What drives us
At the EIF, we are working for a purpose. Putting impact first is what matters to us in our financing activity and our policy priorities.
We are the bridge between policy makers and markets players.
SMEs are essential to driving Europe’s competitiveness and innovation. To launch their ideas and scale impact, they need access to the right financing. At the same time, Europe requires sustainable, digital, and inclusive infrastructure as the foundation of future growth – and these projects also need funding.
The EIF is here to help develop the financing solutions that make this possible – this is what drives us.
Since inception - by end-2024
Our key numbers
Tackling funding gaps
Our products address funding gaps across both the SME and infrastructure ecosystems. They help increase the supply of finance through existing market players, develop new ones, and target underserved segments.
We are driven by the commitment to) support financing across the entire business life cycle – from micro and early-stage enterprises to growth and scale-ups – and in support of strategic EU policy areas including green, digital, and social infrastructure.
Addressing policy priorities
Sustainability and green transformation
We support the game-changers who work on innovative solutions to climate change and the green energy transition. We invest in clean technologies, renewavble resources, and energy efficiency, and back future-proof infrastructure projects.
Innovation and digitalisation
From artificial intelligence and space to industrial solutions and cybersecurity, we foster innovative entrepreneurs, businesses, and infrastructure from the earliest stages of development, supporting disruptive technologies that shape the world of tomorrow.
Horizontal - Climate action and environmental sustainability
Cutting across all four pillars are the EIB Group level CA&ES targets, which provide the framework and set expectations on all our financial transactions (including their monitoring and reporting), pretty much measuring all aspects of the green transformation.
Social impact, skills and human capital
Skills and education are drivers of growth, competitiveness, and social convergence. This is why we support financing for learning, upskilling, and reskilling. We guarantee and invest in the culture and creative industries, and back social impact entrepreneurs.
Competitiveness and growth
Investments in the growth and competitiveness of European businesses are a major part of our efforts. Furthermore, we channel growth finance to ambitious start-ups and scale-ups to ensure they can overcome challenges and scale their business in Europe.
Horizontal - Economic and social cohesion
This overarching policy goal relates to driving cohesion and regional development across EU geographies. We measure how much of our financing support goes to EU regions with a GDP lower than 90% of the EU-27 average, and we also count here some of our local initiatives addressing specific financing needs.