Analysis of EIC Pathfinder Open projects funded in 2024 – hot topics and consortium composition
16th January 2025 at 3:22 pm
The European Innovation Council (EIC) established the Pathfinder Open scheme (PF-Open) as one of their flagship instruments to fund high-risk research and innovation projects developing breakthrough technologies. The programme is entirely bottom-up, meaning projects from any area of research can be funded. This is also reflected in the variety of recently funded projects that we at accelopment are currently involved in, ranging from materials engineering (POLINA) to photonic sensing (PIONEAR) and cancer diagnostics (BoneOscopy). Considering this exceptionally wide range of topics in our funded projects, we were interested in exploring which other topics were selected for funding to derive the hottest topics funded in the EIC Pathfinder Open.
The hot topics of PF-Open projects
In the 2024 Pathfinder Open call, 45 projects were funded, six of which were selected from the reserve list and are not included in this analysis. We classified the projects into six different research areas. The most prominent, with 14 funded projects, is medical technology, not including an additional four projects specifically on cancer research (including BoneOscopy). Other topics with multiple funded projects include space and aviation (n=3), quantum technology and photonics (n=6), environmental, agricultural and ecological engineering (n=6), and energy (n=3). While this implies a preference towards the life sciences and medicine-related topics, we note that the funded projects in each of these broad categories are highly diverse. Apart from medtech, quantum technology is identified as the most coherent topical cluster of projects in the 2024 Pathfinder Open call. To dissect the broad categories in more detail, we compiled the listed fields of research and listed keywords of each project from CORDIS. This compilation supports med-tech, oncology, and quantum technology and photonics as the most coherent topical clusters but also reveals the high prevalence of projects related to imaging techniques, protein engineering and metalloids.
For all of those who don’t fit in any of the most frequently funded research areas identified above, the good news is that our analysis supports the true bottom-up nature of the EIC PF-Open instrument – the category “Other” alone includes projects from establishing a new musical metaverse to 3D molecular imaging.
The consortium composition of PF-Open projects
With the recommended maximum grant amount at € 3M, EIC Pathfinder projects are known to involve rather small consortia. The only formal requirement is to include at least three independent organisations from three different EU or Horizon Europe-associated countries. The consortia of the funded projects of the 2024 call consist of a minimum of four and a maximum of 15 organisations with a median number of project partners of six. A total of 65% of the consortium partners are academic institutions, including universities, research organisations and hospitals, while 35% are for-profit organisations, primarily small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, considering the low technology readiness of the research and innovation activities, the 35% of for-profit organisations is rather high and we note that all but one project include at least one company.
We therefore consider a balanced consortium composition, including non-academic partners for long-term technology exploitation, as a major success factor for EIC Pathfinder Open proposals.
Could your project idea be the next hot topic?
With a track record of successfully supporting five Pathfinder projects in Horizon Europe – namely CORENET, PEARL-DNA, POLINA, PIONEAR, and the recently started BoneOscopy – the accelopment team is exceptionally qualified to assist you in navigating these highly competitive funding schemes. Our dedication to pioneering research extends back to the FET programme under Horizon 2020, where we contributed to the success of projects such as CLASSY, FRINGE and Lumiblast.
We are committed to supporting your journey in groundbreaking research and innovation. Whether you are planning a resubmission or preparing a new proposal, we offer detailed proposal reviews and comprehensive assistance with new submissions. Please contact us if you need assistance with your EIC Pathfinder Open proposal.
Dr. Jörn-Frederik Wotzlaw
Research & Innovation Project Manager
