The European Innovation Council (EIC) has launched the EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026, which this year will support research projects in three pre-defined strategic areas – advanced materials for energy-self-sufficient systems, biotechnologies for healthy ageing, and trustworthy cognitive artificial intelligence. A successful consortium or individual applicant can receive funding of up to 4 million euros; applications can be submitted until 28 October 2026.
Programme managers (PMs) are involved in defining the topics; they also participate in the selection of projects for the project portfolio, with which they subsequently interact and strive to steer it towards a predefined objective.
This year, three themes are open for submission:
- Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems
- Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing
- DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems
Any organisation may apply for funding, either independently, as part of a two-member international consortium, or as part of a consortium of three or more partners, all of which must meet the standard requirements of the Horizon Europe programme. Successful projects may receive funding of up to 4 million euros in the form of a lump sum.
In addition to the wording of the topic in the EIC Work Programme for 2026, the so-called Challenge Guide, which is available separately for each of the themes on the official call page. This document describes the specifics of the call in question and the criteria according to which projects will be selected for the final portfolio – given that the evaluation panel also assesses how individual projects complement the other selected proposals, it is advisable to familiarise yourself with it before choosing a specific focus for your application.
Applicants can make use of the project application pre-screening service via the NCP_WIDERA.NET project.