Call for Proposals: Uptake Acceleration Services

Scope

• In order to support SMEs and start-ups but also practitioners to find the avenues of uptake of innovation, models and methods for transferring research to the market should be promoted. This topic aims to offer services and guidance to entities in the security ecosystem to achieve market uptake.
• The services should be delivered to SMEs/Start-ups and Practitioners. Therefore, there would be Supply-oriented Services and Demand-oriented services.
• Some of the expected services could be open for the whole community (e.g., material online) and examples of good practices, whereas others would be provided upon specific request by an entity (on demand services). On demand services may be linked to other EU-funded actions but should not cover activities already funded from those in order to avoid double funding.
• Applicants should be able to demonstrate a proven experience in technology development and innovation in the area of security and deep knowledge on the security ecosystem.
• Successful candidates should be able to provide services such as:
  • Funding & procurement guidance
  • Market research/competitive landscaping/Marketplaces/Market surveys/consultations
  • Proof of concept development (for TRL 2-4)
  • Funding and tendering observatory
  • Investor search/venture building
  • Technology validation support Lab testing support (i.e., Readiness assessment, Artificial Intelligence act compliance, Machine Learning security, Ethical Legal and Societal assessment, High Performance Computing capabilities, Synthetic data generation, Access to Datasets, stress testing etc.)
  • Tech and/or entrepreneurial skills development (training)
• The proposals should outline the methods and processes by which they intend to decide which organisations they provide support to, respecting principles such as transparency, equal treatment, non-discrimination between organisations and effectiveness (impact). The project should provide suggestions for such methods and processes as deliverable to be approved by the European Commission. The applicants submitting the proposals have to ensure sufficient representativeness of the communities of interest (including, but not only, geographical representativeness) and a balanced coverage in terms of knowledge and skills of the different knowledge domains required to face the challenge, including security operations, technologies, research & innovation, industry, market, etc. The applying consortia need to demonstrate that the project beneficiaries guarantee the expertise required to steer the project activities in all the knowledge domains to ensure the success of the action. The work of the partners has to be supported by solid and recognised tools and methods, also accompanied by the required expertise to put them in practice.
• The project has to identify and describe options for the sustainability of the services beyond the project lifetime, including the setting up of a permanent scheme which will continue to offer the proposed services to the community as a self-sustainable mechanism.
• The project should have a maximum estimated duration of 5 years.

Funding Information

• Budget (EUR) – Year 2025: 5 000 000
• Contributions: around 5000000

Expected Outcomes

• Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:
  • To offer advanced services on innovation uptake to the security community;
  • To provide a self-sustained mechanism for advanced advisory and support services, to act as a market catalyst; and to accelerate the uptake of innovation for security;
  • Enhanced cooperation between research institutions, smaller private research agencies, security practitioners, Start-ups and SMEs to support innovation uptake;
  • Strengthening the technology transfer from research to the market and strengthening of security ecosystem. Supporting Start-ups and SME to reach the security market and strengthen the capacity of security practitioners to uptake innovative tools from the security market.

Eligibility Criteria

• Entities eligible to participate:
  • Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
  • A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:
    • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe;
    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit EC.