EIC Pathfinder Open – Breakthrough Innovation Support

HE – Pillar III

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Call Basics

Who can apply?

Consortia of ≥3 beneficiaries legal entities with at least one in a member state and ≥2 in different member states or associated countries.

  • Consortia of at least 3 independent legal entities;
  • Each established in a different member states or associated countries;
  • At least 1 entity established in an EU member state

    What can you apply for?

    • Up to approximately €4 million per project
    • Funding is provided as a 100% grant covering eligible costs under a lump-sum funding model.

    The indicative budget size is up to 4 M€, although >4 M€ can be requested when convincingly justified.

    Next deadline

    12th of May 2026

    Most common reasons for rejection

    Unconvincing market potential and technology uptake

    Lack a convincing long-term vision for a breakthrough technology

    Weak alignment with the call’s defined challenge

    The proposal does not fully address the challenge and some of the key elements are only superficially addressed

    Overambition

    The project presents an ambitious approach to resolve the challenge without a credible and realistic scientific basis or methodology

    Underdeveloped high-risk/high-gain logic

    Fail to articulate the high-risk/high-gain nature and scientific logic of the research

    Lack or redundancy in expertise within the partners

    The consortium composition either has know-how gaps or redundancies between partners

    Issues with the integration of disciplines in the project

    The project’s narrative fails to integrate the different pieces of research into a cohesive and coherent breakthrough project

    Readability issues

    The proposal is difficult to read: complicated organisation of ideas, intricate text flow, or language not adapted to the audience

    How we can help you maximise your chances of success

    We analyse how well your proposal addresses the following critical points:

    Motivation

    The potential of the project’s transformative technology to provide a radically new solution for an important problem

    Project objectives

    The defined project objectives are clear, specific, innovative, ambitious, and suitable to achieve the project’s transformative technology

    Science-toward-technology breakthrough 

    The innovation, originality, and high-risk/high-gain character of the  scientific approach and project idea to build the proposed transformative technology 

    Feasibility of the proposed project

    The approach, methodology, and research plan, as well as its work plan, are coherent, realistic, and effective 

    Composition of the consortium

    The consortium possesses the appropriate expertise to deliver the proposed proof of concept technology

    Pathways toward impacts

    The proposal describes a convincing path for the long-term vision of the project, connecting it with the proposed technology’s societal, economic, and  technological impacts of the project

    Text flow

    The proposal is well-structured, easy to read, and enjoyable, and presents a coherent flow of ideas.

    More generally…

    We will also assess the description of the gender dimension, open science measures, data and research output management, dissemination, communication, and exploitation.