Open Horizons Open Call #2
Equity-free funding for early-stage, women-led digital and deep-tech startups in Europe to co-develop innovative solutions with corporate partners through a structured open innovation programme.
Type of projects to be funded: Innovative pilot projects addressing one of 17 corporate-defined challenges. Projects must be proposed by women-led startups and aim to solve specific technological problems through digital or deep-tech innovations.
Sectors / domain: Digital and Deep-Tech, including AI, IoT, Quantum Computing, Cybersecurity, Smart Materials, Energy, Sustainability, Water Management, Robotics, and more.
Individual or consortium: Only individual startups are eligible; consortiums are not permitted. The applicant must be a single legal entity.
Specific eligibility requirements:
- Applicants must be women-led startups, legally established for 6 months to 6 years.
- The woman must be a founder or co-founder holding a top management role (CEO, CTO, etc.), and own at least 25% of the company’s shares.
- Must be established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
- Must be early-stage startups with less than €1 million in equity raised.
- Startups must operate in the digital or deep-tech domains as defined by Horizon Europe.
- Must qualify as SMEs under EU definitions.
- Only private companies (not associations or foundations) are eligible.
Specific topics or challenges: Applicants must address one of 17 clearly defined corporate challenges. These span areas such as: Quantum computing for electromagnetics, Smart robotics for painting, Industrial decarbonisation, IoT predictive maintenance, Cybersecurity for OT/IoT, Water management and circular economy, AI-based defect detection and predictive lead generation, Smart tags and sensors, Biosurfactants and green chemicals, Smart retail, and more.
Projects duration: 6-month programme divided into a 1-month Inception Stage and a 5-month Piloting Stage, with an optional 3-month follow-on phase.
Budget, funding rates and payment conditions:
Funding rate: 100% (equity-free)
Budget conditions / limitations: Up to €55,000 per startup: €10,000 for the Inception Stage, €40,000 for the Piloting Stage, €5,000 bonus for Demo Day participation.
Total call budget is €440,000 to support up to 17 startups (only 6 will advance to the Piloting Stage).
Payments: Disbursed in instalments based on achievement of milestones and deliverables (Business Model Canvas, pilot planning, mid-term and final reports, Demo Day participation).
Links
Closes
29/01/2026
Max funding per project
55.000€