Promoted by Fondazione CDP - the non-profit organisation of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione Cariplo, the new Call for proposals will support the competitiveness of Italian Universities and research institutions in the EIC Pathfinder and Transition calls. The initiative aims to bridge the gap between scientific excellence and the market, facilitating the ‘from lab to market’ route and harnessing the value of local development. An exploratory webinar will be held on 23 February, on the opportunities of participating and how to go about it.
Open to universities and public and private non-profit research organisations with their registered office in Italy, the aim of the third edition of the vEIColo Call for proposals is to foster a culture of innovation and scientific entrepreneurship, facilitating the strategic positioning of researchers in EIC calls, and in particular in the Pathfinder and Transition programmes.
vEIColo fits into a European context of increasing competition to access programmes supporting innovation.
In this scenario, Italy has a high level of research and significant potential still partly unexplored. In EIC programmes, the national success rate stands at 7.9%, compared to a European average of 8.7%, placing Italy in the ‘Moderate Innovator’ group, and with considerable margins for consolidation in transforming knowledge into high-impact innovative solutions.
The third edition confirms the approach of previous versions, based on two complementary lines of action:
Previous editions of vEIColo have demonstrated how valid this model is, combining financial support and strategic consulting (so far, a total of 2,550 hours of consulting services have been provided by international experts). As proof of the initiative’s effectiveness, and with a 2.1% success rate in the Pathfinder Open 2025 call, two winning projects have used the service offered by vEIColo. Success stories include Naples University’s HoloMorPh project (new sustainable phototonic technologies), and Milan Polytechnic’s AI-RITMIA project (AI-guided chip cardiac diagnostics), that each obtained European funding for approximately 3 million euro.
To further explore the opportunities of the call and how to participate, a webinar organised with APRE, the Agency for the Promotion of European Research, will be held on 23 February, from 16.00 to 17.00.
This webinar will explain the main new aspects of the third edition and how to participate in the call for proposals. The experience of two successful cases will also be presented.
To take part in the third edition of the Call for Proposals, interested organisations must the following deadlines:
For further information and to see the full text of the call for proposals, please visit Link.