EIC allocates €191 Million to 58 Innovation Projects 2 of which have INL Participation
October 30, 2020
Fifty-eight novel, high-impact technologies have been selected in the last round of investment from the European Innovation Council (EIC) ‘Pathfinder Open’ Pilot, funded under Horizon 2020, the EU research and Innovation Programme.
This represents the highest-ever budget – €191 million euros, the highest number of selected projects – 58 and number of applications – 902 for this type of funding, which helps to transform high-risk, high-impact research ideas into novel technologies. Among the ideas supported in this round are a radically new concept for converting low-grade waste heat into electricity and edible robots and robotic food that could deliver lifesaving nutrition to humans and animals in emergencies.
The European Commission representation in Portugal highlights that “among the ideas supported in this round are a radically new concept for converting residual heat into electricity and another for edible robots and robotic foods that can provide vital nutrition to humans and animals in emergency situations”.
Of the 58 projects supported, six have partnerships with Portuguese entities and 2 projects come from INL – Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, in Braga. From the projects financed, INL will coordinate “SpinCat: Spin-polarized Catalysts for Energy-Efficient AEM Water Electrolysis”. Also, INL and its spin-off company RUBYnanomed will be partners in the “BIOCELLPHE: Ultrasensitive BIOsensing platform for multiplex CELLular protein PHEnotyping at a single-cell level”. In total, INL will receive more than €1.1 million euros.
As well as a share of the €191 million budget, selected projects will receive access to business acceleration support and coaching services. Following the success of the EIC pilot phase (2018–20), the fully-fledged EIC is expected to be launched early next year under Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme, with increased funding for breakthrough technologies.
