Strong interest for EIC Pathfinder bottom-up science to technology call

The European Innovation Council (EIC) continues to receive strong interest from the research community with project proposals that aim to turn science into technology breakthroughs. The EIC Pathfinder Open call invited interdisciplinary research teams to bring forward proposals in any area, which are evaluated purely on their scientific excellence and their potential to be turned into scalable technologies.

863 consortia applied until 4 May deadline (5 202 participants in total), calling for more than €2.6 billion of grant support. Applicants are coming from 58 countries and are mainly from higher education bodies and research institutions, but with a relatively high number from the private sector (27% of participants, of which 69% are SMEs).

With €183 million budget allocated to this call, it is expected that approximately 60 applications will be funded. The evaluation process has begun and will be finalised at the end of September with the selection of interdisciplinary teams of researchers to realise their radical visions for science-towards-technology breakthroughs.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges call, with new challenges, will open for interested organisations on 16 June with a deadline of 19 October 2022, 17.00 CET.

Background information

With its Pathfinder programme, the EIC supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies. It welcomes the high-risk/ high gain and interdisciplinary cutting-edge science collaborations that underpin technological breakthroughs. 

Grants of up to €3 to €4 million support early stage development of future technologies (e.g. various activities at low Technology Readiness Levels 1-3), up to proof of concept. As novelties under the full EIC, Pathfinder projects will benefit from interactions with EIC Programme Managers and can receive additional funding for testing the innovation potential of their research outputs or for working across projects for portfolio actions.

For more details read the EIC Work Programme 2022 and check the Funding & tenders portal.