1,000+ Opportunities
Find the right grant
Search federal, foundation, and corporate grants with AI — or browse by agency, topic, and state.
This ECCC topic funds security in the software and hardware development lifecycle, and it earns a place on an AI funding list for a specific reason: AI-driven security testing methodologies are named as a contribution area within scope.
That makes it the natural home for work applying machine learning to vulnerability discovery, fuzzing, static and dynamic analysis, secure code generation and assessment, and automated assurance of hardware designs - work that often sits awkwardly between AI calls that want novel models and security calls that want no AI at all.
It should be read alongside its sibling topic in the same call, HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-02 SecureAI, which covers the opposite direction: securing AI models and systems themselves against adversarial attacks, backdoor injections and data poisoning, with a budget of 21,200,000 euros.
The boundary between using AI to secure software and securing AI runs precisely between these two topics, and choosing the wrong one is a common and costly proposal error. A third sibling, HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-03, covers advanced cryptographic schemes and high-assurance high-speed cryptographic implementations at 15,000,000 euros. All three share a deadline of 15 September 2026 at 17:00 CET.
The topic budget here is 20,000,000 euros. As a Horizon Europe collaborative topic, proposals are expected from multi-country consortia rather than single organisations, and cybersecurity topics under Cluster 3 commonly carry additional participation restrictions relating to control by entities from non-associated third countries, so the topic conditions need reading in full before consortium building starts.
Get a weekly digest of new grants like this
A free weekly digest of new foundation and federal funding opportunities as they're added to Granted. Unsubscribe anytime.
Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Standard Horizon Europe collaborative eligibility applies: proposals are normally submitted by a consortium of at least one independent legal entity established in an EU Member State plus at least two further independent legal entities each established in different Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. The ECCC announcement states that eligibility criteria and all relevant call documents are published on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal rather than restating them in the announcement itself. Cybersecurity topics under Cluster 3 frequently impose additional restrictions on participation and on control of participating entities by non-associated third countries, and may restrict dissemination of results, so the full topic conditions must be read before committing to a consortium. Scope covers approaches and tools for security in software and hardware development and assessment, with AI-driven security testing methodologies explicitly named as a contribution area. The topic budget is 20,000,000 euros across all funded projects; per-project EU contribution, action type and funding rate are specified in the topic text. The deadline is 15 September 2026 at 17:00 CET, shared with the sibling topics HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-02 (SecureAI, 21,200,000 euros, security and robustness of AI models themselves) and HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-03 (advanced cryptographic schemes, 15,000,000 euros). Applicants working at the intersection of AI and security should confirm which of these two topics fits their proposal before drafting, since the distinction is between using AI to secure systems and securing AI systems. Proposals are submitted electronically through the EU Funding and Tenders Portal; verify the deadline, budget, action type and participation restrictions on the official topic page. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows the published figure is a topic budget of 20,000,000 euros (approximately 22,000,000 US dollars at 1.10 dollars to the euro) available across all projects funded under HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-01. No per-project minimum or maximum grant appears in the announcement reviewed. amount_min of 4,400,000 and amount_max of 7,700,000 US dollars (roughly 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 euros) are INFERRED from the typical per-project scale of Horizon Europe Cluster 3 cybersecurity actions against a topic budget of this size, and are not European Commission figures. The authoritative expected EU contribution per project, the intended number of projects and the funding rate (normally 100 percent for Research and Innovation Actions and 70 percent for Innovation Actions, with an exception for non-profit legal entities) are stated in the topic conditions on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal, which must be consulted before any budget is built. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
The published deadline was September 15, 2026, which has passed. Check the official notice for any future application windows before investing time in a proposal.
Horizon Europe HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC-01 Approaches and Tools for Security in Software and Hardware Development and Assessment Including AI-Driven Security Testing is funded by European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) under Horizon Europe Cluster 3 (Civil Security for Society), European Commission. Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
Open Society Foundations' May 20 announcement of a $300M U.S. initiative pairs civil liberties defense with economic opportunity. The pillar architecture matters more than the dollar figure for organizations deciding whether to position now.
Read articleThe EU's last major Horizon Europe work programme puts €14B on the table through 2027. A strategic breakdown of budgets, deadlines, eligibility, and how US-based teams can compete.
Read articleEUR 307M in Horizon Europe AI calls closed April 15, 2026. US researchers can participate — but the rules are specific. Here is how to navigate them.
Read article