Value proposition

CHIST-ERA is a Pathfinder programme of the European Innovation Council

CHIST-ERA is a network of funding organisations in Europe and beyond supporting research on digital technologies with a high potential impact. It selects every year two new topics of emerging importance and launches a call for transnational research projects on these topics. It is itself supported by the Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme of the European Union through the ERA-NET funding scheme.

CHIST-ERA was launched in 2009 and the first call was published in 2010 (Call 2010). As of Call 2017, CHIST-ERA has invested about 65 M€ into 69 projects under 16 call topics. Over the same period, it has received about 6.5 M€ from the European Commission, partly to contribute to this investment and partly to cover the network management costs.

CHIST-ERA enables researchers to collaborate internationally through projects of intermediate size with a lean management building on the existing national granting schemes. The typical size of a project is about 1 M€ for 3-4 partners. Projects involving 5 or 6 partners are also common.

CHIST-ERA involves all four types of ERA-NET activities:

- Information exchange;
- Definition and preparation of joint activities;
- Implementation of joint activities;
- Last but not least, funding of joint transnational research actions.