EU Frontier AI Initiative: Developing frontier AI solutions that are safe and computationally efficient within Apply AI (RIA)

The EU Frontier AI Initiative supports the development of sovereign, safe-by-design frontier AI models with improved computational efficiency. The programme aims to bolster the EU’s AI research capacity and achieve excellence in European frontier model development. Supported projects should advance state-of-the-art multimodal frontier AI with agentic capabilities, optimise for energy and computational efficiency, and integrate comprehensive safety methodologies, including alignment, adversarial robustness, interpretability, and risk mitigation in agentic frameworks. Projects are expected to collaborate widely with the European AI community, build on previous research, and share results within the European R&D ecosystem. Strong links with RAISE, AI Factories, Data Labs, and other EU AI partnerships are required.

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Agency	HORIZON (EU)
Region	EUUKother
Country	ATBEBGHRCYCZDKEEFIFRDEELHUIEITLVLTLUMTNLPLPTROSKSIESSEISNOCAILKRNZCHGB
Legal form	Company, NGO, Government organization, Other
Start date	17 Nov 2026
End date	18 Mar 2027
Max funding	44,000,000 EUR per grant (RIA Action)
Budget	44,000,000 EUR (RIA Action for this topic); overall call budget covers multiple topics and amounts
Coverage	Varies by proposal and eligible cost structure as per Horizon Europe rules

Grant application conditions

Eligible Applicants	Legal entities established in EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; legal entities in future associated countries may be eligible if association applies by grant signature.
Ownership and Control Restrictions	Entities directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country/entity cannot participate unless guarantees are provided and positively assessed by the country of establishment to ensure no negative impact on EU assets/interests/security. Participation is excluded for entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment or controlled by such suppliers.
Intellectual Property/EU Strategic Assets	Ownership and results of the action must remain within the recipient in eligible countries, with no control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or entities. Export or external access to results requires approval by the country of establishment.
Application Format	Proposals must respect limits and layout as defined in Horizon Europe Annexes and use the Application Form provided in the Submission System.
Evaluation and Award Process	Evaluation criteria, award process, timelines, and all operational/financial capacity conditions are described in the Horizon Europe General Annexes.
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11

Eligible expenses

Evaluation criteria

Business exclusions

Reporting

Application process

Application requirements