SOFT Innovation Prize 2026

The SOFT Innovation Prize 2026 highlights and rewards excellence in innovation within fusion research, showcasing the quality of researchers and industries involved. It aims to promote innovations developed in magnetic confinement fusion research with market potential or recognized by industry for further development.

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Agency	EURATOM (EU)
Region	EU
Country	N/A
Legal form	research-team, Company, NGO, Other
Start date	2 Jun 2025
End date	2 Mar 2026
Max funding	1st Prize: EUR 50,000, 2nd Prize: EUR 30,000, 3rd Prize: EUR 20,000
Budget	EUR 100,000

Grant application conditions

Admissibility Conditions	Proposal page limit and layout described in section 5 of the Rules of Contest. Limited to 20 pages.
Eligible Countries	Described in section 6 of the Rules of Contest.
Eligibility Criteria	Open to researchers, research teams, or industrial participants eligible for funding under the Euratom Research and Training Programme 2021-2025. Open to researchers or research teams working for a national programme in an ITER partner country or in any third country with a bilateral fusion cooperation agreement with Euratom in force. Industrial participants participating in the ITER. The researcher, research team, or industrial participant must obtain permission from the owner of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to submit an application and provide supporting documentation.
Evaluation Criteria	Originality and replicability: The extent to which the idea is innovative, original, and a first-of-a-kind use of the technology in industry or the domain of application. Technical excellence: The extent to which the innovation is demonstrably state-of-the-art and based on excellent science and engineering. Economic impact and exploitation of the innovation: The extent to which the submission demonstrates understanding and awareness of relevant innovation aspects, including market potential, needs, and business opportunities.
Award Process	Call opening: 03 June 2025. Deadline for submission: 03 March 2026, 17:00 CET (Brussels time). Evaluation: March-June 2026. Information on evaluation results/award: September-October 2026 at the SOFT Conference 2026.
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/EURATOM-2026-SOFT-PRIZE

Evaluation criteria

Originality and replicability: The extent to which the idea is innovative, original, and a first-of-a-kind use of the technology in industry or the domain of application.

Technical excellence: The extent to which the innovation is demonstrably state-of-the-art and based on excellent science and engineering.

Economic impact and exploitation of the innovation: The extent to which the submission demonstrates understanding and awareness of relevant innovation aspects, including market potential, needs, and business opportunities.

Application process

Application requirements