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  3. National Contact Point EIC Pathfinder (NCP EIC Pathfinder)
  4. EIC Pathfinder

EIC Pathfinder

The EIC Pathfinder aims at identifying radical new technologies that have the potential to establish new markets. To achieve this aim, visionary and high-risk projects are promoted at an early development stage.

Woman with virtual reality glasses sits at a table working on data.

Gorodenkoff via Getty Images

  • Do you have a visionary idea for a future technology that could make a substantial difference in our lives?

  • Do you see a plausible way of achieving the scientific breakthrough needed to make this technology possible?

  • Can you imagine collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of researchers and innovators to achieve proof of principle and to validate the future technology’s scientific basis?

If your answer to these three questions is ‘yes’, then EIC Pathfinder may be the right programme for your idea.

EIC Pathfinder Open is based on open-topic participation. In the EIC Pathfinder Challenges, key topics are defined annually.

Aims

In EIC Pathfinder, the expected project result is proof of principle, or in other words the scientific and technological proof that the envisioned future technology’s basic ideas are feasible. The project results should be published at the highest-level in freely accessible (open access) scientific publications.

Additionally, the measures necessary to continue the project in future should be taken, for example by seeking adequate protection for the intellectual property generated.

The implementation or application of the technology is not the subject of EIC Pathfinder funding.

Application

Proposal Template for EIC Pathfinder Open:

  • Part A (details regarding content, budget, consortium)
  • Part B (Technical description, maximum of 20 pages)

Proposal Template EIC Pathfinder Challenges:

  • Part A (details regarding content, budget, consortium)
  • Part B (Technical description, maximum of 30 pages)
Details Pathfinder Open 2025 Pathfinder Challenges 2025
Deadline 21 May 2025 29 October 2025
Budget 142 million euros 120 million euros
Topics none
  1. Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing
  2. Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer
  3. Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments
  4. Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials
Project size up to 3 million euros up to 4 million euros
Applicants Consortia of at least three independent legal entities (such as universities, research institutions, SMEs, enterprises, Start-ups) from three different Member States or Associated States and at least one from a member state
  • Mono-beneficiaries (with the exception of large companies) from a Member State or Associated State
  • Consortia of two independent legal entities from two different Member States or Associated States
  • For consortia of three partners or more, the standard rules apply (see Pathfinder Open)
Particularities none
  • Funding according to the lump sum model
  • Include a work package dedicated to portfolio activities and allocate at least 10 person-months to it