seed teams without a validated prototype will not fit. Open to EU startups and SMEs; a company may have only one application at a time.
Next step: Check eligibility: only apply if your battery-recycling process is validated at TRL 5 or above; the short proposal is the entry point.