EIC to fund 39 Pathfinder projects with up to €145 million across five strategic technology challenges
- ›The European Innovation Council selected 39 projects from 403 eligible proposals under the 2021 Pathfinder Challenges and will allocate up to €145 million in grants.
- ›Projects span five strategic areas: self-aware AI, brain measurement and stimulation tools, cell and gene therapy, novel green hydrogen routes, and engineered living materials.
- ›This was the first Pathfinder Challenges round co-designed and steered by EIC Programme Managers who will now actively manage thematic portfolios.
- ›Grants average about €3.7 million per project and come with tailored Business Acceleration Services and potential fast-track access to EIC follow-on instruments.
- ›Grant agreements were being prepared in April 2022 with projects due to start in July 2022 and a new Pathfinder Challenges call scheduled to open on 16 June 2022.
EIC to fund 39 Pathfinder projects with up to €145 million across five strategic technology challenges
The European Innovation Council announced on 7 April 2022 that it had selected 39 research projects under the 2021 EIC Pathfinder Challenges call. The chosen projects were selected from 403 eligible proposals and together will receive up to €145 million in EU grant funding. The average award is roughly €3.7 million per project. These projects are designed to pursue radical, early-stage technology breakthroughs across five strategic areas chosen by the EIC.
What was funded and why it matters
The selection covers research at the earliest technology readiness levels, typically TRL 1 to 3, where work aims to establish the scientific basis and proof of concept for technologies that could be transformational. The five areas targeted in this 2021 challenge round are self-aware artificial intelligence, tools to measure and stimulate brain tissue activity, emerging technologies in cell and gene therapy, novel routes to produce green hydrogen, and engineered living materials. These areas reflect policy priorities around health, strategic technologies, climate and energy, and new material systems.
| Challenge | Primary aim in this Pathfinder round | Example application or benefit |
| Self-aware AI (Awareness inside) | Develop new, broadly applicable concepts of awareness that can be measured and engineered into complex systems | Improved safety and human acceptance of robots and AI systems |
| Tools to measure and stimulate brain tissue | Create high-resolution, low-impact devices or new physical methods for monitoring and modulating brain activity | Better therapies for neurological disorders and advanced brain-computer interfaces |
| Emerging technologies in cell and gene therapy | Advance platforms, manufacturing and delivery systems to overcome bottlenecks in gene and cell therapies | More scalable and safer treatments for cancer and genetic diseases |
| Novel routes to green hydrogen production | Explore biological, chemical or physical processes to produce renewable hydrogen without critical raw materials | Lower-cost, sustainable hydrogen for energy and industry |
| Engineered living materials | Design materials built from living cells or ecosystems that have programmed functions and sustainability benefits | Self-healing or adaptive materials with lower environmental footprints |
Process innovations in this call: Programme Managers and portfolios
This call marked a procedural change for the EIC. For the first time EIC Programme Managers helped to define the challenge topics and to select and curate portfolios of projects. Programme Managers will now proactively manage those portfolios, coordinating activities across projects to increase collective impact. The EIC says this allows the agency to support different approaches to the same problem and to foster collaboration, data sharing and common roadmaps across projects.
What winners receive beyond grants
Selected teams will receive grant funding and access to tailored Business Acceleration Services. Those services include coaching, mentoring, introductions to investors and corporate partners and help with market or regulatory strategy. Projects may also be eligible for fast-track access to EIC follow-on instruments such as the EIC Transition programme or the EIC Accelerator if they demonstrate commercial potential.
Applicant profile and next procedural steps
Most applicants for this call were universities and research organisations. Small and medium sized enterprises accounted for around 20 percent of participants. The Commission said grant agreements were being prepared and that projects were expected to start in July 2022. Programme Managers will work with project teams to produce shared roadmaps and portfolio actions.
The EIC announced that a new Pathfinder Challenges call would open on 16 June 2022 with a deadline of 19 October 2022. The Pathfinder scheme also runs an Open call that does not predefine thematic priorities.
Why this matters for the European innovation ecosystem
The EIC Pathfinder funds blue-sky research at low TRLs where the risk is high and the potential payoff is transformative. By funding early-stage exploratory work and linking it into an ecosystem of coaching and follow-on instruments the EIC aims to shrink the gap between academic discovery and commercial deep tech in Europe. The portfolio approach is an attempt to concentrate resources around strategic challenges and to coordinate results in a way that individual grants alone may not achieve.
However, turning Pathfinder outputs into marketable technologies remains difficult. The track record of early-stage research funding shows that many promising ideas do not reach commercial scale without substantial follow-on capital and industrial partnerships. The EIC’s additional mechanisms such as Transition grants, the Accelerator, the EIC Fund equity investments and Business Acceleration Services are intended to address that gap but they are not a guarantee. Policy ambition must be matched by patient capital, clear routes to scale and industry engagement.
Commission comment and official framing
Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth at the time, congratulated the selected teams and framed the initiative as a way to create new opportunities for radical innovation in Europe. The Commission emphasised that the new mechanisms under the EIC enable support across the whole innovation chain from early research to company creation and scale up.
Those are legitimate objectives but they will depend on the quality of portfolio management, the willingness of private investors to co-invest, and on the extent to which projects can demonstrate pathways to credible markets and regulatory approval where relevant.
Practical next steps for researchers and startups
Grant agreements for the 2021 call were being finalised in April 2022 with projects set to begin in July 2022. Teams selected to the portfolios should expect active engagement from EIC Programme Managers and invitations to join coaching and ecosystem activities. Researchers and spinouts wanting to follow similar routes should prepare for the next call opening on 16 June 2022 and pay attention to the Challenge topics defined by Programme Managers.
Assessment and caveats
The EIC’s approach improves the alignment of funding with strategic needs and introduces portfolio-level management that could increase the odds of impact. Nevertheless, the new model will be judged on outcomes not intent. Key success indicators will include how many Pathfinder projects progress to Transition grants, enter the EIC Accelerator, attract private investment through the EIC Fund or otherwise translate into deployed technologies. Observers should watch for follow-on funding rates, commercial uptake, and cross-project collaboration outputs such as shared datasets, standards or demonstrators.
Finally, many of the winning teams come from research institutions. Successful commercial translation typically requires stronger private sector involvement at an early stage. The EIC will need to ensure that its acceleration and portfolio management measures effectively bridge that divide.