Open Innovation Challenge 2026

Events

October 7–June 25, 2027 · Online

Open Innovation Challenge 2026

EUonAIR Open Innovation Challenge 2026 — Sovereign by Design: Building with Open European Language Models

Compete to build a working AI prototype with an open European language model at its core—apply to win mentoring, EUonAIR-wide visibility, and micro-funding for up to three team projects.

For funded Teams: What you get

1. Funding: up to €1,500 (gross / pre-taxes) to be divided among the selected projects, subject to available budget
2. Duration: up to 6 months of support
3. Mentoring & coaching from EUonAIR experts, including the partner institution that proposed your use case
4. Access to infrastructure at consortium partners
5. Visibility & networking (showcase, comms channels)

Theme & use cases

1. 2026 theme: Sovereign by Design: Building with Open European Language Models
2. An openly available European language model (e.g., Apertus, Teuken, EuroLLM, Salamandra) must be central to each prototype rather than decorative.
3. The theme spans four directions:
4. Multilingual equity: tasks where performing well across the alliance’s languages, including smaller and under-resourced ones, is the actual point.
5. Transparency in use: applications that exploit openness itself, such as tracing data provenance, inspecting model internals, auditing behaviour, or producing documentation relevant to the AI Act.
6. Sovereign deployment: settings where sensitive data cannot leave European or institutional infrastructure, such as student records, health data, municipal administration, or industrial documentation.
7. Research pathway: pilots deliberately scoped to seed a named Horizon Europe or national research proposal.
8. Use cases (three in this edition):
9. Script forcing for EU language scripts (proposed by SUPSI)
10. Testing Grid for Multilingual Equity in Open European Language Models (proposed by SUPSI)
11. Explainable Fraud Detection with Open European LLMs (proposed by ZSEM)

Who can apply

1. Teams of 2–5 people.
2. All members must be affiliated with an EUonAIR partner institution: students (BA/MA/PhD), recent graduates, researchers/postdocs/teaching staff, or practitioners.
3. Interdisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged (mix STEM + social sciences/humanities).
4. An individual can be funded once per edition.

Key dates (CET)

1. 7 Oct 2026 — Call opens
2. 4 Dec 2026, 12:00 CET — Application deadline
3. 7 – 18 Dec 2026 — Jury evaluation
4. 22 Dec 2026 — Funded projects announced
5. Jan 2027 — Funding and mentoring start
6. 25 Feb 2027 — Interim presentations
7. 25 Jun 2027 — Project completion and final presentations

How to apply

1. Form a team of 2–5 eligible members.
2. Choose one of the published use cases and an open European language model to build on.
3. Download the Project Application template.
4. Submit the finalized Project Application using the Project Application Form.

What we’re looking for (selection criteria)

1. Innovation & impact
2. Originality
3. Relevance
4. Feasibility

What funded teams commit to

1. Milestones & monthly mentor check-ins
2. Interim presentation and Final Presentation
3. Final Report within six weeks after programme end
4. Acknowledgement of EUonAIR support on team channels

Rules & documents

1. Terms of Participation of the EUonAIR Funding Programme “EUonAIR Challenge”
2. Regulations of the EUonAIR Award for EUonAIR Challenge
3. EUonAIR Award Agreement
4. Use cases
5. Project Application template (incl. scoring scale and table)

Deadline for applications

Ready to find out what open European language models can do? Apply by 4 December 2026, 12:00 CET. - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd44_bQZlqc46syjq9Seq4v7mUjyU0zqAnP0uuG3IsgFUTwZg/viewform

2026 EUonAIR PC committee

SUPSI: Matteo Casserini & Andrea Ferrario

PJAIT: Adam Wierzbicki (head of the PC committee)

KU: Aleksandra Przegalińska & Konrad Sowa

HTWB: Ricardo Knauer & Martin Roddewig

ISM: Simonas Cepenas

ZSEM: Karmela Aleksić Maslać

HS-HEILBRONN: Carsten Lanquillon

ESSCA: Paul Nathan