Library FAQ
How may Edge AI impact the next five to ten years?
It may improve environmental sustainability by reducing cloud dependency, enable real-time intelligent infrastructures (e.g., smart grids), support applications in low-connectivity regions (monitoring and disaster prediction), and democratise AI for SMEs and s...
How may FTQC impact the next five to ten years?
FTQC could disrupt cryptography, advance drug discovery and materials science with higher-precision simulations, stimulate investment and research in quantum technologies, and support EU goals in digital sovereignty and research leadership.
How may graph-driven AI impact the next five to ten years?
It could empower individuals to control data use, improve AI transparency and factual accuracy, support regulatory compliance via ontologies, enable cross-domain solutions in health, climate, and finance, and make AI more interpretable and data-centric.
How may hybrid agentic AI impact the next five to ten years?
They could enable decentralised, adaptive decision-making for crisis response, supply-chain resilience, renewable energy balancing, and simulations of social systems, while raising needs for bias management, accountability, and transparency.
How may miniaturisation of quantum systems impact the next five to ten years?
It could enable portable and commercially viable quantum devices, accelerate breakthroughs in sectors like cybersecurity, pharmaceuticals, and materials science, drive quantum hardware innovation, and increase Europe’s competitiveness in quantum technology.
How may VLEO satellites impact the next five to ten years?
VLEO satellites could provide very high-resolution imaging for disaster management, surveillance, and real-time monitoring, offer faster orbital decay that may aid sustainability, and supply higher-quality sensor data useful to policymakers, industry, and rese...
What are hybrid approaches in agentic AI for decentralised decision-making?
They are paradigms where autonomous, goal-directed agents are combined with diverse AI techniques (e.g., LLMs, deep reinforcement learning, federated learning, edge AI) to act, set sub-goals, adapt, and interact with environments and other agents with limited...
What are the main challenges of hybrid agentic AI systems?
Key challenges include balancing efficiency, protecting data privacy, managing computational constraints, and the engineering and resource allocation needed to scale and responsibly deploy these integrated systems.
What are Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites and their advantages?
VLEO satellites operate between about 100 km and 450 km altitude and offer advantages like much higher-resolution Earth observation (potentially ~10 cm) but face increased aerodynamic forces that affect orbital and attitude dynamics.
What is atmosphere-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) and why is it novel for VLEO?
ABEP systems ingest residual upper-atmosphere gases, generate plasma, and use that as propellant to compensate drag, reducing the need for onboard propellant, lowering mass and costs, and extending operational life in VLEO.
What is Edge AI?
Edge AI is a computational paradigm where AI model training and inference occur close to end devices in distributed environments, reducing latency, energy use, network congestion, and enhancing privacy compared with centralized cloud AI.
What is Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing (FTQC)?
FTQC is a quantum computing approach designed to overcome decoherence and noise by using advanced quantum error correction codes and improved qubit architectures to preserve quantum information for longer durations, enabling complex, large-scale computations.
What is knowledge-driven AI powered by graph technologies?
It is AI that leverages graph structures—such as Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), Knowledge Graphs (KGs), and ontologies—to represent and reason about entities and relationships, improving contextual understanding, interpretability, and handling of non-Euclidean...
What is meant by miniaturisation and integration of quantum systems on a chip?
It refers to integrating qubits with their control and readout electronics on a single chip to reduce noise and signal delays, improve coherence times, and replace bulky external control systems with compact, efficient on-chip solutions.
What is new about FTQC?
The novelty is its ability to reliably maintain quantum coherence through real-time quantum error correction and advances in qubit design (including topologically protected qubits), enabling scalable, accurate quantum operations beyond NISQ limitations.
What is new in the miniaturisation and integration of quantum systems?
The key novelty is seamless on-chip integration of qubits and control electronics—exemplified by cryo-CMOS technology that operates at cryogenic temperatures—reducing external interference and enabling more compact, energy-efficient quantum processors.
What new technologies are enabling Edge AI?
Enablers include high-performance microchips, AI hardware accelerators, compute-in-memory (CIM) architectures, networking advances (self-learning orchestration, intelligent reflecting surfaces, 6G), and optimized AI methods like Binary/Spiking Neural Networks,...
What recent developments are driving graph-centric AI?
Advances include GNNs and emerging graph transformers, scalable graph databases, integration of KGs with generative AI and LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), self-supervised learning on graphs, multi-modal KGs, hybrid neuro-symbolic systems, and impro...
Are there page limits for EIC Transition proposals?
Yes. Sections 1–3 and the cover page of Part B (including related project information) must consist of a maximum of 22 A4 pages.
How are EIC Transition proposals evaluated in the first step?
At least three EIC expert evaluators score the proposal against each award criterion; the overall score for each criterion is the average of individual scores and the total score is the sum of the three criterion scores. A pool of best-ranked proposals request...
How are eligible costs funded in EIC Transition grants?
Eligible costs take the form of a lump sum whose amount will be determined during evaluation. Applicants must propose the lump sum based on estimated project costs as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021.
How does the EIC ensure representation of women-led SMEs in the interview pool?
If at least 30% of applications are submitted by women-led SMEs/consortia, only applications from that pool will be invited to interviews. If less than 30%, the pool is expanded to include subsequent best-ranked women-led applications until a composition of at...
What additional support can EIC Transition projects receive?
Projects are eligible to receive EIC Booster grants up to EUR 50,000 for complementary activities, may submit an EIC Accelerator proposal via Fast Track, and will receive tailor-made Business Acceleration Services and matchmaking events.
What are key conditions of the EIC Accelerator investment component?
The investment component (min EUR 0.5 million, max EUR 15 million) finances market deployment and scale up, can be requested with the grant or later, and its terms are negotiated per the EIC Fund Investment Guidelines. The EIC Fund will ensure supported compan...