EU - Horizon Europe - European Innovation Council (EIC)

INTRODUCTION AND WORK PROGRAMME

The EIC aims at identifying and supporting breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations with the potential to scale up internationally and become market leaders.

Financial support to academia is provided through two main instruments: the ‘Pathfinder’ for advanced research on breakthrough / game-changing technologies; and the ‘Transition’ for transforming research results into innovation opportunities. All EIC funded projects and companies, as well as selected applicants, have access to a range of EIC Business Acceleration Services providing access to leading expertise, corporates, investors and ecosystem actors.

European Innovation Council (EIC) 2025 Work Programme

Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) provide a guide to the stage of development required in EIC calls. The following definitions of TRLs apply, recognising that there are important differences between technological fields:

  • TRL1 - basic principles observed
  • TRL2 - technology concept formulated
  • TRL3 - experimental proof of concept
  • TRL4 - technology validated in lab
  • TRL5 - technology validated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL6 - technology demonstrated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL7 - system prototype demonstration in operational environment
  • TRL8 - system complete and qualified
  • TRL9 - actual system proven in operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies, or in space)

Lump sum funding: For some EIC calls (indicated below) the grant will take the form of a lump sum and the amount will be determined during the evaluation process. The proposal should include an estimated budget breakdown showing the detailed costs per beneficiary and per work package. Once the project is funded, the usual financial reporting method of reporting actual costs to the agency will not apply. Instead, the lump sum shares will be claimed only for work fully accomplished as described in the grant agreement, regardless of the actual costs incurred during the project.

EIC PATHFINDER

EIC Pathfinder supports early-stage development of future technologies (TRLs 1-4), based on high-risk/high-gain science-towards-technology breakthrough research.

EIC Pathfinder Open

The Open call is open to projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities (‘bottom-up’).

Who is eligible? Consortia of three or more independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 3 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified.

Project duration: No formal instructions. Previously funded projects ranged from 2 to 5 years, with a duration of 3-4 years being the most common.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

The challenges support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas (listed below under ‘CALLS AND DEADLINES’) with the aim of achieving specific objectives for each Challenge. These portfolios are proactively steered by EIC Programme Managers.

Who is eligible?

Unless stated otherwise in the call text of the specific challenge, proposals may be submitted by:

  • Single legal entities established in a Member State or an Associated Country (excluding mid-caps and larger companies);
  • Consortia of two independent legal entities from two different Member States or Associated Countries;
  • Consortia of three or more independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 4 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified. The grant will take the form of a lump sum.

Project duration: No formal instructions. Previously funded projects ranged from 2 to 5 years, with a project duration of 3-4 years being the most common.

EIC TRANSITION

EIC Transition offers funding for innovation activities to support both the maturation and validation of a novel technology in the lab and in relevant application environments, and the development of a business case and business model towards the innovation’s future commercialisation.

Proposals must be based on results generated by EU funded project, as specified below. In addition, the results built upon must be at least in TRL 3 and preferably in TRL 4, and proposals should aim to reach TRLs 5-6 by the end of the project (applications must have completed all elements of TRL 3).

EIC Transition Open

The Open call is open to projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities (‘bottom-up’).

Submission is restricted to proposals based on results generated by the following eligible projects:

  • EIC Pathfinder (including FET-Open and FET-Proactive)
  • FET Flagship
  • ERC Proof of Concept
  • Research and Innovation projects funded under Horizon 2020 Societal challenges and Leadership in Industrial Technologies and under Horizon Europe pillar II.

Projects of the types listed above are eligible subject to meeting one of the following conditions:

  • The related project is active and started at least 12 months before the call deadline
  • The related project ended within 30 months before the call deadline

Only one proposal can be submitted per eligible originating ERC Proof of Concept project in the same call.

Who is eligible?

  • Single legal entities established in a Member State or an Associated Country (excluding mid-caps and larger companies);
  • Consortia of two independent legal entities from two different Member States or Associated Countries;
  • Consortia of three to five independent legal entities. There is a minimum requirement for at least one legal entity established in a Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in a different Member State or Associated Country.

Grant budget: Requested budget of 0.5-2.5 million Euros is considered appropriate. Nevertheless, larger amounts may be requested if properly justified. The grant will take the form of a lump sum.

Project duration: Commonly 1-3 years.

Evaluation procedure: The proposal evaluation procedure includes two steps, the first of which is remote evaluation by experts. Applicants who pass this step are invited to an interview with a jury, where they should convincingly pitch the proposal and answer questions. Following the interview the jury will make its final decision.

CALLS FOR PROPOSALS

Following the opening of each call, a hyperlink will be provided here to the call page in the EU portal where you could find the call information, the proposal templates and the submission service.

EIC Pathfinder Open

Planned opening date: 20 February 2025
Submission deadline: 21 May 2025

  • EIC Pathfinder Open

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

Planned opening date: 28 July 2025
Submission deadline: 29 October 2025

  • Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing
  • Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer
  • Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments
  • Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials

EIC Transition Open

Planned opening date: 22 April 2025
Submission deadline: 17 September 2025

  • EIC Transition Open

SUBMISSION RELATED PROCEDURES

As per WIS management instruction, grant proposals must be submitted for evaluation by the RGP, with a budget approved by Finance, at least one week to 10 days prior to the funding agency’s deadline.

  • Give RGP access to the proposal in the submission system or, if you are a partner in the proposal, ask the coordinator to do this. The RGP contact person for this purpose is Gabi Bernstein, gabi.bernstein@weizmann.ac.il.
  • Budget approval: Please make sure to obtain written approval from the Projects Section of the Finance Division for the budget before submitting the online application.
  • Internal Form: A direct link to a pre-filled online Internal Form will be emailed to you for completion.
  • Ethics issues: When preparing a proposal, it is required to conduct an Ethics Self-Assessment. See the guidance document on How to complete your Ethics Self-Assessment in the proposal preparation stage.

Note: In multi-beneficiary grants, the consortium has to choose a coordinator, who will manage and coordinate the project and will represent the consortium towards the granting authority. Weizmann researchers serving as proposal coordinators are required to use the services of a consultancy company that will perform the administrative and financial management of the project on their behalf. If you intend to serve as a proposal coordinator, please contact the EU-Desk for further information and discussion.