Lund University successful with the European Innovation Council – new round open

The European Innovation Council aims to support leading research on the complicated road to commercialisation and social impact. Ever since the EU launched its new framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, in 2021, the EU has been financing research in three pillars, called Excellent Science, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, and Innovative Europe. 

As part of the Innovative Europe pillar, the European Innovation Council has been tasked with promoting excellent research with high innovation potential, along with its own fund of around EUR 10 billion.

Skåne, Sweden and Europe

From a Swedish and a European perspective, Lund University’s record has been impressive: Seven projects have been awarded money, of which five belong to LTH and two to the Faculty of Medicine. In financial terms, together they represent nearly EUR 5.4 million.

For comparison, Karolinska Institutet has received around EUR 4 million across six projects, and Chalmers EUR 2.8 million across five projects. LU also ranks highly in European terms, coming seventh among European higher education institutions.

The leading institutions are Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, with 13 projects, followed by EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) with 10 projects.

Clear innovation potential a requirement

Many of the Lund projects are in the field of nanotechnology and its applications, such as in semiconductors, optics and biomaterials. They are examining completely new possibilities opened up by the technology. A condition for receiving funding from the European Innovation Council is that the technology is deemed to be ground-breaking and have innovative potential. 

New round open June-October

A new round of the EIC Pathfinder Challenges opens in June. This is one of the European Innovation Council’s funding pathways. The deadline for applications is 18 October. The current themes for this round are clean and efficient cooling, digitalisation in construction, precision nutrition, responsible electronics and in-space solar energy.

Open call – EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2023

For more information, contact anna-karin.wihlborg@fs.lu.se. Alternatively, keep an eye out on https://fs.blogg.lu.se/ and the EU Commission’s website.