| Topic | HORIZON-CL4-2027-05-DIGITAL-EMERGING-03 |
|---|---|
| Status | Forthcoming |
| Call | HORIZON-CL4-2027-05 — DIGITAL |
| Destination | Achieving open strategic autonomy in digital and emerging enabling technologies (2026-27) |
| Type of action | Research and Innovation Actions · lump sum |
| Opening | 17 November 2026 |
| Deadline | 18 March 2027 |
| Budget | EUR 3 million to EUR 5 million per project · 6 projects expected · EUR 25 million in total |
| Part B page limit | 45 pages (standard application form; check your call) |
| Template | Work Programme 2026–2027 application form |
Expected outcomes
The topic does not say whether all outcomes must be addressed; treat them all as relevant.
- EO1 Advanced integrated photonic devices and circuits with enhanced functionality and performance enabling wider application across multiple sectors including digital, automotive, industrial, health and security.
- EO2 Reinforced competitiveness of EU photonics actors by demonstrating advancements in representative system configurations and validating real-world applicability.
- EO3 Significantly improved performance of electro-optic systems in applications such as communication, computing, sensing, medical diagnostics, data processing, AI supporting the introduction of photonic elements into such systems.
- EO4 Low power consumption sensors with increased performance in application domains.
What evaluators will look for in this topic
Expected outcomes
- The topic does not say whether all outcomes must be addressed; treat them all as relevant.
- For each outcome (EO1 to EO4), name who will use or adopt your results (a specific group, not “industry” or “society”), how they get them, and the indicator that shows the change, with baseline, target and date.
- Use the topic's own words for each outcome, so the evaluator can tick it off.
What the scope asks for
Evaluators check the proposal against these sentences of the scope. Answer each one visibly, in the call's own words.
- “R&I should enhance the functionality, efficiency, and integration of photonic devices and circuits with a focus extended system performance.”
- “Action should address at least two of the following aspects.”
- “Proposals should consider system-level impact and demonstrate advancements in representative configurations relevant to one or more application domains.”
Conditions that shape the proposal
- Part B, sections 1–3: 45 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
- Lump sum: the budget is fixed per work package and paid when each work package is completed. Every work package needs activities and deliverables an evaluator can verify, and the effort must match the money.
- Other Eligible Conditions: “In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and…”
- Other Eligible Conditions: “For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a…”
Impact pathway and traps
- The scope expects pilots or demonstration. Name the sites, the partners who run them and what is measured there.
- Keep outputs, outcomes and impacts apart: what you deliver, what changes when others use it, and the long-term effect.
- Link your outcomes to the destination's expected impacts in the Work Programme. Destination impacts are long-term effects, not project deliverables.
- Name the barriers outside the project (regulation, markets, user behaviour) that could block uptake, and what you will do if they do.
- Section 2.3 (the summary canvas) is optional on this call; the old split into scientific, economic and societal impact is no longer required.
The scope, as published
R&I should enhance the functionality, efficiency, and integration of photonic devices and circuits with a focus extended system performance. Action should address at least two of the following aspects. Enhanced performance through improved spectral purity, wavelength coverage, output power and noise characteristics. Increased modulation or detection speeds going beyond the capability of existing PIC material platforms, improved signal-processing capabilities, and integration of novel materials such as thin-film LiNbO3, BTO, graphene, silicon carbide, phase change materials and TMDCs. Miniaturised, high-complexity photonic circuits (e.g. multilayer photonics, chiplets, multiple integrated functional elements), scalable interconnects and electronics-photonics integration (co-packaged, heterogeneous, or monolithic) to improve performance, reliability, and cost-efficiency. Reduction of power consumption for example through improved electrical-to-optical conversion, lower optical losses, devices operable at higher temperatures to reduce cooling needs, and low-power circuit actuation and control. Proposals should consider system-level impact and demonstrate advancements in representative configurations relevant to one or more application domains. This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on photonics.
Source and attribution
Topic text from the official topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, retrieved 19 October 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU (CC BY 4.0). Changes: the expected outcomes and impacts are split into numbered statements, long passages are shortened, and the evaluator checklist is GrantWise's own commentary. Your call and the Work Programme always win; check them before you submit. GrantWise is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission.