Open Call: Future European platforms for the Edge – Meta Operating Systems (RIA)

Goals

• To validate and improve technical components of the aerOS meta operating system;
• to bring external actors (developers, domain experts, entrepreneurs, etc.) to create new solutions leveraging aerOS;
• promote the visibility of aerOS architecture and outcomes on the market
• gathering new inputs from IoT, edge, network and industrial experts
• extend application base of aerOS to other verticals outside the ones included in the proposal (domain-agnostic)

Focus

• aerOS aims to establish a common meta Operating System that follows a collaborative IoT-Edge–Cloud architecture supporting flexible deployments (e.g., federated or hierarchical), enabling the distribution of intelligence and computation – including AI, ML, and Big Data analytics – to achieve an optimal solution while satisfying the given constraints.
• aerOS Open Call focuses on 2 main key points:
  • extension of functionalities delivered by aerOS,
  • expansion of application of aerOS in the five use case verticals considered in the project.

Funding Information 

• For the second round of aerOS Open Calls, a budget of 480k€ is available considering the following:
  • A maximum of 8 proposals will be funded.
  • A maximum requested amount of 60.000€ per proposal might be accepted.
  • Fixed duration of projects is 8 months.
• The form of financial support to be used will be a pre-defined lump sum. Funds will be provided to the third parties following the accomplishment of different milestones verified on the basis on the presentation of technical and financial reports.
• Payments will be:
  • pre-financing
  • one interim payment according to the results of monitoring actions
  • final payment.
• In addition, to be eligible the costs must meet the following criteria:
  • they must be identifiable and verifiable, in particular recorded in the applicant’s accounts in accordance with the accounting standards applicable in the country where the applicant is established and with applicant’s usual cost accounting practices;
  • they must comply with the applicable national law on taxes, labour and social security, and
  • they must be reasonable, justified and must comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency;

Outputs

• aerOS Main Outputs
  • Virtualised and platform-agnostic Meta Operating System
  • Methodology, standardisation, and protocols usable across the continuum for legacy and novel technologies
  • Data autonomy strategy for the CEI continuum
  • Infrastructural services and features for cybersecurity, trustworthiness and manageability
  • Open APIs

Eligibility Criteria 

• Only the following type of entities will be able to submit proposals:
  • European SMEs
  • Universities
  • Research centres (RTOs)
  • Individuals
• Operational eligibility criteria for proposals will also be:
  • Only one entity per proposal will be admitted, so activities in co-operation will not be considered eligible (no Consortia allowed).
  • Proposals must contribute to the aerOS paradigm and stick to aerOS technological principles.
  • (For Open Call #2) – The proposal must be contextualised application sectors different to those present in the pilots of the project (thus, the sectors that will not be acceptable are: manufacturing  lines, physical containers close to renewable energy sources, agriculture machinery, maritime ports,  smart buildings).
  • (For Open Call #2) – The proposal must clearly depart from an existing product / project, thus guaranteeing a quick/prompt integration and exploitation capacity.
  • (For Open Call #2) – TRL higher than 6 must be exposed.
• Administrative (and other) criteria are as follows:
  • Proposals must be written in English in all their parts in order to be eligible.
  • The applicants must base their proposals on original work and, going forward, any foreseen developments should be free from third party rights, or they are clearly stated in a specific space in the submission form (Previous IP background).
  • Applicants are not allowed to submit multiple applications. If that is the case, only the first submitted application will be considered.
  • No entity with economic interest, family or emotional ties or any other shared interest (‘conflict of interest’) towards aerOS Consortium partners will be accepted as candidates for funding.
  • All cases of conflict of interest will be assessed case-by-case, based on pertinent EU stipulations.

For more information, visit European Commission.