HORIZON-EIC-2027-PATHFINDEROPEN-two-stage

Expected Impact:
The deep-tech approach is problem oriented. Its starting point is an important and fundamental issue, that will be tackled, e.g. related to the UN’s sustainable development goals or an economic, environmental, or societal problem. It relies on the joint efforts of a multitude of different experts, e.g., scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Deep-tech employs the convergence of existing and emergent technologies, rooted in science and advanced engineering, and powered by the design-build-test-learn cycle. The novelty of technologies and the ways in which they are used make the deep-tech approach very powerful and may lead to the solution of global societal or environmental problems or to the creation of new markets and the disruption of existing industries.
The deep-tech journey needs time to move from basic science to applications to actual use cases. The amount of time required varies substantially for various cases, but it almost always takes longer than an innovation based on an available technology or existing engineering approach. EIC Pathfinder Open supports the initial phase of this journey. The projects funded by EIC Pathfinder Open work towards development of novel technologies when no existing technology fully solves the problem at hand. In some instances, a novel technology provides directly a solution, in others, success depends on combining novel and existing technologies or on developing new applications of established technologies. Sometimes the solution built will not work as desired and then again, the process will return to the technology development.
We do not expect that your project will deliver the final solution and even the prototype is not among the expected outputs. However, we want that all the steps an EIC Pathfinder Open project undertakes, from the breakthrough research to the validation in the lab and eventually further, are aligned towards the solution to the problem, which represents the ultimate goal.
The expected output of your project is at least an experimental proof of concept or a validation in a lab of the technology, which is the main focus of your project, proving its feasibility. You must do the validation through integrated use cases, , where relevant and appropriate to the maturity of the technology, clearly showing that the technology provides relevant steps toward the envisioned ultimate solution. Project results should include top-level scientific publications in open access. You are expected also to take the necessary measures in the course of the project to allow future uptake of the main results to take place. This includes: an adequate formal protection of the generated Intellectual Property (IP) [1] , a well thought trough plan for future exploitation, and an assessment of relevant aspects related to regulation, certification, and standardisation. We are confident that in order to succeed in delivering a technology, which will contribute to the envisioned solution, your project team from the beginning should include also the actors needed to guide the scientific and technological development. Any ambitions to further develop the validated technology, including potential support under EIC Transition and subsequently EIC Accelerator support or VC investment, would strongly benefit from a clear and well-structured ownership and management of intellectual property rights (IPR).

Expected outcome and impact:
The deep-tech approach is problem oriented. Its starting point is an important and fundamental issue, that will be tackled, e.g. related to the UN’s sustainable development goals or an economic, environmental, or societal problem. It relies on the joint efforts of a multitude of different experts, e.g., scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Deep-tech employs the convergence of existing and emergent technologies, rooted in science and advanced engineering, and powered by the design-build-test-learn cycle. The novelty of technologies and the ways in which they are used make the deep-tech approach very powerful and may lead to the solution of global societal or environmental problems or to the creation of new markets and the disruption of existing industries.
The deep-tech journey needs time to move from basic science to applications to actual use cases. The amount of time required varies substantially for various cases, but it almost always takes longer than an innovation based on an available technology or existing engineering approach. EIC Pathfinder Open supports the initial phase of this journey. The projects funded by EIC Pathfinder Open work towards development of novel technologies when no existing technology fully solves the problem at hand. In some instances, a novel technology provides directly a solution, in others, success depends on combining novel and existing technologies or on developing new applications of established technologies. Sometimes the solution built will not work as desired and then again, the process will return to the technology development.
We do not expect that your project will deliver the final solution and even the prototype is not among the expected outputs. However, we want that all the steps an EIC Pathfinder Open project undertakes, from the breakthrough research to the validation in the lab and eventually further, are aligned towards the solution to the problem, which represents the ultimate goal.
The expected output of your project is at least an experimental proof of concept or a validation in a lab of the technology, which is the main focus of your project, proving its feasibility. You must do the validation through integrated use cases, , where relevant and appropriate to the maturity of the technology, clearly showing that the technology provides relevant steps toward the envisioned ultimate solution. Project results should include top-level scientific publications in open access. You are expected also to take the necessary measures in the course of the project to…