The EU Frontier AI Initiative aims to develop sovereign frontier AI solutions that are safe and computationally efficient. This initiative intends to strengthen European capabilities in creating frontier AI while ensuring safety by design and improved computational efficiency, reducing costs related to AI model development.
General information
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)2021–2027
- Call
- DIGITAL HORIZON-CL4-2027-04
- Programme part
- Pillar II · Global Challenges & CompetitivenessCluster 4 · Digital, Industry and Space
- Destination
- Achieving open strategic autonomy in digital and emerging enabling technologies (2026-27)
- Type of action
- HORIZON-RIA Research and Innovation Actions
- Type of MGA
- HORIZON-AG HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based
- Status
- Forthcoming
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Opening date
- 17.11.2026
- Deadline date
- 18.03.2027, 17:00 Brussels time
- Cross-cutting priorities
Budget overview
| Type of action | Budget 2027 | EU contribution per project | Grants | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HORIZON-RIAResearch and Innovation Actions | €44M | €44M | 1 | 18.03.2027 |
Expected outcome
The Apply AI Strategy also seeks to bolster EU capabilities and achieve excellence in AI to support the development of European frontier models. As part of the Frontier AI Initiative, which brings together Europe’s leading actors in the field, this topic will support the development of sovereign frontier AI ensuring safety by design. This topic directly contributes to the Apply AI Strategy. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Strengthened European capabilities in the development of frontier AI models.
- Improved computational efficiency of frontier AI models, resulting in reduced computational costs.
- Enhanced safety of advanced AI systems based on frontier AI models through the development and implementation of safe-by-design principles and/or AI agents acting as safety evaluators.
Scope
To advance developments of frontier AI models towards highest-level performance, while ensuring energy efficiency, addressing computational constraints, and strengthening safety. The approach of this topic is twofold. First, it aims to advance the AI field through the development and training of a frontier AI model. The AI model should demonstrate state-of-the-art performance, have multimodal capabilities, and be optimized for agentic AI capabilities such as tool use, reasoning, and autonomous problem-solving. Second, this topic supports research on comprehensive methods to reduce the computational demands of frontier AI models and to ensure their safety, including technical methodologies such as automated testing and interpretability.
The primary drivers behind computational efficient AI systems are the urgent challenges posed by the growing energy footprint of AI and current computational limitations. Modern AI models, especially frontier AI models, require substantial computational resources, with a significant impact in the environment. Additionally, they create barriers to entry to those interested in advancing the AI field. Key research areas include compression and distillation techniques aimed at reducing the complexity of large AI models. Innovations in AI architectures are also relevant, with a focus on innovative models that significantly lower computational demands for training and inference. Further, algorithmic approaches aimed at minimizing computational load during pre-training, post-training, and inference can also be considered.
Ensuring the safety of AI systems is essential, especially as AI models become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. Potential research areas to be considered include addressing misalignment, particularly the unintentional misalignment of large AI models. Work in this area could explore methods to detect and mitigate sophisticated misbehaviour, such as alignment faking, reward hacking of human oversight, and encoded reasoning in chain-of-thought (CoT). Additionally, research could focus on enhancing robustness against adversarial attacks, jailbreaks, and backdoors. Further potential areas for innovation include advancing AI models transparency and interpretability. Safety research could also consider risks that may arise when embedding frontier models within agentic AI frameworks, significantly contributing to the trust and safe adoption of powerful AI solutions.
This topic contributes to the EU Frontier AI initiative. The project should establish strong links with the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE), ensuring that its priorities inform the research topics addressed. Activities are expected to involve the European AI research community and attract and retain top AI talent working on frontier models and related areas.
All proposals are expected to incorporate mechanisms for assessing and demonstrating progress, including qualitative and quantitative KPIs, benchmarking, and progress monitoring. When possible, proposals should build on and reuse public results from relevant previous funded actions. Communicable results should be shared with the European R&D community through the AI-on-demand platform.
The project selected in this topic should link to the resources offered by the AI Factories and the Data Labs. Where relevant, it could also establish links with European companies developing frontier AI models.
All proposals are expected to allocate tasks for cohesion activities with the European Partnership on AI, data, and robotics (ADRA) and the CSA HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-18: GenAI4EU central Hub.
Who can apply
- A consortium of at least three independent organisations from three different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, at least one from an EU Member State.
- Ukraine has been associated to the programme since 2022: Ukrainian organisations can coordinate and receive funding on equal terms.
- Universities, research organisations, companies (including SMEs), public authorities and NGOs can take part.
Topic-specific condition: 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 address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions. For this reason, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway and the following additional associated countries: Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In addition, entities established in third countries which may become associated to Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027 may be eligible to participate in this topic if the third country is identified for this topic as an eligible country in the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe at the time of submission of the application[[See the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf.]]. In any case, the association agreement to the Programme must apply by the time of the signature of the grant agreement.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 non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by their eligible country of establishment, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security . Entities established in an eligible country, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China cannot submit guarantees.[[ The guarantees shall in particular substantiate that, for the purpose of the action, measures are in place to ensure that: a) control over the applicant legal entity is not exercised in a manner that retrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purpose of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action; b) access by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented; and the employees or other persons involved in the action have a national security clearance issued by an eligible country, where appropriate; c) ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or non-eligible country entity, and are not exported outside the eligible countries, nor is access to them from outside the eligible countries granted, without the approval of the eligible country in which the legal entity is established.]]
Applicant types in our database: Higher Education Institutions (HEI), Research Institute or Organization (RnD), Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), Start-Up, Non-governmental organization (NGO).
How to apply
- Register your organisation on the Funding & Tenders portal and get a PIC (9 digits).
- Build a consortium or join one: use Partner Search on the topic page.
- Download the proposal template (Part A forms, Part B narrative) in the submission system on the topic page.
- Submit by 18.03.2027, 17:00 Brussels time. The system opens on 17.11.2026.
The official topic text, templates and submission are on the Funding & Tenders topic page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the deadline for HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11?
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