Logo

EIC Pathfinder awards €138 million to 45 projects for radical early stage technologies

Brussels, September 5th 2024
Summary
  • ›The European Innovation Council awarded up to €138 million to 45 projects from the 2024 Pathfinder Open call.
  • ›Selected projects span health, AI, computing, environment and energy and were chosen from 1,110 evaluated proposals.
  • ›Participants are concentrated in higher education and research organisations with only about one fifth coming from SMEs.
  • ›Grants are paired with bespoke coaching via EIC Business Acceleration Services and can lead to follow-on support through EIC Transition or access to the Accelerator.
  • ›Examples include projects on a musical metaverse, wireless plant-based communication, and flying electron qubits.

EIC Pathfinder funds 45 early stage projects with up to €138 million

On 5 September 2024 the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency announced that 45 projects selected under the 2024 EIC Pathfinder Open call will receive, in total, up to €138 million. The projects cover a broad range of fields including health, artificial intelligence, computing, environment and energy. The successful proposals were selected from 1,110 evaluated submissions and involve participants from 25 countries. The largest shares of successful participants come from Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

Numbers and composition of the 2024 cohort

The EIC published summary figures showing the composition of participants and the competitive context. Of the participants across the selected projects, nearly half are from higher education institutions. Research organisations make up around one fifth and small and medium sized enterprises account for roughly another fifth. The selection was competitive. With 45 projects chosen from 1,110 evaluated submissions the implicit selection rate at evaluation was around 4 percent, though applicant pools and eligibility rules vary by stage and call.

MetricValueNotes
Total funding announcedUp to €138 millionFor 45 selected Pathfinder Open projects
Number of evaluated submissions1,110Pathfinder Open 2024 evaluation
Selected projects45From 25 countries
Participant typesHigher education 46%, Research organisations 22%, SMEs 22%Approximate shares reported by EIC
Top source countries among selected applicantsItaly, Germany, Spain, FranceBy sheer number of participants

What EIC Pathfinder supports and how it fits into the innovation ladder

EIC Pathfinder purpose:The Pathfinder scheme is designed to back high risk high gain, interdisciplinary research that could underpin radically new technologies. It funds early stage, low technology readiness level activities typically between TRL 1 and TRL 3 up to a proof of concept and pays particular attention to interdisciplinary science that may create entirely new technological trajectories.
Grant sizes and types:Pathfinder Open grants are typically up to €3 million per project under the bottom up route. Pathfinder Challenge calls with thematic priorities can award up to €4 million. Grants can be complemented by booster funding for specific activities and by nonfinancial support through the EIC Business Acceleration Services.
Technology readiness and follow on routes:Pathfinder is aimed at low TRLs. Promising results can migrate to EIC Transition to mature technology and business readiness toward higher TRLs and then access the EIC Accelerator or private investment for market entry. The EIC provides a Fast Track route to the Accelerator for especially compelling projects, subject to eligibility and further evaluation.

Selected projects: three illustrative examples with technical context

The EIC press notice highlighted a number of projects to illustrate the variety of ideas funded. Below we explain their aims and provide additional context on the technical concepts involved.

MUSMET project:MUSMET aims to reshape how music is performed and experienced by exploiting the 'musical metaverse'. The project adopts an interdisciplinary approach combining human computer interaction, engineering, cognition and musicology. Industrial partners will contribute to proof of concept prototypes for new musical interfaces and online musical interaction systems. The research focus appears to include perceptual and interaction design, networked performance latency, and novel input devices for musicians. If successful the work could inform new formats for remote collaborative performance, though practical adoption will require robust engineering to handle timing, expressive control and rights management in commercial settings.
EcoSentinel project:EcoSentinel proposes a controversial and ambitious blend of biohybrid sensing and low power electronics by augmenting plants with cybernetic implants. The stated aim is to enable a wireless plant based communication network where plants act as natural antennas. Power would come from integrated plant microbial electricity generation systems. The idea sits at the intersection of bioelectronics, microbial fuel cells and environmental sensing. Conceptually interesting, such an approach faces multiple engineering and ecological challenges. These include ensuring implant biocompatibility, avoiding damage to plant physiology, producing reliable energy harvesting at scale, and demonstrating that the networked sensing delivers unique environmental intelligence compared with less invasive sensor deployments.
ELEQUANT project:ELEQUANT seeks a paradigm shift in solid state quantum computing by exploiting flying electron qubits rather than stationary qubits built from superconductors or semiconductor quantum dots. The project aims to develop novel materials platforms based on strained germanium and multilayer graphene, build single electron detectors and push quantum nanoelectronics toward terahertz operation to address coherence and control challenges. Flying qubit architectures transfer quantum information via mobile carriers. They promise certain advantages for connectivity but introduce demanding constraints on timing control, dispersion and decoherence. The project will need to demonstrate long enough coherence, precise injection and detection of single electrons and scalable fabrication techniques if it is to influence the broader quantum ecosystem.

What successful proposals receive aside from cash

Winners receive grants plus access to the EIC Business Acceleration Services. Those services include coaching, mentoring, investor outreach support, and help with scaling and commercialisation pathways. EIC Programme Managers can also interact with Pathfinder projects and projects can receive additional testing or portfolio funding in coordination with the EIC to explore joint activities across related projects.

EIC Business Acceleration Services explained:BAS covers a menu of support from investor readiness programmes, trade fair participation and procurement matchmaking to targeted coaching. The EIC presents BAS as a concrete way to increase the likelihood that research outputs move beyond proofs of concept. That support is useful but does not replace the need for sustained follow on capital and industry adoption for many deep tech ideas.

Wider EIC context and funding pathways

The Pathfinder scheme sits within the broader EIC funding architecture that aims to shepherd deep tech from early research to commercial scale. The 2024 EIC work programme laid out multiple strands including Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator and earmarked significant resources across these streams to strengthen Europe’s deep tech pipeline and scale up ambitions.

EIC funding strand2024 reference amountsPurpose
EIC Pathfinder€256 millionVisionary research to underpin technology breakthroughs, grants up to €3-4 million
EIC Transition€94 millionMaturation from research outputs toward market readiness, grants up to €2.5 million
EIC Accelerator€675 millionGrants and equity for start ups and SMEs to scale disruptive innovations
EIC Fund investments€405 million earmarked plus €180 million follow onEquity investments managed under the EIC Fund

Beyond grants, the EIC Fund acts as the equity arm to provide patient capital and crowd in private finance. The Fund operates with an investment advisor role for the European Investment Bank and aims to co invest with a Trusted Investor Network. The EIC also pilots STEP Scale Up calls that target substantially larger equity investments to catalyse rounds in the tens of millions.

Reality check and critical considerations

Pathfinder is explicitly high risk and high reward. That means many funded projects will not reach commercial markets. Grants at the Pathfinder scale support early technical exploration but are modest relative to the capital required for industrialisation, integration, regulation and market development in sectors like semiconductors, energy systems or biotech.

Geographical and sectoral balance:While projects come from 25 countries, the highest numbers are from established innovation hubs in Italy, Germany, Spain and France. University and research institution dominance among participants is not surprising for low TRL work, but the relatively small share of SMEs indicates a gap in translating research prototypes into spin outs or industrial partners early on. The EIC has tools to improve widening participation but persistent inequalities in national innovation systems shape outcomes.
From lab to market is long and expensive:A successful Pathfinder prototype still needs TRL advancement, system integration, certification, and industrial manufacture to become a product. That requires capital far beyond the typical Pathfinder grant. The EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator provide paths to further funding, but competition for those follow up routes is strong and private investors will look for clear business cases and credible teams.

Practical next steps for applicants and interested stakeholders

Researchers and teams considering EIC calls should plan consortia carefully, document intellectual property and freedom to operate, and engage early with EIC Business Acceleration Services and national contact points. For teams from widening countries or SMEs, leverage the tailored instruments the EIC and WIDERA work programmes offer to improve readiness and visibility.

Upcoming deadlines referenced in the announcement:The EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2024 call referenced in the press release had a deadline on 16 October 2024 at 17:00 CET. Future Pathfinder and Challenge calls are scheduled according to the EIC work programme so applicants must consult the Funding and Tenders Portal and EIC pages for current deadlines.

Where to find more information

Full details on the EIC Pathfinder scheme, the list of selected projects, the EIC Work Programme and Business Acceleration Services are available from the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. Applicants should consult the Funding and Tenders Portal for application templates and the national contact points for tailored guidance.

The EIC provides meaningful early stage support for visionary science. That support is not a guarantee of market impact. Aspiring innovators should treat Pathfinder funding as the start of a long innovation journey that will require strategic follow on funding, industry partnerships and careful management of technical and regulatory risk.

Read More

EIC doubles in-house programme manager team, appoints four domain leads for space, quantum, construction AI and agrifood

2022-04-04Read Now

EIC Board endorses 2025 work programme and flags operational priorities including STEP-driven calls

2024-10-29Read Now

InnoNext's first matches show early promise as research internships link talent with European deep tech

2025-07-24Read Now

EIC-backed startup traceless raises €36.6 million to scale home-compostable biomaterial and build industrial plant

2023-09-28Read Now