The European Innovation Council has selected new research projects for high-impact portfolios in key technology areas.
The Commission has selected 44 new projects under the 2022 EIC Pathfinder call for novel projects to achieve breakthroughs in six strategic areas. The projects chosen were amongst 436 submitted eligible proposals and will receive up to €167m of EU funding – approximately €3.8m per project.
Most of the applicants come from universities and research organisations, and 16% of participants are SMEs.
The applicants could submit their proposals in six Challenges:
- Carbon dioxide and nitrogen management and valorisation;
- Mid to long-term and systems-integrated energy storage;
- Cardiogenomics;
- Towards the healthcare continuum: technologies to support a radical shift from episodic to continuous healthcare;
- DNA-based digital data storage; and
- Alternative approaches to quantum Information processing, communication, and sensing.
With each specific Challenge, the EIC will establish a portfolio of projects that focuses on different perspectives, competing approaches, or complementary aspects of the Challenge.
Selected research projects will access tailored-made coaching
EIC Programme Managers were directly involved in setting the challenges and selecting the project portfolios. Now, they will proactively manage the successful portfolios to increase impact.
As well as receiving grants, the selected research projects will access tailored-made coaching under the EIC Business Acceleration Services. The projects will also have the potential to fast-track access to the EIC Accelerator.
Next steps for the projects
Now, grant agreements for the selected projects are being prepared. The projects will start in summer 2023. A common roadmap for the implementation of the projects will be developed in collaboration with the Programme Managers.
Applications will open for the 2023 EIC Pathfinder Challenges call on 20 June, with a deadline of 18 October 2023, 17.00 CET.
Background information
The EIC’s Pathfinder scheme supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies. It welcomes cutting-edge scientific collaborations and research projects that underpin technological breakthroughs.
EIC Pathfinder research projects benefit from interactions with EIC Programme Managers and can receive additional funding for testing the innovation potential of their research outputs or for working across projects for portfolio actions.
In addition, promising results can receive follow up funding through the EIC Transition scheme to create a commercial venture or use the Fast Track scheme to access the EIC Accelerator to bring innovations to the market.
