As the European Commission has published the Wordk Programme for 2026, we have created the new guide to the EIC Pathfinder 2026 with the most important novelties and changes.
Let’s see what’s new:
Overview of the EIC Pathfinder 2026
- Change in the project scope and simpler administrative aspects.
- The indicative budget size of EIC Pathfinder projects is increased to €4 million, and it also includes the introduction of lump sum funding. This means that eligible costs for both Pathfinder Open and Challenges will take the form of a lump sum, the amount of which will be determined during the evaluation process.
- Three new topics for EIC Pathfinder challenges: Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing, DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems, and Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems.
Budget
The total budget for 2026 under the Pathfinder Programme amounts to €262 million.
Non-reimbursable grants of €3 to €4 million to support early-stage development of future technologies (e.g. various activities at low TRL 1-3), up to proof of concept.
The EIC Pathfinder is divided into two schemes:
- EIC Pathfinder Open (€166 million): it is open to support projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities.
- EIC Pathfinder Challenges (€96 million): it aims to support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas with the aim to achieve specific objectives for each Challenge.
EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026
During 2026, the EIC Pathfinder Challenges fall within the following topics:
Application process in a nutshell
In order to apply for the EIC Pathfinder, proposals must meet all the following essential characteristics:
- High-risk/high-gain research approach and methodology, with concrete and plausible objectives,
- Concrete, novel and ambitious science-towards technology breakthrough, providing advancement towards the envisioned technology,
- Convincing long-term vision of a radically new technology that has the potential to have a transformative positive effect to our economy and society.
About the EIC Pathfinder
The European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder programme is Europe’s flagship innovation programme that provides funding to breakthrough deep tech projects with a high degree of scientific and technological ambition and risk and potential to create new markets (TRL 1-4).
If you want to know more about the application process for the EIC Pathfinder 2026, learn about its novelties in detail, and access Strata’s unique offering, download our guide filling in this form:
