Horizon Europe, EIC Pathfinder, breakthrough technologies: panned calls

The Horizon Europe programme, part European Innovation Council (EIC), has published the Work Programme 2025 with information about planned calls. The calls that seem relevant for the Faculty of Science are the calls for proposals of international projects EIC Pathfinder Open 2025 with deadline 21. 5. 2025 and EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2025 with deadline 29. 10. 2025.

On 5. 11. 2024, an online infoday on current EIC calls will take place. Event webpage and link to web stream.

On 27. 11. 2024, a webinar in Czech on the EIC calls is organised. Event webpage and registration (in Czech).

If you plan to participate in a proposal submitted to a Horizon Europe call, please, contact well in advance the Project Management Department (Martina Holíková, martina.holikova@natur.cuni.cz).
See also Horizon Europe – practical information on faculty website.

If you are interested in a Horizon Europe topic, but you don’t know, how to find a project coordinator or partners, please, contact the Project Management Department and we’ll recommend to you some networking opportunities.

If you consider coordinating a project, please contact us as soon as possible, ca. 4 months before the deadline at the very latest, because preparation of a high-quality proposal in the role of a coordinator is very demanding.

• EIC about Work Programme publication – key information, changes, important links.
• EIC Work Programme 2025 – detailed information about planned calls.
• EIC calls on Funding & Tenders Portal – the calls will be published here (scope of the call, links to relevant documents, frequently asked questions, interface for proposal submission).
• Annotated proposal template EIC Pathfinder Open – created by the network of National Contact Points Access2EIC containing detailed advice on individual parts of the application.
• About EIC by Czech National Contact Points – news, events etc.

The goal of EIC Pathfinder is to achieve the proof of principle and validate the scientific basis of a breakthrough technology. The projects can start at low technology readiness levels (e.g. that only basic principles of the potential technology have been observed), aiming at achieving technology readiness levels 3–4: experimental proof of concept, technology validated in a lab, by the time of their conclusion.

EIC Pathfinder Open

• Deadline of the 2025 call is 21. 5. 2025.
• The call supports projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities.
• The proposal should be based on an ambitious vision for a novel future technology that could make a real difference to our lives.
• Projects are to be carried out by international consortia of at least 3 legal entities from 3 different EU member states or Horizon Europe associated countries (at least 1 entity must be from an EU member state).
• Usual consortia size is 4–10 partners.
• Recommended maximal total budget of a project is EUR 3 million.
• Detailed information in the EIC Work Programme 2025, pp. 22–27.
• Projects funded by the 2023 call.

EIC Pathfinder Challenges

• Deadline of the 2024 call is 29. 10. 2025.
• Projects must aim to validate the scientific basis for a new breakthrough technology in one of the thematic areas – challenges – defined for a given year.
• Projects are to be carried out by international consortia of at least 3 legal entities from 3 different countries (EU member states or countries associated to Horizon Europe), also, single applicants or small consortia of just two partners are also eligible in most Pathfinder Challenges topics.
• Usual consortia size is 5–7 partners, however, projects carried out by a single entity or by a consortium of 12 partners have also been supported.
• Recommended maximal total budget of a project is EUR 4 million.
• Detailed information including description of 2025 challenges in the EIC Work Programme 2025, pp. 27–50.
• Supported thematic areas (challenges) for 2025:
  • Biotech for Climate Resilient Crops and Plant-Based Biomanufacturing
  • Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionize Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer
  • Towards autonomous robot collectives delivering collaborative tasks in dynamic unstructured construction environments
  • Waste-to-value devices: Circular production of renewable fuels, chemicals and materials

News published by Ludmila Součková on 30. 10. 2024.
Updated 6. 11. 2024 (link to the 27. 11. 2024 webinar added).

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