European Innovation Council: Pathfinder, Transition, and Accelerator 2026
Funding opportunities worth over €1.4 billion for strategic technologies and scaling up companies, with grants of up to €4m.
Registration Details
- Opens: 01/01/2026
- Closes: 28/10/2026 16:00
Opportunity Type
- Collaboration, Commercial challenges, Funding
Award
- Grants of up to €4m depending on programme
Organisation
- Horizon Europe
Sector
- Agrifood, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Digital, Electronics, Energy, Geospatial, Global, Health, Industrial Maths, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Materials, Photonics, Quantum, Robotics & AI, Security & Defence, Sensors, Space, Sustainability, Transport, Water
[Work programme information and downloads]
The EIC work programme 2026 offers funding in five main schemes:
-
EIC Pathfinder (€262 million, grants usually max €4m, deadline 12 May 2026) for multi-disciplinary research teams to undertake visionary research with the potential to lead to technology breakthroughs. Open to UK organisations as part of a 3‑country consortium.
- In addition, Pathfinder Challenges (deadline 28 Oct 2026) are also open to single applications or 2‑member consortia, including UK applicants.
-
EIC Transition (€100 million, grants usually max €2.5m, deadline 16 Sep 2026) to turn research results into innovation opportunities, following up on results generated by EIC Pathfinder, European Research Council Proof of Concept, Horizon Europe Pillar 2 (societal challenges) collaborative projects and Research Infrastructures projects. This is only open to applicants (UK included) who have received previous funding from one of the eligible calls listed.
-
Advanced Innovation Challenges (€6 million, stage 1 grants €300k, deadline 26 Feb 2026) to support high‑risk, demand‑driven deep tech innovation with transformative potential especially in areas where there is extensive research but lack of commercial uptake. Open to UK SMEs, academic organisations and RTOs.
-
EIC Accelerator (€634 million, grants up to €2.5m, apply anytime) for start‑ups and SMEs to develop and scale up innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. This includes Accelerator Challenges. The grant component of this is open to UK SMEs and UK individuals intending to set up SMEs, but the investment component is not open to UK applicants.
-
EIC Step Scale Up fund – this is not open to UK based applicants.
Pathfinder Challenges:
- Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems
- Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing
- DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems
Accelerator Challenges:
- Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Systems
- Alternative Concepts and Key Enabling Technologies for Fusion Power Plants
- Biotech for Regenerating Agricultural Soils
- Boosting the European Critical Raw Materials value chain
- Deep Tech for Climate Adaptation
Deadlines:
- Pathfinder Open – 12 May 2026; Pathfinder Challenges – 28 Oct 2026
- Transition – 16 Sep 2026
- Advanced Innovation Challenges – 26 Feb 2026
- Accelerator and Accelerator Challenges – apply anytime, short proposals assessed in batches at the start of each month. If short proposal successful, you may submit a full proposal to any of the cutoffs in 2026 (see below) or 2027 (dates to be established in the 2027 EIC Work Programme).
Further details of Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator are below: click here for more details of the Advanced Innovation Challenges.
Who can apply?
- Pathfinder: Research teams – consortia of at least 3 different independent legal entities established in different countries (can include UK: must include at least one legal entity in a Member State). For Pathfinder Challenges, single applicants or two‑organisation consortia can also apply, including single UK applicants or consortia including UK applicants.
- Transition: consortia of up to 5 legal entities which can include UK applicants, but only if you have already carried out a Horizon‑funded project (see list of eligible projects here).
- Advanced Innovation Challenges: single organisations, including UK applicants – can be SMEs, RTOs, or academic. (See further details here)
- Accelerator and Accelerator Challenges: single start‑ups and SMEs, or individuals intending to launch a SME, including UK applicants. Small mid‑caps can apply for equity only, but equity is not available for UK applicants.
Visit the EIC Pathfinder Open site for further details. Deadline: 12 May 2026 Visit the EIC Pathfinder Challenge site for further details. Deadline: 28 Oct 2026 Visit the EIC Transition site for further details. Deadline: 16 Sep 2026 Visit the EIC Accelerator site for further details Visit the EIC Accelerator Challenges site for further details Click here for links to the EIC Info Day recordings held in November 2025 EIC Pathfinder Challenges (three webinar recordings and slides) EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges Pilot Scheme (webinar recording and slides) EIC Info Day in the UK (slides only) For support, contact the UK’s NCPs for Horizon Europe (Claire Griffin is first point of contact for most EIC enquiries) or Innovate UK Business Connect’s European team.