What is the EIC Pathfinder funding scheme?

The EIC Pathfinder funds research that develops the scientific foundations of breakthrough technologies. The focus is on the early stages of scientific, technological, or deep-tech R&D, with the aim of building new cutting-edge directions in science and technology that can disrupt existing fields and markets and create entirely new opportunities.
The Pathfinder call supports goal-driven research that:

• Realises innovative technological solutions;
• Identifies, develops, and scales up breakthrough technologies;
• Contributes to deep-tech innovation in Europe.

In EIC Pathfinder, the Open call follows a bottom-up approach, allowing proposals in any field without set themes, while the Challenges follow a top-down, predefined thematic approach that directs research towards specific strategic objectives.

Here, we focus on EIC Pathfinder Open. A separate blog post is dedicated to EIC Pathfinder Challenges.

The EIC Pathfinder OPEN

The Pathfinder Open scheme accepts projects in any field of science, technology, or application, but all projects must remain technology-oriented and aim for a radically new technological vision.

Competition is fierce. The Pathfinder Open success rate of the last 5 years has been 4.9%. While between 2021 and 2023 it was around 6–7%, for the most recent call (2025) it has dropped to around 2.1%.

Why should you apply?

You should consider applying to Pathfinder Open if you have an ambitious vision for a radically new technology with strong potential to create new markets or address global challenges.

The EIC Pathfinder Open scheme supports the very early-stage development of such future technologies. In terms of Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), this typically means starting from around TRL 1 and aiming for TRL 4 by the end of the project.

Proposals must have the following characteristics:

• be high-risk/high-gain research.
• be deep-tech, advancing the foundations of a new technology (not incremental improvements to existing ones).

Insight from the TPM team: Pathfinder is not curiosity-driven research without a technological vision: proposals must clearly articulate where the technology could lead and why it matters.

Core Requirements

Although the EIC Pathfinder Open scheme is open to all scientific disciplines and application areas, some boundary conditions apply. The EIC Pathfinder Open scheme only funds collaborative research projects. This means:

• Not a single researcher or a single organisation alone;
• The EU seeks interdisciplinary research that combines different fields and perspectives.

To be eligible and competitive, proposals must meet the following core requirements:

• Convincing long-term vision

A clearly articulated vision of a radically new technology with potential for transformative positive impact on the economy and society. This vision must be included already at the proposal stage (it is not something to be defined later on).

• Science-towards-technology breakthrough

Concrete, novel, and ambitious scientific objectives that lead toward a technology breakthrough. The research approach should be high-risk/high-gain, with credible pathways to validate the core ideas.

• Expected outputs. At the end of the project, applicants should deliver:

Proof of principle evidence showing that the main ideas of your future technology are feasible, validating its scientific and technological basis.

• • Top-level scientific publications in open access.
  • Appropriate measures to enable future uptake, including:
    • Formal protection of intellectual property (IP), where relevant;
    • Consideration of regulatory, certification, and standardisation aspects, depending on the field.

• Team composition and talent development

Projects should involve key actors who can become future leaders in their fields, such as:

• • • Excellent early-career researchers;
    • High-tech SMEs and startups.

Importantly, projects should also ensure a good gender balance among work package leaders.

Insight from the TPM team: Your idea and vision are more important than your past track record alone.

Consortium Structure and Eligibility

The consortium that submits the proposal must comprise ≥ 3 independent legal entities:

• At least 1 in an EU Member State;
• The other 2 in Member States or Associated Countries, independent from each other and from the first.

Beyond this minimum, you can include additional participants. There are no restrictions on the type of organisation:

• Universities;
• Research organisations;
• SMEs and startups;
• Large industrial partners;
• Even natural persons, in some cases.

Insight from the TPM team: This openness reflects that innovation can come from many different actors, and there is no intention to artificially limit participation.

Funding Model and Budget

The overall indicative budget for the Pathfinder Open call is €166 million (2026 call).

For successful Pathfinder Open proposals:

• You will receive a grant for a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) to cover the eligible costs necessary for the implementation of your project.
• Funding covers 100% of eligible costs under a lump sum scheme.
• The indicative project size is €4 million, but this is only a guideline:
  • If you need less, you may request less.
  • If you need more, you may request more, provided you justify it convincingly in your proposal.

Successful applicants also gain access to the EIC’s Business Acceleration Services and to interactions with EIC Programme Managers.
Please pay particular attention to the lump sum requirements:

• You must complete a specific budget table as part of your proposal.
• You must propose the amount of the lump sum based on your estimated project costs.
• Make sure you understand how the lump sum model works to avoid issues during evaluation.

Follow-up Opportunities

There are several forms of follow-up funding for successful Pathfinder projects:

• EIC Booster grants
  • Up to €50,000, to explore new elements that emerge, accelerate commercialisation pathways, or link with other projects in a portfolio approach. This can be awarded up to 3 times during the project (or more, if duly justified).
• EIC Transition grants
  • EIC Pathfinder grant provides eligibility for certain EIC Transition calls.
• EIC Accelerator via the Fast Track scheme
  • EIC Pathfinder (and Transition) projects benefit from fast-track access to the EIC Accelerator.
• ‘Next Generation Innovation Talents’ scheme 
  • This scheme supports EU funded researchers (including EIC researchers) to carry out an innovation internship in a startup funded by the EIC or EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology).

Submission , Timeline and Application Form

Applicants should submit their proposals via the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal by the deadline: 12 May 2026, 17:00 (CEST).

Evaluation results will be released within 5 months from the call deadline. Awarded applicants will then sign the Grant Agreement within up to 3 additional months. In practice, this means that grant agreements would typically be signed towards the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The proposal templates will soon be available (expected date: February 2026) on the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal and should be submitted using the Submission System.

The application form is structured into two parts, Parts A and B:

• Part A contains the structured Administrative Forms with data on the participants, legal declarations and contact persons (it may also include some programme-specific questions). It is generated while entering the data into the Submission System. It should be filled in online and has no page limit.
• Part B is the narrative part consisting of the Technical Description of the project, including planned activities, work packages, costs, etc. It needs to be prepared in advance using the template downloaded from the system (please remember NOT to use the standard template from the Topic page) and must be uploaded as a PDF file. It has a page limit of max 22 pages (A4 format), Section 1-3.
  It should also include annexes and supporting documents, if required by the call conditions (e.g., a detailed budget table, declarations from national authorities, CVs, annual activity reports, etc.). The estimated budget must be described in a detailed table that will be used to justify and/or fix the lump-sum amount.

All participants can contribute to the parts, but only the person from the coordinating organisation who created the application must finalise and submit it.

Award Criteria and Evaluation Procedure

Award Criteria

Proposals are assessed against 3 award criteria:

1. Excellence
   • Elements assessed:
     • Long-term vision for a radically new technology;
     • Science-towards-technology breakthrough and clarity of objectives;
     • Objectives: Plausibility of the scientific approach;
     • Interdisciplinarity of the project.
   • Score threshold: 4 out of 5
   • Weight: 50% of the total score
2. Impact
   • Elements assessed:
     • Long-term impact of your technology on our economy, environment and society;
     • Innovation potential from the proposed technology;
     • Quality of communication, dissemination, and exploitation plans.
   • Score threshold: 3.5 out of 5
   • Weight: 30%
3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation
   • Elements assessed:
     • Quality and coherence of the work plan;
     • Allocation of resources (staff, budget, equipment, etc.);
     • Quality of the consortium, including complementarity of partners.
   • Score threshold: 3 out of 5
   • Weight: 20%

Insight from the TPM team: Excellence is the most important criterion: you should focus heavily on it when drafting your proposal, without forgetting the other two criteria. EIC Pathfinder Open calls are extremely competitive, so only proposals that excel in the 3 criteria will be awarded.

Evaluation is carried out by external independent experts (not by Commission officials), and occurs in two steps:

• Step1: Individual evaluation phase

Each proposal is assessed individually by at least 3 EIC expert evaluators against the three award criteria.

• • • After the individual evaluation, these evaluators will get together in a consensus group to agree on a common position and on the final comments and scores.
    • The overall score from this individual evaluation phase will be the weighted sum of the three average scores from the three award criteria. Only proposals that meet all minimum evaluation thresholds are considered in Step 2.

• Step 2: Panel (evaluation committee) Phase

Once a consensus is reached (Step 1), all proposals are reviewed by a new, separate group of experts, the Evaluation Committee.

• • • The Committee reviews the individual assessments and reaches a consensus on:
      • Scores per criterion
      • Final overall score
      • Ranking and selection

Each applicant will receive an Evaluation Summary Report (ESR), including:

• The final score;
• Consolidated comments from The Evaluation Committee;
• Any additional comments, including advice not to resubmit the proposal.

If two or more proposals obtain exactly the same final score, tie-breaking rules are applied:

1. The proposal with the higher score in Excellence is ranked higher.
2. If Excellence is the same, the Impact score is compared.
3. If both are still the same, evaluators examine the gender balance among work package leaders in the proposal.
4. If, after all previous steps, proposals still have exactly the same score and the gender balance among work package leaders is also identical—or if neither proposal has female work package leaders—then the final tie-breaker is:

• • Number of applicants that are SMEs.
  • Number of EU Member States and Associated Countries represented in the consortium.

This situation is relatively rare, but it is important to be aware of it.

Insight from the TPM team: Given the high number of proposals, the gender balance criterion is used frequently, so it is important to pay attention to this aspect when designing your consortium and work structure.

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If you are interested in a detailed overview of EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026, including eligibility, evaluation criteria, and practical application tips, you can find a dedicated blog post on our website.

For those interested in the broader EIC landscape, the full EIC Work Programme 2026 is available as a PDF on the European Commission website.

In addition, the official EIC Work Programme 2026 Info Day webinar—covering all EIC programmes—is freely available at the link below:
https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/eic-work-programme-2026-info-day-25-11-13

Please contact us for more support in your proposal development and best of luck with your EIC Pathfinder application!

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Ultimately, EIC Pathfinder Open rewards scientific ambition. If your idea is bold, interdisciplinary, and genuinely transformative, don’t let the rules intimidate you—apply for it.