Grants by country and industry

Photonics grants in the Netherlands

Explore Photonics grants for companies in the Netherlands. This list brings together funding for lasers, optics, integrated photonics, imaging and optical communications from Dutch innovation agencies, research funders and foundations, EU and international programs open to applicants in the Netherlands, and competitions any company can enter, with the deadline, award size and eligibility on every listing. Grants aimed at Photonics in the Netherlands come first.

Photonics grants elsewhereUnited StatesUnited Kingdom

Showing 25-48 of 208 grants

European Commission logo
Closed

Maturing of a European industrial ecosystem for security-certified terrestrial QKD technologies and systems

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Funds up to five projects that mature and security-certify European quantum key distribution hardware and systems for deployment in telecom networks.

QuantumPhotonics
European Commission logo
Closed

Networking and Future Photonics Strategy

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Pays one European consortium EUR 3 million to coordinate the Photonics Partnership's research roadmap, monitor its funded projects and help the sector access private and blended finance.

Photonics
€3M
European Commission logo
Closed

Research infrastructure services advancing frontier knowledge

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Funds transnational or virtual access to top research infrastructures in atmospheric chemistry or hadron physics for curiosity-driven research.

Climate TechPhotonics
€10M
European Defence Fund (DG DEFIS) logo
Closed

Technologies for optronic detectors

🇪🇺EDF · European Union

Funds EU development of the next generation of infrared-detector readout chips so Europe isn't dependent on non-EU sensor supply chains.

DefensePhotonics+1
Netherlands Enterprise Agency logo
Open

MIT R&D Cooperation Projects

🇳🇱RVO · Netherlands

Funds Dutch SME teams doing joint R&D to develop or renew products, processes or services.

€50K – €350KSep'26
Netherlands Enterprise Agency logo
Open

Trade Relations Programme (TRP) 2026

🇳🇱RVO · Netherlands

Pays Trade and Innovate NL network members to run export-support activities for Dutch firms.

€150KSep'26
Netherlands Enterprise Agency logo
Open

SME Collectives Sustainable Travel Behaviour (COVER)

🇳🇱RVO · Netherlands

Pays Dutch SME representative bodies to make their members' employee commuting greener.

€10K – €100KNov'26
Netherlands Enterprise Agency logo
Between cycles

Innovation Credit (Innovatiekrediet)

🇳🇱RVO · Netherlands

Funds Dutch firms developing high-risk new products or processes through repayable government loans covering project costs.

€30M
Netherlands Enterprise Agency logo
Between cycles

WBSO — R&D Tax Credit

🇳🇱RVO · Netherlands

Offers Dutch companies and professionals tax credits to offset payroll costs for qualifying technical and research projects.

National Institutes of Health logo
Open

Cooperative Agreement for In Vivo High-Resolution Imaging for Inner Ear Visualization

NIH · United States

Funds high-risk clinical trials of new ways to see inside the living human inner ear. A trial is compulsory, and NIH stays in the room.

MedtechPhotonics+1
$500KOct'26
National Institutes of Health logo
Open

In Vivo High-Resolution Imaging for Inner Ear Visualization

NIH · United States

Funds building the imaging that can finally show hair cells and membranes inside a living human ear. A clinical trial is optional.

MedtechPhotonics+1
$500KOct'26
SP
Open

SPIE Startup Challenge

SPIE · United States

Pays up to $10,000 to photonics startups pitching at Photonics West 2027.

PhotonicsMedtech+1
$3K – $10KOct'26
SP
Open

SPIE Startup Challenge

SPIE · United States

Pays photonics startups up to $10,000 for pitching live at SPIE Photonics West.

PhotonicsMedtech
$10KOct'26
National Institutes of Health logo
Open

Academic-Industrial Partnerships (AIP) to Translate and Validate In Vivo Imaging Systems

NIH · United States

Funds a company and an academic group working as one team to turn an imaging, spectroscopy or data-science advance into something usable in the clinic.

MedtechPhotonics+1
$500KJan'27
UK Defence Innovation (formerly DASA) logo
Open

Defence Rapid Impact

UKDI / DASA · United Kingdom

Funds innovators from any country developing near-term defence technology prototypes at TRL 6 or 7 through the MOD Defence Innovation Fund.

DefenseAI+9
£350K
MIT.nano logo
Open

MIT.nano Industry Consortium / Foundry Access

MIT.nano · United States

Provides Massachusetts startup teams access to advanced prototyping and fabrication through MIT.nano collaboration.

SemiconductorsAdvanced Materials+3
$50K – $500K
UK Defence Innovation (formerly DASA) logo
Between cycles

Open Call for Innovation

UKDI / DASA · United Kingdom

Funds organisations worldwide developing novel defence and security innovations across any technology area from TRL 1 to TRL 8.

DefenseAI+11
Gates Foundation logo
Closed

Grand Challenges — Ultralow-Cost Diagnostics and Screening for Low-Income Countries

Gates Foundation · United States

Funds global teams developing diagnostic devices and screening tools that cost approximately $1 per test or near-zero incremental cost per person screened for deployment in low-income countries.

BiotechMedtech+6
$1M
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency logo
Closed

RF Architectures Applying Photonic Timing and Routing (RAAPTR)

DARPA · United States

Funds three to five teams from a $58 million pool to build defense-grade RF systems that use optical timing instead of conventional microwave generation.

DefenseAerospace+3
European Commission logo
Open

ERC Proof of Concept Grant

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Funds existing ERC grant holders in testing the commercial or societal potential of already-funded research through a fixed EUR 150,000 top-up grant.

BiotechAI+5
€150KSep'26
ER
Open

ERC Proof of Concept Grants

🇪🇺ERC · European Union

Pays existing ERC grant holders a EUR 150,000 lump sum to explore the commercial or social innovation potential of their ERC-funded research.

€150KSep'26
European Commission logo
Open

Horizon EIE: Technology Transfer Offices

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Funds five €1M projects that help universities and research organisations turn academic inventions into licences, spin-offs and industry deals.

€1MSep'26
European Commission logo
Open

Creative alliances: Fostering global partnerships in cultural policies and CCI innovation

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Pays international research consortiums roughly €3-3.75 million to build cross-regional creative-industry and cultural-diplomacy partnerships between Europe and world regions such as Africa, Asia and Latin America.

€3M – €3.8MSep'26
European Commission logo
Open

Governing global commons sustainably

🇪🇺European Commission · European Union

Pays research consortiums roughly €3.5-4 million to develop policy solutions for the sustainable, science-informed governance of shared global resources like the climate, biodiversity and outer space.

€3.5M – €4MSep'26

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