Horizon Europe · Europäische Union

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

Full title in the source: EU Frontier AI Initiative: Developing frontier AI solutions that are safe and computationally efficient within Apply AI (RIA)

Öffnet am 17. November 2026

Das EU-Programm Horizon Europe plant 1 Förderungen mit 44 Mio. € pro Projekt bei einem Gesamtbudget von 44 Mio. €. Die Einreichungsfrist endet am 18. März 2027 (EU-Ausschreibungen enden meist um 17:00 Uhr Brüsseler Zeit). Organisationen aus EU-Mitgliedstaaten und assoziierten Ländern wie der Türkei können in der Regel teilnehmen; maßgeblich sind die Bedingungen des Topics.

Frist: 18. März 2027 (in 123 Tagen)
Öffnet: 17. November 2026
Fördersumme: 44 Mio. € pro Projekt
Förderquote: 100 % der förderfähigen Kosten Standardregel des Programms; die Ausschreibung kann abweichen.
Gesamtbudget: 44 Mio. €
Erwartete Förderungen: 1
Maßnahmentyp: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions · HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based
Wahrscheinliche Antragstellende: Unternehmen, KMU / Start-ups, Gemeinnützige, Hochschulen & Forschung, Öffentliche Stellen Aus Quellkategorien oder Programmregeln; maßgeblich ist die Ausschreibung.
Fördergeber: Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
Referenz: HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-11
Ausschreibung: HORIZON-CL4-2027-04
Zuletzt geprüft: 14. November 2026

Offizielle Ausschreibung öffnen ↗ Frist zum Kalender hinzufügen

Die offiziellen Beschreibungen sind in der Sprache des Fördergebers (meist Englisch); Zusammenfassung und Eckdaten auf dieser Seite sind auf Deutsch.

Erwartete Ergebnisse

The Apply AI Strategy [1] 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.

Umfang

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.

Vollständigen Text lesen

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…

Wer kann sich bewerben?

Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule). Country restriction: 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.

Antragstellerkategorien sind nur ein Ausgangspunkt. Über die Antragsberechtigung entscheidet die offizielle Ausschreibung.

Themen

Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, multi agent systems Frugal AI Generative AI Safe AI

Zeitplan

Single-stage call. Next deadline 2027-03-18. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).

So bewerben Sie sich

Lesen Sie das vollständige Topic im Portal: erwartete Ergebnisse, Umfang, Maßnahmentyp und die Teilnahmebedingungen einschließlich Länder- oder Konsortialvorgaben.
Registrieren Sie jede Partnerorganisation im EU Funding & Tenders Portal, um einen PIC zu erhalten.
Verbundprojekte in Forschung und Innovation benötigen in der Regel mindestens drei unabhängige Partner aus drei verschiedenen EU-Mitgliedstaaten oder assoziierten Ländern. Prüfen Sie die Regel für dieses Topic.
Bereiten Sie Teil A (Verwaltungsformulare und Budget im Portal) und Teil B (technische Beschreibung auf der offiziellen Vorlage für diesen Maßnahmentyp) vor.
Reichen Sie vor dem Fristende am Stichtag im Portal ein. Verspätete Anträge werden nicht angenommen.

From the call text

Who can apply: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Company stage: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Single applicant or consortium: Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
Where applicants must be based: Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
Where to apply: Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.

EU-Leitfaden zur Antragstellung lesen

Offizielle Quellen

Offizielle Ausschreibungsseite

Die Angaben auf dieser Seite stammen aus der offiziellen Quelle und wurden zuletzt am 14. November 2026 geprüft. Maßgeblich sind immer die Unterlagen des Fördergebers einschließlich späterer Änderungen.