EIC assembles six high-risk portfolios and backs 44 cutting-edge research projects with €167 million
- ›The European Innovation Council selected 44 projects from 436 eligible proposals under the 2022 EIC Pathfinder Challenges.
- ›Selected projects will share up to €167 million in grants, averaging about €3.8 million per project.
- ›EIC Programme Managers curated challenge-specific portfolios and will actively manage these projects to increase impact.
- ›Projects span six strategic technology challenges from cardiogenomics to DNA-based data storage and alternative quantum approaches.
- ›Successful teams will get grants plus tailored coaching through EIC Business Acceleration Services and possible fast-track access to the EIC Accelerator.
EIC assembles six high-risk portfolios and backs 44 cutting-edge projects
The European Innovation Council announced the selection of 44 research projects under its 2022 EIC Pathfinder Challenges. The projects were drawn from 436 eligible proposals and will receive a combined envelope of up to €167 million in EU grants. The EIC says this portfolio approach is intended to accelerate high-risk, high-reward research across strategic technology areas by combining direct funding with proactive portfolio management and business support.
What the 2022 Pathfinder Challenges covered
The selected projects address six targeted Challenges that the EIC defined in order to concentrate resources and build cross-project synergies. Rather than funding isolated proposals, Programme Managers grouped winners into portfolios to explore complementary or competing approaches to the same problem. Most applicants came from universities and research organisations with 16 percent of participants identified as SMEs.
| Challenge | Short description / scope | Target outcome and typical funding notes |
| Carbon dioxide and nitrogen management and valorisation | Novel biological, chemical or physical routes to capture, convert and valorise CO2 and N streams using renewable energy to produce net zero commodities, fuels or chemicals. | Proof of concept to lab-scale; Challenge grants up to about €4 million; aims for carbon negative or net zero processes. |
| Mid to long term and systems integrated energy storage | Stationary storage solutions from days to months for grid and industrial use including non-critical-raw-material approaches and multi-vector integration. | Proof of concept or lab-scale demonstrations targeting higher energy density, efficiency and system integration. |
| Cardiogenomics | Genomic, transcriptomic and multi-omics approaches to stratify cardiovascular disease, identify therapeutic targets and enable personalised care. | Large patient cohorts and disease modelling expected; aim is to accelerate first-in-class therapies and diagnostic stratification. |
| Towards the healthcare continuum | Technologies to shift healthcare from episodic, symptom-driven care to unobtrusive continuous monitoring and proactive intervention. | Sensor and system-level innovations that can be integrated with health workflows and assessed under HTA frameworks. |
| DNA-based digital data storage | High-density, long-lived storage media based on DNA or sequence-controllable polymers addressing read/write/edit throughput, cost, and durability. | End-to-end concepts for storage and novel scenarios like in-vivo sensing or fingerprinting; bio-safety and ethics considerations required. |
| Alternative approaches to quantum information processing, communication, and sensing | Non-mainstream quantum platforms and principles that could provide practical advantages for processing, sensing or communication. | Foundational proof of principle to reach TRL 3 to 4 and build new European ecosystems in quantum technologies. |
How the EIC selected and will manage the portfolio
EIC Programme Managers were directly involved in defining the Challenge topics, curating the calls and choosing the final portfolios from the top-ranked proposals. The selection produced a relatively narrow success rate: about 10 percent of eligible proposals were funded. The EIC says Programme Managers will continue to actively manage the portfolios to maximise scientific and innovation impact, coordinate work across projects, and help lay out common roadmaps for implementation.
The EIC also emphasises non-financial support. Selected teams will receive access to EIC Business Acceleration Services, which provide coaching, mentoring and introductions to industry and investors. Promising results may be eligible for additional follow-on mechanisms such as EIC Transition grants for commercialisation or fast-track entry to the EIC Accelerator for scale-up investment and grants.
Money, timelines and practical next steps
The Commission said up to €167 million will be made available to the 44 projects, an average of roughly €3.8 million per project. Pathfinder Challenge grants typically fund early-stage work at low Technology Readiness Levels such as TRL 1 to 3 and can go up to around €4 million for the Challenges strand. Grant agreements for the selected projects were being prepared with project starts forecast for summer 2023. Programme Managers will collaborate with teams to develop shared roadmaps for delivering results and exploring cross-project actions.
| Item | Detail |
| Number of proposals (eligible) | 436 |
| Projects selected | 44 |
| Total indicative EU funding | Up to €167 million |
| Average funding per project | Approximately €3.8 million |
| Typical TRL supported | Low TRL work, 1 to 3, up to proof of concept |
| Next Pathfinder Challenges call (2023) | Opens 20 June 2023, deadline 18 October 2023 |
What the Pathfinder scheme is intended to do
The EIC Pathfinder scheme funds interdisciplinary, high-risk research that could enable radically new technology. It is designed for ideas that sit at low Technology Readiness Levels and that need proof of concept work before commercialisation pathways make sense. The scheme offers two broad tracks: Pathfinder Open, which supports exploratory research with grants of up to about €3 million and Pathfinder Challenges, which target specific strategic areas and can provide up to about €4 million per project.
Context and critical perspective
The EIC’s portfolio approach and the combination of grants plus coaching responds to a long-standing challenge in European innovation policy: bridging the gap between academic discovery and commercially viable deep tech. Programme Managers and Business Acceleration Services can help but they are not a guarantee of commercialisation. Historically, many high-risk projects deliver important scientific progress without producing near-term marketable products. The EIC’s model aims to increase the odds of translation but success will depend on downstream factors including additional investment, regulatory pathways, pilot deployments and market dynamics.
Two practical caveats are worth noting. First, the level of SME participation remains modest in this round with 16 percent of participants, which suggests the bulk of the work remains rooted in academic and research institutions. Early-stage translational research often requires stronger industry engagement to validate practical constraints and commercial pathways. Second, average grant sizes are sizeable for early-stage work but may be insufficient to de-risk complex scaling problems that appear later in development. Many winners will need further public and private follow-on capital to reach market readiness.
Upcoming calls and related challenge topics
The EIC announced a new Pathfinder Challenges call opening on 20 June 2023 with a deadline on 18 October 2023. The 2023 Challenge topics include a different set of strategic priorities such as clean and efficient cooling, digitalisation in architecture and construction, precision nutrition, responsible electronics, and in-space solar energy harvesting among others. These Calls are an important route for groups aiming to tackle targeted high-impact problems and to join portfolios managed by Programme Managers.
Takeaway
The 2022 EIC Pathfinder Challenge round concentrated EU grant support behind six strategic domains and a selective set of 44 projects. The portfolio model, active programme management and linked acceleration services aim to boost the odds that high-risk research leads to meaningful impact. That ambition is plausible but not guaranteed. Translating early breakthroughs into commercial products or policy-ready solutions will require additional capital, rigorous validation, regulatory navigation and sustained industry engagement.