ERC - European Research Council
The European Research Council (ERC) funds ground-breaking research driven by scientific excellence. Its highly competitive grants support individual researchers and their teams to pursue ambitious, curiosity-driven ideas with the potential to transform their fields. Open to all disciplines, the ERC empowers outstanding talent to push the frontiers of knowledge in Europe.
Open Calls
| Topic | Budget (EUR million) |
Budget/ project |
Number of projects expected to be funded | Deadline |
| Advanced Grant Call | 747 | 2.5 | 294 | 27 August 2026 |
| ERC Plus Grant Call | 210 | 7 | 30 | 2 September 2026 |
The ERC Plus Grant 2026 call supports ambitious, high-impact research projects that go beyond the scope of standard ERC funding, aiming to enable transformative scientific breakthroughs across all disciplines. Applications are open to researchers hosted in the EU or associated countries, with funding for long-term projects of up to seven years. It is highly competitive with a limited number of awards so start preparing early to align proposals with the call’s vision for frontier and disruptive research.
In parallel, the ERC Scientific Council has updated reapplication rules to ensure fairness and balance in the evaluation process amid increasing demand.
Full details on topics, deadlines, and submission procedures can be found here:
ERC Scientific Council readjusts rules for reapplication|ERC
Introducing ERC Plus Grants: Pioneering Research Beyond Boundaries | ERC | Horizon Europe NCP Portal
EIC - European Innovation Council
EIC Pathfinder is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC), designed to fund early-stage, high-risk / high-gain research that can pave the way to breakthrough technologies.
Within Pathfinder, the Open call is the “bottom-up” strand: it welcomes proposals in any field of science, technology or application, without predefined thematic priorities.
Open Calls
| Topic | Budget (EUR million) |
Budget/ project |
Number of projects expected to be funded | Deadline |
| Pathfinder CHALLENGES | 96 | 4 | 24 | 28 October 2026 |
The 2026 Challenges Call includes three cutting-edge thematic strands that seek to push the frontiers of science and enable transformative technology development:
- II.2.1 Advanced Materials for Miniaturised Energy Harvesting Systems — This topic invites proposals to develop novel materials and device architectures that can efficiently scavenge ambient energy at microscale. The ambition is to enable self-powered miniaturised systems (e.g. IoT devices, sensors, wearable electronics) through breakthroughs in material properties, integration strategies, and energy conversion techniques.
- II.2.2 Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing — This theme focuses on leveraging biotechnology, bioengineering and life-science innovations to promote longer, healthier lifespans. It aims to address biological aging processes, preventative diagnostics, regenerative therapies, and interventions that maintain functional resilience over time.
- II.2.3 DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards Trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems — Under this call, the goal is to advance the methodological foundations of AI by combining deep learning with symbolic reasoning, abstraction, planning and verification. The ambition is to build more trustworthy, interpretable, and robust cognitive systems that can operate reliably in complex, uncertain environments.
EIC Pathfinder targets work in the earliest Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), typically TRL 1 to TRL 4 — i.e. from basic research up to proof-of-concept / lab validation.