EIC Pathfinder Challenge: Responsible Electronics
Closed
Status as published by the data source.
Scope:Background and scope
Responsible electronics represents a unique opportunity for the future of EU industrial autonomy in a decarbonised and digital society, however fundamental scientific and technological challenges remain to be addressed. It has been predicted that by 2050, the production of electronics components and devices will rise exponentially and thus the use of raw materials in the sector will increase accordingly. As a result, the amount of electronic waste is also set to rise massively.
Responsible electronics can contribute to drastically reducing the environmental load of the electronic industry by shifting from traditional manufacturing industrial methods to innovative methods and materials with a lower environmental impact. This is in line with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan [1] fostering research towards a circular economy with effective waste and carbon recycling strategies as well as complementary with the objectives of the European Chips Act [2].
Besides reducing the environmental impact of the electronics sector, innovations such as sustainable manufacturing or bio-inspired electronic systems can help Europe overcome the current chips crisis by reducing the dependency on critical raw materials [3] and traditional high energy demanding semiconductor processes. Moreover, investing in responsible electronics would be beneficial for the entire semiconductor ecosystem in Europe and will uphold the EU technology sovereignty.
Overall goal and specific objectives
The overall goal of this Challenge is to create opportunities for discovery of new environmentally friendly electronic materials, thus reducing its environmental impact and the need for critical raw materials and hazardous chemicals.
The projects supported under this Challenge are expected to offer either materials with improved properties (such as flexibility, durability, end of life recyclability/reusability), materials processed with low energy consumption and low carbon footprint processing (such as printing instead of photolithography, avoiding use of fluorinated gases for patterning), or alternatives, including nano-sized ones, to replace common electronic materials such as silicon and silicon nitride.
The specific objectives of this Challenge are to support the scientific community in reaching breakthroughs in development/discovery of:
• Advanced electronic materials for unconventional devices:
• small-molecule and polymeric organic materials,
• solution-processable inorganic materials,
• hybrid organic-inorganic materials,
• polymer-matrix nano-composite materials,
• bio-based and nature-inspired materials
• for the manufacturing of n- and p-semiconductors, dielectrics, conductors, including transparent conductors, particularly those suitable to make functional inks, passivation/encapsulation/packaging materials, flexible/stretchable substrates, etc.
• Advanced processes:
• production methods based on solution processing such as blade coating, slot die coating, spray coating, screen printing, inkjet printing, offset, gravure and flexo-printing, or
• other techniques particularly suitable for sheet-to-sheet or roll-to-roll manufacturing.
• Unconventional applications including e-textile/e-skin:
• backplane and logic circuits,
• microprocessors (4-8 bits),
• sensors,
• displays,
• power supplies,
• wireless transmitters/receivers, etc. particularly those suitable for Internet-of-Thing (IoT) applications, while applying the life-cycle thinking approach.
Expected outcomes and impacts
This Challenge is expected to contribute to the development of materials with new properties or replacing materials used in current electronic devices with materials, which:
• reduce dependency on critical raw materials,
• are sustainable: having a low environmental footprint and developed recurring to the life cycle thinking approach. The overall outcome of this Challenge is to support the move from traditional materials and manufacturing processes to less environmental impactful ones. It is expected that the Challenge will lead to the development of lab-scale validated proof of concept devices based on the developed innovative materials and manufacturing processes, which may represent a potential application of a more sustainable, trusted and secure electronics.
Specific conditions
Projects with multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial approaches, looking for inspiration, ideas and knowledge in a broad range of disciplines are particularly welcome.
The safe and sustainable use of non-critical raw materials or the full recycle/reuse of them is mandatory. All projects are expected to conduct a full life cycle analysis of the proposed solutions and they shall apply or identify a methodology to measure the environmental and/or carbon footprint of the proof of principle/s that will be developed during the project.
Applicants should ensure that the proposed method/technology/material/s is not harmful to the natural ecosystems. Packaging and durability should be taken into consideration.
For more details, see the WP 2023.
[1] Circular economy action plan (europa.eu)
[2] European Chips Act | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
[3] Critical raw materials (europa.eu)
- Status
- Closed
- Deadline
- (time not stated)
- Opens
- Published
- Grant range
- €500,000 – €4,000,000
- Country
- European Union (EU-wide)
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Official page
- Open at the source portal
Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilience
- Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids
- Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in Energy
- Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage Technologies
- Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plants
- Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
All calls under this programme
Similar opportunities
- Enhancing ecodesign and circularity of consumer electronics
- Increasing the circularity of bio-based sector: upcycling and recycling for higher value and environmental benefits
- Producing battery-grade materials for electrodes through sustainable processing and refining of raw materials or developing bio-based materials (BATT4EU Partnership)
- Crafting routes to a circular economy
- Increasing the circularity in electronics value chains
- Digital information systems for bio-based products
Where this came from
- Source document
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/data/topicDetails/horizon-eic-2023-pathfinderchallenges-01-04.json
- Document fingerprint
c7d03b4a9bb6ef0b(SHA-256, first 16 hex characters)- Retrieved
- First recorded here
What has changed
- url first recorded as https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-eic-2023-pathfinderchallenges-01-04 on
- currency first recorded as EUR on
- amount_max first recorded as 4000000.00 on
- amount_min first recorded as 500000.00 on
- deadline first recorded as 2023-10-25 on
- opens_on first recorded as 2023-06-20 on
- published_on first recorded as 2023-05-05 on
- status_basis first recorded as source_status on
- status first recorded as closed on
- title first recorded as EIC Pathfinder Challenge: Responsible Electronics on
Data source
© European Union, 2026. Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU — CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved from the source on .
The source last updated this document on Tue, 01 Jul 2025 06:57:40 GMT.
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