The core ambition of the EPICUR alliance is to transform education, research and transfer practices and opportunities across its member universities in order to develop original cutting-edge solutions and train new generations of European change makers able to shape a European society in transition and help overcome the daunting challenges.

In the pursuit, through a stepwise approach, of deeper research collaboration and future joint teaching between EPICUR members, the EPICUR Seed Funding Scheme has been devised as an instrument to stimulate synergies between teaching and research by offering a financial support mechanism to support the building of promising research collaboration projects between EPICUR partner universities.

The set-up of a joint scheme is seen by the alliance partners as a strategic investment. It initiates a collaborative coordinated effort to stimulate research partnerships and ensure a more efficient allocation of resources than if each university were to independently create incentives for collaboration within EPICUR.

A 2024 call for proposals for Seed funding projects has been launched as a pilot action by the nine partners of the EPICUR Alliance.

The collaborative research projects are funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Additionally, projects receive financing from national funding sources and partners’ own resources.