EIC Pathfinder

EIC Pathfinder Open

Funds bottom-up research for breakthrough deep-tech, any field of science.

Eligibility · EU member states + Horizon-associated

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

EIC Pathfinder Open is the European Innovation Council's bottom-up early-stage research funding instrument, supporting collaborative research consortia working to develop the scientific and technological foundations for radical breakthrough innovations. It operates without predefined thematic priorities, accepting proposals from any field of science, technology, or application — from quantum information processing and photonics to synthetic biology and advanced materials — provided the research is genuinely high-risk, high-gain, and oriented toward a long-term technology vision rather than incremental improvement. The 2026 Open call carries a budget of €166 million and a deadline of 12 May 2026, with grants of up to €4 million per project at a 100% funding rate (no co-funding required). The 2025 call drew a record 2,087 proposals, of which approximately 44 were funded for a total of €140 million, indicating a highly competitive environment. Lump-sum funding became standard in 2026, simplifying financial reporting.

Eligibility requires a consortium of at least three independent legal entities from three different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, with at least one partner in an EU Member State. Single applicants and large companies are not eligible for the Open track; single applicants are only permitted under Pathfinder Challenges. Target TRL range is 1–4 — from fundamental research to lab-validated prototype — and the work must target TRL levels that are genuinely pre-competitive, not technologies ready for pilot or scale-up. Project duration is typically 36 months. Applications may also receive a Booster Grant of a fixed €50,000 for commercialisation testing following main project completion.

For applicants, EIC Pathfinder Open competes on the strength of scientific ambition and the credibility of the technology vision rather than near-term commercial metrics. Evaluation favours proposals that articulate a clear, plausible — but non-obvious — path from current laboratory observations to a transformative technology, with a team that spans the disciplinary expertise needed to execute across the full TRL 1–4 arc. Given the record competition levels, proposals that identify and directly address the hardest scientific obstacle between current state and the envisioned breakthrough are better positioned than those framing around incremental refinement.