This report provides an assessment of whether alternative finance has the potential to help Europe address the problem of access to finance for innovative companies and bridge the gap in terms of access to risk capital, and if EU action is needed to support development of the sector. To this aim, the study produced the following results: 1) an estimation of the size of the alternative market for research and innovation, together with a typology of sectors and of alternative finance funding models suitable for research vs. innovation; 2) an analysis of the European alternative finance landscape for research and innovation; 3) an analysis of the challenges limiting development of the alternative finance, and alternative finance for research and innovation in particular; 4) an assessment of policy options addressing those challenges; 5) a final recommendation of priority action at EU and national level to exploit the opportunities of alternative finance for research and innovation Final report