Neutral-Atom Platform Technologies
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 13 Aug 2026 · 47 days left
Summary
Expected Outcome:
This action aims to establish European leadership in neutral-atom quantum simulation and digital quantum computing by delivering:
Fully programmable industry-ready quantum simulators based on 10.000 neutral atoms in a scalable architecture, accessible via cloud platforms, and with the possibility of integrating them into high-performance computing environments.
Fully programmable platform for neutral-atom quantum computing capable of both analogue quantum operations and gate-based computing with 1.000 physical qubits and a clear path to further scalability to 10.000 physical qubits.
Coherence time of the order of hundreds of interaction times and infidelity of operations below 1%.
Demonstration of quantum simulation and/or computing operating beyond classical computability, validated through benchmarking with classical methods.
New real-world applications across science and industry (at least two) (e.g: in the energy and health sectors)
The software stack for these applications, including enhanced software for verification, algorithm implementation, and user programming interfaces.
Demonstration of the full quantum stack – including quantum control, electronic…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
">General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. Proposals should have an indicative length of 75 pages.
2. Eligible countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
The following exceptions apply:
the eligibility conditions are those established in the EuroHPC JU Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as last amended by Council Regulation 2026/150. In accordance with Article 22.5 of the HE Regulation, the Governing Board has decided that in order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States or Participating States of the EuroHPC JU [At the moment of the adoption of the Amendment No 5, the Participating States of EuroHPC JU are Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom (Discover EuroHPC JU - The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU))]. In addition, legal entities which are established in associated countries to Horizon Europe that become a participant state to EuroHPC JU before the signature of the grant agreement will also become eligible.
For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees approved by the eligible country of establishment, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic, assets, interests, autonomy, or security.
3. Other Eligibility Conditions
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
The general criteria are described in the General Annex D of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the DECISION OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE EuroHPC JOINT UNDERTAKING No 22/2026.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and to achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project.
Expected project duration is 3.5 years.
The EuroHPC JU estimates that an EU contribution of EUR 20 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.
The documents are described in General Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates
Please use the application form that you will find in the Submission System. You can find examples of standard application forms in the Reference Documents page.
Evaluation form templates — will be used…