Quantum Machine Learning
European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Posted 2 Jun 2026 · About 4 months left
In plain terms
The European Commission funds 48-month research projects developing quantum machine learning algorithms and demonstrators integrated with AI frameworks, with grants of 2 to 3 million euros. Only organisations in EU Member States, associated countries, and EuroHPC JU Participating States may apply, with 50% EU co-funding required, by 28 January 2027.
A generated summary of the donor's text; the original wording is below.
Summary
Expected Outcome:
Integration of quantum computing into data pre-processing pipelines and learning workflows for data-heavy or computationally intensive tasks, demonstrating clear improvements in processing speed, computational complexity, modelling accuracy, and reduced sample requirements at scales achievable with NISQ-era devices,
Reliable and scalable Quantum Machine Learning (QML) models and algorithms, integrated with existing AI frameworks and pipelines, enabling faster data processing, improved prediction accuracy, and enhanced computational capabilities,
Validated quantum-enhanced AI methods demonstrating measurable improvements over classical baselines in terms of speed, accuracy, data efficiency, complexity, or scalability, supported by rigorous benchmarking and complexity analysis,
Robust, noise-aware QML techniques suitable for NISQ hardware, including error-mitigation strategies and algorithmic adaptations that improve reliability, performance, and reproducibility on real quantum processors,
Demonstrators or proof-of-concept applications showcasing the relevance of QML for real-world challenges (e.g. climate and environmental modelling, Earth observation, healthcare…
Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.
Eligible regions
- eu_only
Who can apply
- academia_research
- private_company
- ngo_cso
- government
Eligibility and conditions
Show the eligibility text from the source
">General conditions
1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
The conditions are described in the General Annex A of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
The page limit of the application is 70 pages.
Described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible countries
Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligibility Conditions
The conditions are described in the General Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon
Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, participation in this topic is limited to legal entities established in Member States, associated countries to Horizon Europe and EuroHPC JU Participating States. Proposals including legal entities which are not established in these countries[[Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and all countries that automatically eligible for funding under Horizon Europe as provided in list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf (V3.5 – 20.08.2025).]] will be ineligible.
This decision has been taken on the grounds that, in the area of research covered by this topic, EU open strategic autonomy is particularly at stake. It is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions.
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
The procedure is described in the General Annex F of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027.
Eligible proposals submitted under this topic and exceeding all the evaluation thresholds will be awarded a STEP Seal [[https://strategic-technologies.europa.eu/about/step-seal_en]].
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
The rules are described in General Annex G of the of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2026-2027. The following exceptions apply:
As an exception from General Annex G of the Horizon Europe Work Programme, the EU-funding rate for eligible costs in grants awarded by the JU for this topic will be up to 50% of the eligible costs.
Specific conditions
Expected project duration: 48…