EIC opens €132 million Pathfinder Challenge calls for high-risk, high-gain research

Brussels, June 15th 2021

Summary

›The European Innovation Council launched five Pathfinder Challenge calls with a combined budget of €132 million.
›Calls target high-risk, interdisciplinary research across five themes: awareness in systems, brain measurement and stimulation tools, cell and gene therapy, green hydrogen, and engineered living materials.
›EIC Programme Managers will actively steer selected portfolios to prioritise risky science-to-technology paths with high innovation potential.
›Deadlines and application rules are set through the Funding and Tenders Portal with the submission deadline on 27 October 2021.

EIC opens €132 million Pathfinder Challenge calls

On 15 June 2021 the European Innovation Council announced that five Pathfinder Challenge calls are open with a total envelope of €132 million. The calls are designed to attract high-risk, high-reward research that can create new market opportunities across multiple sectors. Selected projects will be grouped and actively managed as portfolios by EIC Programme Managers who are tasked with steering the science to the highest impact technology paths.

Scope and objectives

Pathfinder Challenges target early stage, interdisciplinary research that aims to move knowledge from the laboratory toward novel technological directions. The EIC frames these calls around five challenge themes for 2021. The approach emphasises portfolios of projects that explore different perspectives or competing technologies within the same challenge to increase the chance of breakthrough outcomes and to accelerate downstream innovation.

Challenge	Core aim	Expected outcome and focus	Team profile suggested
Awareness inside	Develop new concepts and measures of awareness applicable to systems and artefacts	New theoretical concepts and prototypes demonstrating the value of 'awareness' for performance, flexibility, user experience and acceptability	Interdisciplinary teams in AI, cognitive science, control engineering, neuro and social sciences
Tools to measure and stimulate activity in brain tissue	Develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic neurotechnology	Working prototypes or new sensing/stimulation principles with preclinical validation and clear clinical need justification	Microelectronics, neurobiology, medical device engineers, clinicians, regulatory experts
Emerging technologies in cell and gene therapy (CGT)	Strengthen European capability to compete across discovery to manufacturing	Breakthrough methods or platforms addressing manufacturing, delivery, targeting, or novel cell/gene therapies beyond the state of the art	Biotech research groups, process engineers, translational and manufacturing experts
Novel routes to green hydrogen production	Explore new biological, chemical or physical routes to produce green hydrogen without critical raw materials	Lab or proof of concept technologies for decentralised or centralised green H2, circular approaches and life cycle analysis	Chemists, electrochemists, process engineers, systems analysts, circular economy experts
Engineered living materials	Harness living cells to create materials with self-regeneration and adaptive properties	Platforms or prototypes for producing at least two distinct living materials with predictable dynamic functionalities, along with ELSA considerations	Synthetic biology, materials engineering, AI for design, morphogenesis experts, ethicists

What the calls require and the timeline

The EIC Pathfinder Challenges support collaborative consortia or, in some Challenge tracks, single applicants. The Pathfinder scheme is targeted at early TRL research and supports activities to reach proof of concept. Applicants must follow the rules and templates published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. The explicit submission deadline for these 2021 Challenge calls was 27 October 2021. Challenge Guides and detailed application material are available from the call pages on the Portal.

Grant sizes and support available:EIC Pathfinder grants commonly support projects with budgets up to around €4 million depending on the call and justification. Additional small 'booster' grants of about €50,000 are available for complementary activities. Awarded projects get access to Business Acceleration Services.

Consortia and eligibility:Challenge-specific eligibility varies. For example the Awareness challenge required collaborative projects with a minimum of three partners. Other challenges permit mono-beneficiary proposals but mid-caps and larger companies are often restricted for some Pathfinder tracks. Applicants must check the relevant Challenge Guide for precise requirements.

Short descriptions and expectations by challenge

Awareness inside

This challenge asks teams to reconceive 'awareness' beyond a human subjective account and to produce concepts, measurable proxies and engineering approaches for awareness that can be applied to technological systems and artefacts. Projects must produce new concepts that can be recognised or measured and demonstrate added value in a prototype or proof of principle. The call explicitly calls for engagement across neurosciences, psychology, AI and engineering and anticipates ethical and regulatory implications.

Tools to measure and stimulate activity in brain tissue

This challenge focuses on diagnostic and therapeutic neurotechnology. It seeks either full devices with strong clinical justification and preclinical evidence or new physical principles that could underpin future sensing or stimulation methods. EIC asked proposals to aim for a working prototype and preclinical data where the effort targets a device path. The Programme emphasised clinical acceptability, miniaturisation, low power, multi-site sensing and closed-loop capability.

Emerging technologies in cell and gene therapy

Cell and gene therapy is a competitive and rapidly evolving field with major translational and manufacturing hurdles. The challenge sought proposals that strengthen European consortia and startups particularly on problems that block clinical translation or manufacturing scale up. Topics include better manufacturing platforms, delivery vectors, targeting and new therapeutic concepts for solid tumours or other diseases. The call welcomed both disease-specific and non-disease-specific solutions.

Novel routes to green hydrogen production

Green hydrogen features in the European green transition but the EIC noted current electrolytic routes face cost, material and scale challenges. This Challenge looks for new biological, chemical or physical processes that produce hydrogen entirely from renewables using non-toxic, non-critical raw materials. Proposals should consider circular economy approaches and may explore co-production of decarbonised chemicals and system integration at different scales.

Engineered living materials

ELMs are materials built wholly or partly from living cells and can self-organise, self-heal and adapt. The challenge seeks platforms and technologies to build predictable living materials at multiple scales and with dynamic functions. Projects must produce at least two distinct living materials and address ethical, legal and social aspects. Teams combining synthetic biology, materials engineering, AI and morphogenesis were encouraged to apply.

How EIC will manage selected projects

The EIC emphasised a more proactive management model led by EIC Programme Managers who will steer portfolios rather than treating funded projects as isolated awards. Programme Managers are expected to keep portfolios focused on high risk science to technology paths with the largest innovation potential and to foster portfolio-level activities such as data sharing, common roadmaps and connections to investors and acceleration services.

Programme managers explained:EIC Programme Managers develop vision and actively manage portfolios, help form and maintain consortia and broker access to Business Acceleration Services, investors and other ecosystem support. They are appointed full-time and are expected to coordinate multidisciplinary portfolios for up to four years.

Implications, risks and practical advice for applicants

The Pathfinder Challenges are deliberately high risk and interdisciplinary. That creates opportunity but also familiar pitfalls. Translating ambitious lab ideas into credible prototype work plans in a single funded period is difficult. Manufacturing scale up, regulatory pathways, IP ownership, ethical review and clinical validation often require more time and resources than early research grants provide. Applicants should be realistic about deliverables and build teams that include translational expertise early.

Practical recommendations for applicants:Clearly justify the clinical or market need. Include translational, regulatory and IP expertise in the consortium. Where prototyping is proposed, show how you will de-risk multiple engineering paths. For bio and medical projects, plan for ethical, safety and preclinical requirements. Outline downstream pathways to scale, manufacturing or clinical trials and identify potential follow-on funding sources early.

Areas where the EIC approach will face friction:Cell and gene therapy teams will face steep manufacturing and regulatory hurdles. Green hydrogen proposals must tackle cost and systems integration, not just single-step chemistry. Engineered living materials raise regulatory and public acceptance questions. Projects in all areas should plan for the long and costly path from prototype to market adoption.

Application mechanics and administrative details

Applicants must submit proposals through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. For the 2021 Challenge calls the deadline was 27 October 2021 at 17:00 Brussels time. Part B of the application form typically limits the main technical narrative to 25 A4 pages covering Excellence, Impact and Implementation. Applicants should consult the Challenge Guides and the Work Programme for full instructions and templates.

Evaluation and awards:Proposals undergo remote evaluation and selection processes. The EIC runs multi-stage evaluation for some instruments. Successful projects will be invited to contract and can expect portfolio-level engagement from Programme Managers. Awarded projects are also connected to the EIC Business Acceleration Services for mentoring and investor access.

Item	Detail
Total Challenge budget	€132 million
Number of Challenge themes	5
Submission deadline	27 October 2021
Typical Pathfinder grant size	Up to ~€4 million per project, plus small booster grants
Where to apply	EU Funding and Tenders Portal and respective Challenge Guides

Why this matters for European innovation policy

The Pathfinder Challenges are a strategic instrument in the EIC portfolio to identify and de-risk radically new technologies. By adopting portfolio management and appointing Programme Managers, the EIC signals a shift to more active stewardship of high-risk projects to try and accelerate transition from deep science to disruptive technologies. The success of this approach will depend heavily on realistic deliverables, strong translation teams and follow-on investment to bridge the long path from prototype to commercial scale.

For policymakers and observers, the calls show where the EIC and the Commission see priority technology bets. For researchers they represent a rare funding opportunity for radical ideas but also a commitment to engage with downstream translation challenges early.

Further resources

Each Challenge has a Challenge Guide with background and specific application requirements. Applicants should consult the EIC Work Programme and the call pages on the Funding and Tenders Portal for templates, eligibility details and submission instructions. Programme Managers provide additional context in their Challenge Guides accessible from the call pages.

Final note of caution:These calls emphasise high-risk, high-reward research. Applicants should avoid inflated claims and present balanced, technically credible roadmaps that acknowledge regulatory, manufacturing and market risks. The EIC will judge proposals on both scientific novelty and the plausibility of the route toward impact.