The European Innovation Council (EIC) received 667 project proposals for its 29 October 2025 EIC Pathfinder Challenges deadline. These proposals involved a total of 3825 participants.
The proposals are distributed over the four EIC Pathfinder Challenges as follows:
Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing – 108Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionise Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer – 219Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments – 93Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials – 247
Applicants are coming from 71 countries. The total indicative budget for this call is €120 million which is expected to be allocated in approximately equal shares across the Challenges. The evaluation process has begun, and the results will be available in March 2026.
Background information
With its Pathfinder programme, EIC supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies. It welcomes the high-risk/high gain and interdisciplinary cutting-edge science collaborations that underpin technological breakthroughs.
EIC Pathfinder Challenges provides funding for projects with thematic priorities. Grants of about €4 million support early-stage developments towards future technologies up to proof of concept or validation in the lab (e.g., TRL 3 or 4). Pathfinder Challenges projects benefit from interactions with EIC Programme Managers and may receive additional funding for testing the innovation potential of their research outputs or for working across projects for portfolio actions.
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