EU Rolls Out Major Funding Boosts for Biotech and AI Innovation

Poland’s National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) has opened two new calls under the STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) programme, allocating a total of 300 million zł to biotech projects that address critical economic and security needs of the European Union. The calls target enterprises and research‑industry consortia developing dual‑use technologies such as DNA/RNA tools, bio‑informatics, nanobiotech, tissue engineering and related medical products, with funding covering up to the clinical‑trial stage.

Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND) launched the €125 million “Next Frontier AI” competition, seeking European teams to create AI models that move beyond the transformer architecture dominant in GPT‑4 and Claude. The multi‑stage programme aims to reduce computational demands, energy use and hallucinations, offering escalating grants to up to ten initial teams, with the first deadline on 1 June 2026. Both initiatives are part of a broader EU strategy to strengthen technological sovereignty and reduce reliance on external suppliers.