CFPs: FFplus Project to address Business Challenges faced by European SMEs and Startups

The scope of the targeted actions includes both the solution of business challenges through computational methods on HPC systems and the use of supercomputing resources for the development of (generative) Artificial Intelligence (AI) software solutions and services. The computational methods encompass a large range of possibilities: modelling and simulation, data analytics, machine learning, and AI – all options empowering SMEs through enhanced innovation and competitiveness. The strategic objective of using supercomputers for generative AI is to facilitate and strengthen the technological development of European SMEs in that important area.

FFplus is a successor of previous Fortissimo projects (Fortissimo, Fortissimo-2, FF4EuroHPC), which have directly addressed how to overcome the barriers for SMEs by utilising HPC, HPDA or AI to optimise or develop products or processes and aimed to strengthen the global competitiveness of European industry.

During the FFplus project (2024-2028), six Open Calls will be published to acquire business experiments and innovation studies, targeting the highest quality experiments involving innovative, agile SMEs, showcasing the transformative potential of HPC and generative AI.

Subprojects Types 

• Business Experiments
  • This announcement is the first call for proposals to address the uptake of HPC by SMEs in order to solve specific business challenges of SMEs that have had no prior use of, or experience with, HPC services. The resulting sub-projects will perform “business experiments” (also referred to just as experiments) that should demonstrate to the broader European SME ecosystem that HPC uptake solves business challenges and leads to positive business impact through the use and deployment of HPC-based computational methods. Thus, their key outputs are success stories that promote, communicate, and disseminate the business impact of HPC uptake to the SME ecosystem.
  • Proposals are sought that address business challenges from European SMEs from varied application domains, whereby SMEs whose adoption of advanced HPC services will create the highest business impact will be prioritized. SMEs with an academic focus, or activities with a potential impact only in the long term are not within the scope of the call.
• Innovation Studies
  • This FFplus open call for the development of generative AI models addresses the needs of SMEs and Start-ups proficient in generative AI and HPC for large-to extreme-scale computing resources. The strategic objective is to facilitate and strengthen the technological development of European SMEs in the area of generative AI. The participating SMEs and Start-ups will be supported in enhancing their innovation potential by leveraging new generative AI models, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), building on their existing expertise, application domain, business model and potential for expansion.
  • This announcement is the first call for proposals for “innovation studies” driven by the business needs of SMEs and Start-ups highly competent in generative AI, professional software development, and data processing. The innovation studies must use large-scale European HPC resources (e.g., pre-exascale and exascale supercomputers) to develop and customise generative AI models such as foundation and large language models.

Funding Information

• Business Experiments
  • The maximum duration of the experiments is 15 months, with a maximum funding budget of 200 K€. The maximum funding per organisation (in the case of supporting participants, over all experiments in which they participate) is 150 K€.
• Innovation Studies
  • The maximum duration of the innovation studies is 10 months, with a maximum of 200 K€ for the (main participant) SME. Where suitably justified, additional organisations might be included within a consortium designed to optimally address the targeted generative AI development. The maximum total funding for each innovation study is 300 K€.

Eligibility Criteria

• Only organisations with head offices based in an EU Member State or in associated countries that are eligible to receive funding from the Digital Europe Programme are eligible to receive funding. Natural persons (individuals) are not eligible to receive funding.
• FFplus beneficiaries are ineligible to participate as either main or supporting participants.
• In principle, the major part of the funding applied for should be allocated to the main participant. Any deviations from this principle must be duly justified.
• For supporting participants, only engineering activities are eligible for funding. Activities such as business consultancy, marketing initiatives, administrative tasks, and other non-engineering activities are not eligible for funding.
• Applications are to be submitted by one or more main participants sharing a business case/challenge and optionally (if well justified) one or more supporting participants. Each consortium partner needs to have a clearly defined role.
• Business Experiments
  • The experiments should address the business challenges of an SME new to the use of HPC and that SME may participate in only one experiment.
  • A main participant is an SME or a startup and supporting participants are organisations supporting the main participant to complete activities foreseen for the experiment.
  • SME participation in the FFplus innovation studies for generative AI development and in the business experiments covered by this open call are mutually exclusive. That is, for the SMEs whose business challenge defines the business experiment or innovation study, funding may only be provided for one type of action (Type 1 or Type 2 subproject). This will be considered during the evaluation and selection process.
  • The total number of consortium partners (main participant and supporting participants) is limited to five (5).
• Innovation Studies
  • A main participant is an SME or a Start-up and supporting participants are organisations assisting the main participant to complete activities foreseen for the innovation study.
  • The total number of consortium partners (main participant and supporting participants) is limited to three (3).
  • SME participation in the FFplus business experiments for HPC uptake and in the innovation studies, covered by this open call, are mutually exclusive. That is, for the SMEs whose business challenge defines the business experiment or innovation study, funding may only be provided for one type of action (Type 1 or Type 2 sub-project). This will be considered during the evaluation and selection process.

For more information, visit FFplus.