FET-Open Challenging Current Thinking

The specific challenge of this topic is to lay the foundations for radically new future technologies of any kind from visionary interdisciplinary collaborations that dissolve the traditional boundaries between sciences and disciplines, including the social sciences and humanities. This topic also encourages the driving role of new actors in research and innovation, including excellent young researchers, ambitious high-tech SMEs and first-time participants to FET under Horizon 2020 from across Europe.

Proposals are sought for cutting-edge high-risk / high-impact interdisciplinary research with all of the following essential characteristics ("FET gatekeepers"):

• Radical vision: the project must address a clear and radical vision, enabled by a new technology concept that challenges current paradigms. In particular, research to advance on the roadmap of a well-established technological paradigm, even if high-risk, will not be funded.

• Breakthrough technological target: the project must target a novel and ambitious science-to-technology breakthrough as a first proof of concept for its vision. In particular, blue-sky exploratory research without a clear technological objective will not be funded.

• Ambitious interdisciplinary research for achieving the technological breakthrough and that opens up new areas of investigation. In particular, projects with only low-risk incremental research, even if interdisciplinary, will not be funded.