HORIZON-EIC-2027-PATHFINDEROPEN-two-stage – Förderung EU-weit

Expected Impact: The deep-tech approach is problem oriented. Its starting point is an important and fundamental issue, that will be tackled, e.g. related to the UN’s sustainable development goals or an economic, environmental, or societal problem. It relies on the joint efforts of a multitude of different experts, e.g., scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Deep-tech employs the convergence of existing and emergent technologies, rooted in science and advanced engineering, and powered by the design-build-test-learn cycle. The novelty of technologies and the ways in which they are used make the deep-tech approach very powerful and may lead to the solution of global societal or environmental problems or to the creation of new markets and the disruption of existing industries. The deep-tech journey needs time to move from basic science to applications to actual use cases. The amount of time required varies substantially for various cases, but it almost always takes longer than an innovation based on an available technology or existing engineering approach. EIC Pathfinder Open supports the initial phase of this journey. The projects funded by EIC Pathfinder Open work towards development of novel technologies when no existing technology fully solves the problem at hand. In some instances, a novel technology provides directly a solution, in others, success depends on combining novel and existing technologies or on developing new applications of established technologies. Sometimes the solution built will not work as desired and then again, the process will return to the technology development. We do not expect that your project will deliver the final solution and even the prototype is not among the expected outputs. However, we want that all the steps an EIC Pathfinder Open project undertakes, from the breakthrough research to the validation in the lab and eventually further, are aligned towards the solution to the problem, which represents the ultimate goal. The expected output of your project is at least an experimental proof of concept or a validation in a lab of the technology, which is the main focus of your project, proving its feasibility. You must do the validation through integrated use cases, , where relevant and appropriate to the maturity of the technology, clearly showing that the technology provides relevant steps toward the envisioned ultimate solution. Project results should include top-level scientific publications in open access. You are expected also to take the necessary measures in the course of the project to allow future uptake of the main results to take place. This includes: an adequate formal protection of the generated Intellectual Property (IP) [1], a well thought trough plan for future exploitation, and an assessment of relevant aspects related to regulation, certification, and standardisation. We are confident that in order to succeed in delivering a technology, which will contribute to the envisioned solution, your project team from the beginning should include also the actors needed to guide the scientific and technological development. Any ambitions to further develop the validated technology, including potential support under EIC Transition and subsequently EIC Accelerator support or VC investment, would strongly benefit from a clear and well-structured ownership and management of intellectual property rights (IPR). Expected outcome and impact: The deep-tech approach is problem oriented. Its starting point is an important and fundamental issue, that will be tackled, e.g. related to the UN’s sustainable development goals or an economic, environmental, or societal problem. It relies on the joint efforts of a multitude of different experts, e.g., scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Deep-tech employs the convergence of existing and emergent technologies, rooted in science and advanced engineering, and powered by the design-build-test-learn cycle. The novelty of technologies and the ways in which they are used make the deep-tech approach very powerful and may lead to the solution of global societal or environmental problems or to the creation of new markets and the disruption of existing industries. The deep-tech journey needs time to move from basic science to applications to actual use cases. The amount of time required varies substantially for various cases, but it almost always takes longer than an innovation based on an available technology or existing engineering approach. EIC Pathfinder Open supports the initial phase of this journey. The projects funded by EIC Pathfinder Open work towards development of novel technologies when no existing technology fully solves the problem at hand. In some instances, a novel technology provides directly a solution, in others, success depends on combining novel and existing technologies or on developing new applications of established technologies. Sometimes the solution built will not work as desired and then again, the process will return to the technology development. We do not expect that your project will deliver the final solution and even the prototype is not among the expected outputs. However, we want that all the steps an EIC Pathfinder Open project undertakes, from the breakthrough research to the validation in the lab and eventually further, are aligned towards the solution to the problem, which represents the ultimate goal. The expected output of your project is at least an experimental proof of concept or a validation in a lab of the technology, which is the main focus of your project, proving its feasibility. You must do the validation through integrated use cases, , where relevant and appropriate to the maturity of the technology, clearly showing that the technology provides relevant steps toward the envisioned ultimate solution. Project results should include top-level scientific publications in open access. You are expected also to take the necessary measures in the course of the project to allow future uptake of the main results to take place. This includes: an adequate formal protection of the generated Intellectual Property (IP) [1], a well thought trough plan for future exploitation, and an assessment of relevant aspects related to regulation, certification, and standardisation. We are confident that in order to succeed in delivering a technology, which will contribute to the envisioned solution, your project team from the beginning should include also the actors needed to guide the scientific and technological development. Any ambitions to further develop the validated technology, including potential support under EIC Transition and subsequently EIC Accelerator support or VC investment, would strongly benefit from a clear and well-structured ownership and management of intellectual property rights (IPR) Scope: You should apply if you are looking for support from EIC Pathfinder Open to realise an ambitious vision for a scientific breakthrough, which will provide the foundations of a radically new technology, with the potential to create new markets, respond to societal needs and/or to provide solutions to global challenges. EIC Pathfinder Open supports early-stage development of such future or emerging technologies (e.g., various activities starting from establishing basic principles and reaching at least a proof of concept or a technology validation in a lab), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research. EIC Pathfinder Open may support your work, especially if it is highly risky: you may set out to try things that will not work; you may be faced with questions that nobody has the slightest idea about how they should answered; you may realise that there are many aspects of the problem at hand that you do not master initially. All this may make your application stronger. On the contrary, if the approach you want to follow is incremental by nature or known, or if you have already validated your technology in the lab and are looking just for funding its implementation, EIC Pathfinder Open will not support you. EIC Pathfinder Open supports interdisciplinary research and development to explore and validate novel technological concepts, advancing breakthrough technologies towards validation. By bringing diverse areas of research together, often with different perspectives, terminologies and methodologies, within individual projects and within a portfolio of projects, really new things can be generated, and entirely new areas of research can be opened up. It is up to you to compose the team that you need, that you can learn from, and that you can move forward with. You are encouraged to involve and empower in your team key actors that have the potential to become future leaders in their field such as excellent early-career researchers or promising high-tech SMEs, including start-ups. Your project should reinforce their mind-set for targeted research and development aimed at high impact applied results. This will strengthen Europe’s capacity for exploiting the scientific discoveries made in Europe throughout the steps to market success or for solving global challenges. You are particularly encouraged to empower female researchers in your project and to achieve gender balance among your work package leaders. EIC Pathfinder Open supports the early-stage research and development component of the deep-tech approach to provide solutions for global challenges, create new markets, or in general to improve our lives. Before applying to this call, you should ensure that your proposal meets all the following essential characteristics (the Gatekeepers): • You present a convincing long-term vision of a radically new, future or emerging technology that has the potential to have a transformative positive effect on our lives and commit within the project to achieve an experimental proof of concept or validation in a lab. • You have a plausible idea for a concrete, novel and ambitious scientific breakthrough, providing the underpinning of the envisioned technology, and the knowledge and expertise within your team to realise it. • You provide a convincing argument for a high-risk/high-gain research approach and methodology, to achieve this scientific breakthrough in an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers and innovators, with concrete and plausible objectives. • Your proposal addresses an important global challenge or an unsolved specific problem affecting our economy, society, or environment, and your novel technology, if successfully developed and validated, has the potential to contribute to solving it either on its own or in combination with other technologies. You present a high-level vision of how your research could enable future solutions, while recognising that the Pathfinder project itself is not expected to deliver the final solution. Why should you apply? You should apply if you are looking for support from EIC Pathfinder Open to realise an ambitious vision for a scientific breakthrough, which will provide the foundations of a radically new technology, with the potential to create new markets, respond to societal needs and/or to provide solutions to global challenges. EIC Pathfinder Open supports early-stage development of such future or emerging technologies (e.g., various activities starting from establishing basic principles and reaching at least a proof of concept or a technology validation in a lab), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research. EIC Pathfinder Open may support your work, especially if it is highly risky: you may set out to try things that will not work; you may be faced with questions that nobody has the slightest idea about how they should answered; you may realise that there are many aspects of the problem at hand that you do not master initially. All this may make your application stronger. On the contrary, if the approach you want to follow is incremental by nature or known, or if you have already validated your technology in the lab and are looking just for funding its implementation, EIC Pathfinder Open will not support you. EIC Pathfinder Open supports interdisciplinary research and development to explore and validate novel technological concepts, advancing breakthrough technologies towards validation. By bringing diverse areas of research together, often with different perspectives, terminologies and methodologies, within individual projects and within a portfolio of projects, really new things can be generated, and entirely new areas of research can be opened up. It is up to you to compose the team that you need, that you can learn from, and that you can move forward with. You are encouraged to involve and empower in your team key actors that have the potential to become future leaders in their field such as excellent early-career researchers or promising high-tech SMEs, including start-ups. Your project should reinforce their mind-set for targeted research and development aimed at high impact applied results. This will strengthen Europe’s capacity for exploiting the scientific discoveries made in Europe throughout the steps to market success or for solving global challenges. You are particularly encouraged to empower female researchers in your project and to achieve gender balance among your work package leaders [1] IP includes industrial property (patents, trademarks, designs and geographic indications of source) and copyright. See also Section I and Annex 6 for more information on the EIC policy of Open Access and IP rights. [2] IP includes industrial property (patents, trademarks, designs and geographic indications of source) and copyright. See also Section I and Annex 6 for more information on the EIC policy of Open Access and IP rights. ">General conditions 1. Admissibility and eligibility conditions EIC Pathfinder Open funds collaborative research. Your proposal must be submitted by the coordinator, on behalf of a consortium including as beneficiaries, at least three legal entities, independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows: • at least one legal entity established in a Member State; and • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries. The legal entities may for example be universities, research organisations, SMEs, startups, industrial partners or natural persons. The standard admissibility and eligibility conditions and the eligibility of applicants from third countries are detailed in Annex 2 of EIC Work Programme 2027. The eligibility of associated countries and third countries is also detailed in Annex 2. Stage 1: You are requested to submit, separately from your proposal, a letter of commitment from each organisation you plan to include in the consortium, confirming that the organisation is aware of its participation in the proposal and willing to take part in the project if successful. Proposals not accompanied by the required letters of commitment will be considered incomplete and will therefore be ineligible. They will not be disclosed to evaluators. Stage 2: The composition of the consortium is expected to be the same as the one provided by the commitment letters for Stage 1. However, applicants may make some changes in the consortia if these are duly justified but must remain exceptional and must not substantially alter the proposal as evaluated at stage 1. Research proposals within the scope of Annex I to the Euratom Treaty, namely those directed towards nuclear energy applications, must be submitted to relevant calls under the Euratom Research and Training Programme. Applications with elements that concern the evolution of European communication networks (5G, post-5G and other technologies linked to the evolution of European communication networks) will be subject to restriction for the protection of European communication networks (see Annex II – Section B1) Proposal page limits and layout: Described in Part B of the Application Forms available in the Submission System. Stage 1: Sections 1 and 2 of the part B of your proposal, corresponding respectively to the award criteria Excellence and Impact, must consist of a maximum of 10 format A4 pages. Stage 2: Sections 1 to 3 of the part B of your proposal, corresponding respectively to the award criteria Excellence, Impact, and Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation, must consist in total of a maximum of 23 format A4 pages. In both stages, excess pages will be automatically made invisible, and will not be taken into consideration by the evaluators. Please also consult Annex 2 of the EIC Work Programme 2027. 2. Eligible countries Described in Annex 2 of EIC Work Programme 2027. 3. Other Eligibility Conditions Described in Annex 2 of EIC Work Programme 2027. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion Described in Annex 2 of EIC Work Programme 2027. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds Described in Section II of EIC Work Programme 2027. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes Described in Section II of EIC Work Programme 2027. and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement Described in Section II of EIC Work Programme 2027. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants Please refer to the Lump Sum Model Grant Agreement (Lump Sum MGA) used for Lump Sum EIC actions under Horizon Europe. Specific conditions Described in EIC Work Programme 2027. Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates Standard application form (HE EIC Pathfinder Open stage 1 - short proposal) Standard application form (HE EIC Pathfinder Open stage 2 - full proposal) Evaluation form templates Standard evaluation form (HE EIC Pathfinder Open stage 1 - short proposal) Standard evaluation form (HE EIC Pathfinder Open stage 2 - full proposal) Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA Call-specific instructions Detailed budget table (HE LS) Information on clinical studies (HE) Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Programme Guide EIC Work Programme 2027 HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement