NWO Open Technology Programme

The NWO Open Technology Programme is the Applied and Engineering Sciences funding line of the Dutch Research Council. NWO is the Dutch national research council and invests about €1.5 billion annually across research, infrastructure, and societal challenge work. The 2026 call is open continuously from 12 January to 11 December 2026. Standard projects can receive up to €950,000, and projects with investments above €150,000 can reach €1,050,000. If total project costs exceed €700,000, the part above that threshold needs at least 25% co-funding. The programme is limited to tenured or tenure-track researchers at Dutch universities, university medical centres, NWO or KNAW institutes, and a small group of designated knowledge institutes, while zero-hour and limited-term contracts are excluded except for tenure track. The programme is strongest for applied, technically oriented proposals that are free of disciplinary boundaries and can run for as long as six years. Because the call is continuous, applicants need an eligible host institution, a well-defined research team, and a budget that fits the co-funding rules; the opening is broad in topic, but the institutional gate is strict.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.