GRAIL Open Call — Genesis (1st Open Call)

The project running this call: GRAIL

Generative Robotics & AI for EU Industrial Leadership

GRAIL addresses Europe’s need for trustworthy, sovereign GenAI in robotics, lowering adoption barriers in manufacturing while respecting AI Act, GDPR, and NIS2. It strengthens technological sovereignty and competitiveness while tackling the robotics data gap: existing sources (teleoperation, egocentric video, simulation) cover only a fraction of the data needed for robust foundation models. Unlike in text and vision, robot data cannot simply be scaled: collection is slow, costly, and infeasible at trillion-scale. Bridging this gap requires modularity, knowledge reuse, and targeted data generation rather than brute-force collection.Monolithic approaches are data-inefficient, struggle with explainability and fail to cope with industrial complexity. GRAIL is an agentic integrated architecture where modularity and integration reinforce each other. Specialised agents address planning,…

Funded under the EU call HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DIGITAL-EMERGING-07. Official project record ↗

Who runs it: the consortium

19 organisations in the project. The coordinator usually manages the open call and its evaluation.

• Fundacio Eurecat · SpainCoordinator
• Aleph Alpha Research GmbH · Germany · SMEPartner
• Technische Universitat Nurnberg · GermanyPartner
• Multiverse Computing SL · Spain · SMEPartner
• Fundingbox Communities SL · Spain · SMEPartner
• Steinbeis 2i GmbH · GermanyPartner
• Fundingbox Accelerator Sp Zoo · Poland · SMEPartner
• Comau SpA · ItalyPartner
• Asociacion de Investigacion Metalurgica del Noroeste · SpainPartner
• Ethniko Kentro Erevnas Kai Technologikis Anaptyxis · GreecePartner
• Barcelona Supercomputing Center Centro Nacional de Supercomputacion · SpainPartner
• Siemens Industry Software NV · BelgiumPartner
• Panepistimio Patron · GreecePartner
• Diehl Aviation Gilching GmbH · GermanyPartner
• Technische Universiteit Delft · NetherlandsPartner
• Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich · SwitzerlandPartner
• Deutsches Zentrum Fur Luft - und Raumfahrt eV · GermanyPartner
• Technische Universitat Darmstadt · GermanyPartner
• Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine · United KingdomPartner

Cascade funding: what to know before you apply

What is cascade funding?

Cascade funding (also called financial support to third parties) is money the European Commission gives to an EU-funded project, which the project then passes on to startups, SMEs, researchers or other organisations through its own open calls. You apply to the project, not to the Commission, and the project's own call rules apply.

Who can apply?

Each call sets its own eligibility in its call document: usually organisations established in an EU member state or a Horizon Europe associated country, often startups and SMEs. Check the call's eligibility section and the official guide before you apply.

Do I need a consortium?

Most cascade calls accept single applicants, which makes them one of the easiest ways into EU funding. Some calls ask for small teams; the call document says which.

How large are the grants?

Typically tens of thousands of euros per applicant and rarely more than €200,000, because the EU rules for financial support to third parties keep amounts per recipient modest. The exact maximum is in each call.

Can I combine it with other EU funding?

Yes, as long as the same costs are not funded twice. Many startups use a cascade grant to build evidence before applying to larger programmes such as the EIC Accelerator.

Cascade funding in the glossary · All open cascade calls