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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

This EIC Pathfinder Challenge aims to fund early-stage, groundbreaking research projects that develop innovative Generative AI (GenAI) based agents to revolutionize medical diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The core objective is to create interactive, autonomous GenAI agents (or 'super-agents') that provide clinicians with a holistic, end-to-end perspective of patient care across the entire clinical pathway, focusing on enhancing pattern identification, reducing diagnostic errors, and improving cancer treatment. This grant is SECTOR-SPECIFIC, targeting the healthcare industry, specifically oncology. The target recipients are research organizations, universities, SMEs, startups, and natural persons. The geographic scope includes entities established in EU Member States or Associated Countries. This is part of the EIC Pathfinder Challenges, which typically recur annually.

Financial Structure

This grant utilizes a Lump Sum Model Grant Agreement (Lump Sum MGA), meaning funding is provided as a fixed amount based on the successful completion of agreed activities, rather than reimbursement of actual costs.

Minimum Grant Amount: 500,000.0 EUR per project.
Maximum Grant Amount: 4,000,000.0 EUR per project.
Currency: All amounts are in Euros (EUR).
Funding Rate: Not specified as the grant is based on a Lump Sum Model, where a fixed amount is provided for the completion of predefined work packages rather than a percentage of eligible costs.
Cost Categories: Eligible costs are implicitly covered by the lump sum. Applicants should refer to the 'Lump sums - what do I need to know?' guidance for details.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Organization Types

STARTUP (start-ups)
SME (SMEs)
UNIVERSITY (universities, research organisations)
INDIVIDUAL (natural persons)
OTHER (other research organisations not explicitly covered by 'university', e.g., private research institutes)

Organizational Size and Structure

Single Beneficiary Projects: Mid-caps and larger companies (typically those with more than 250 employees) are not permitted to apply as a single entity. This implies that single applicants should generally be SMEs or smaller.
Consortia: Projects can be submitted by either a single legal entity or a consortium. If applying as a consortium:
- Two Entities: Must be independent legal entities from two different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
- Three or More Entities: Must include at least three independent legal entities, each established in a different country, with at least one from an EU Member State, and at least two others from different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Geographic Location

Applicants (single entities or consortium members) must be established in an EU Member State or an Associated Country.

Scope Requirements

Proposals must focus on one and only one of the following specific cancer types: breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, or colorectal cancer.
Each proposal must address both of the following areas (at least one sub-objective from each):
- Area 1: Technological Area (GenAI-based tools for integrating multidimensional multimodal health data, medical data augmentation, medical knowledge representation and integration).
- Area 2: Clinical Area (Predictive Diagnosis, Enhance Personalized Treatment Selection).
Projects addressing only one of these two areas or other cancer types are considered out of scope and will not be funded.

Application Process

Application Timeline

Submission System Opening: Planned for 2025-07-24.
Application Deadline: 2025-10-29 00:00:00+00 (Central European Time, typically).
Evaluation Period: Details are described in section II of the EIC Work Programme 2025.

Application Procedure and Materials

Submission Model: Single-stage submission.
Proposal Page Limit: Sections 1 to 3 (Excellence, Impact, Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation) of Part B of your proposal must not exceed 30 A4 pages. Any pages beyond this limit will be automatically made invisible and will not be considered by evaluators.
Required Documentation: Applicants will need to prepare their proposal using the Standard Application Form, which will be available in the Submission System.
Supporting Materials: Specific guidance on clinical studies and a detailed budget table for lump sum grants are provided.

Application Assistance Extensive support is available for applicants: * Online Manual: Provides guidance on procedures from proposal submission to grant management. * Horizon Europe Programme Guide: Offers detailed guidance on the structure, budget, and political priorities of Horizon Europe. * Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ: Answers to frequently asked questions on submission, evaluation, and grant management. * Research Enquiry Service: For general questions about European research. * National Contact Points (NCPs): Provide guidance and practical assistance on participation in Horizon Europe within specific countries. * Enterprise Europe Network (EEN): Offers advice to businesses, especially SMEs, including guidance on EU research funding. * IT Helpdesk: For technical issues with the Funding & Tenders Portal. * European IPR Helpdesk: Assists with intellectual property issues. * CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk: Advise on standardization in project proposals. * Partner Search: A tool to help find partner organizations for consortia.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation of proposals will be based on standard Horizon Europe criteria, focusing on three main sections:

Excellence
Impact
Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation

Specific considerations for scoring include: * Scientific and Technical Robustness: Proposals must demonstrate appropriate performance metrics for continuous evaluation and rigorous testing against diverse datasets to ensure reliability across various patient demographics and conditions. * Proof of Concept: Projects should include proof of concept studies in controlled settings to demonstrate improved and more accurate diagnosis and treatment compared to current clinical practice. * AI Model Interpretability: A strong focus should be on enhancing the interpretability of developed AI models/agents, making their decision-making processes transparent and understandable to clinicians. * Compliance with Ethical and Legal Frameworks: Projects must comply with the EU concept for Trustworthy AI, relevant ethical principles, and the AI Act. Furthermore, models are expected to be Medical Device Regulation (MDR)-compliant. * Data Quality and Management: Careful attention must be given to data quality, transparency, privacy, and security in the development of AI models. Proposals should describe how they will leverage and contribute data and tools to the Cancer Image Europe platform and use the Health DCAT-AP metadata standard for datasets.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Ethical Compliance

All projects must comply with the EU concept for Trustworthy AI, relevant ethical principles, and the AI Act.
Developed generative AI models are expected to be Medical Device Regulation (MDR)-compliant.
Emphasis is placed on data quality, transparency, privacy, and security.

Data Management and Sharing

Proposers are encouraged to leverage data and tools available in the Cancer Image Europe platform.
Projects are expected to contribute their developed datasets, AI tools, and models to this platform under agreed conditions.
All produced datasets should be described with metadata records in the EU dataset catalogue of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) using the Health DCAT-AP metadata standard.

Special Restrictions

Applications that include elements concerning the evolution of European communication networks (such as 5G, post-5G, and other related technologies) will be subject to restrictions aimed at protecting European communication networks.

Grant Details