The European project COSMIC has launched its first open call: up to €150,000 for start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) applying AI and data to the energy sector. Selected applicants will validate their solutions in real-life pilots, with a strong focus on buildings and energy efficiency.
Funded by Horizon Europe, COSMIC’s first innovation call is aimed at start-ups and SMEs working with artificial intelligence and data applied to energy. The scheme offers up to €150,000 in funding, alongside a 10-month support programme, with the major advantage that solutions will be tested directly in 15 real pilots across six European countries.
In the buildings domain, COSMIC is experimenting with digital twins, generative design tools and advanced energy management systems to optimise material use, anticipate maintenance and strengthen climate resilience. Pilots range from school retrofits to social housing, showcasing a variety of scenarios where innovation can make a tangible impact. Applications are open until 27 October 2025.
Beyond financial support, COSMIC provides companies with a unique technical ecosystem through its Core Technical Facilitators, designed to enable easy integration of new tools into pilots. Crucially, these are not lab-based trials but real operating conditions: functioning buildings, energy communities, and urban spaces.
For the building sector, this represents an opportunity to validate solutions that improve efficiency, while gaining visibility in a European context firmly committed to decarbonising the building stock. In short, COSMIC does more than provide funding: it creates the chance to demonstrate, with data and in practice, how digitalisation can accelerate the energy transition in the built environment.
