The results of the EIC Pathfinder Open 2026 call, managed by the European Innovation Council (EIC), have been announced, with 43 projects approved for a total funding of €166.9 million. The competition was highly competitive, showing a European approval rate of 2.04%.
Nationally, 11 Portuguese entities are involved in six of the approved projects, representing about 14% of the total and securing approximately €3.3 million for Portugal. Out of 306 applications with national participation, 87 were submitted as coordinators. The Portuguese approval rate stood at 1.96%, close to the European average.
The project "Vivogas", coordinated by IST ID, stands out for developing innovative gas release systems to improve the viability of blood and organs. This project involves the Gulbenkian Foundation – Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Portuguese Blood Institute, FCiências.ID, and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
The remaining approved projects with national collaboration include "Bright" (participated by NOVA University Lisbon), "IonFlux" (participated by the University of Minho), "Sensepack" (with contribution from CCMAR), "Artemis" (participated by INL), and "UNO-TCar" (with contribution from Stemmaters and Complear).
Since the start of Horizon Europe in 2021, Portugal has secured around €51 million in the EIC Pathfinder Open, corresponding to approximately 5% of the total funding available in this call up to 2026.
The EIC Pathfinder supports research and development projects in early technological maturity phases, focused on advanced and disruptive scientific technologies and solutions with the potential to create new markets and address global challenges.
