EIC Pathfinder

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

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 Getty Images / Gorodenkoff

  • 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 17 pages)

Proposal Template EIC Pathfinder Challenges:

  • Part A (details regarding content, budget, consortium)
  • Part B (Technical description, maximum of 25 pages)
Details Pathfinder Open 2023 Pathfinder Challenges 2023
Call opening 10 January 2023 scheduled for February 2023
Deadline 7 March 2023 18 October 2023
Budget 179.50 million euros 163.50 million euros
Topics none
  1. Clean and efficient cooling
  2. Construction digitilization
  3. Precision nutrition
  4. Responsible electronics
  5. In-space solar energy
Project size Approx. 3 million euros Approx. 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)