Request for Proposals: GenAI4EU Central Hub

Scope

• This horizontal Coordination and Support Action for GenAI4EU will develop a strong and visible European GenAI ecosystem of developers and users, aiming to strengthen the coordination, impact and visibility of the GenAI4EU initiative across diverse sectors. This CSA should be prepared, managed and coordinated by the key stakeholders in this field, in particular those active in developing local GenAI communities, tech transfer, attracting investment, and making the European GenAI stakeholders visible.
• Serving as a hub for collaboration, this project seeks to streamline efforts in developing high-impact GenAI-based applications while fostering cooperation among various GenAI stakeholders, from startups, academia and large user industries, including large IT suppliers and integrators.
• It will support all the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 clusters, in addressing their policy needs through the implementation of the GenAI4EU initiative, in particular in supporting mechanisms to pool efficiently and make sufficient data of high quality available (in particular from the European Data Spaces, but exploiting other sources of data as appropriate), and facilitate collaboration with the AI Factories.
• The proposed project is expected to involve close collaboration and coordination among the projects implementing GenAI4EU, developing a strong community. It should also help them to maximise their impact and increase their visibility.
• It should also foster the uptake in all strategic application sectors, namely the ones addressed in the GenAI4EU initiative, including the 14 industrial ecosystems, in stimulating collaborations between the European developers and users.
• The selected proposal will foster collaboration between the AI Factories, the Data Spaces (as well as other data providers) and the SIMPL infrastructure, in establishing mechanisms to make data available in the AI factories, in particular for the training, and possibly fine-tuning of large GenAI models, while respecting IP or privacy/GDPR of the entities/industries providing their data. This should build on relevant initiatives, such as data intermediation services, with a view of using a trusted third party to ensure no exchanges between industry competitors for instance, while defining mechanisms to access (and if needed pooling of) critical amount of data, required for the training of very large models. This will require mobilisation of industries owning large sets of data, defining with them such mechanisms acceptable to all, and implementing them through secure infrastructures, protocols, interoperability mechanisms, within the various projects implementing GenAI4EU in the various clusters.
• The proposal will also support Common European Data Spaces to coordinate standard setting approaches for further data sharing and data interoperability among them or with the AI Factories.
• The selected proposal will also ensure collaboration between the GenAI4EU projects, and the relevant the AI Factories, for the computing resources, and the data spaces. Moreover, a few specific working groups among stakeholders should be established in key European industrial/application sectors (such as in Robotics Manufacturing, Automotive, energy, pharmaceuticals, etc.). Their aim will be to bring together key stakeholders of the sector (incl. startups/SMEs and large companies) and foster discussions among them for stimulating their cooperation in developing GenAI models relevant for their sector, but also on how to address access to existing large data sets, incl. their interoperability and use for GenAI models and/or any other elements necessary for enabling an effective development and further grow of the sector’s GenAI ecosystem.
• The proposal will also ensure connection with the AI on Demand platform providing support for fine-tuning pre-trained models and developing innovative downstream applications, the GenAI4EU Skills, and relevant activities implemented under the EU’s Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe Programme as well as national activities. The selected proposal is also expected to build on or seek collaboration with existing and upcoming projects and develop synergies and ensure complementarities with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms.
• The CSA is expected to constantly monitor the way the EU GenAI ecosystem, including the AI factories, is developing. More broadly, the selected proposal will act as a global observatory for GenAI conducting a comprehensive landscape analysis of GenAI, including data on market, research, funding, patent and more broadly the state of the advancement of GenAI in the EU and worldwide. This includes an inventory of use cases, capabilities, evaluation tools and methods to assess generative AI models. The selected proposal is expected to widely disseminate this analysis at least twice a year to the stakeholders, including the EU, the Member States and Associated Countries.
• It will also assess the uptake of GenAI by large European industry (including technology suppliers and user industry), and mobilise them to engage in GenAI4EU initiatives and drive the future strategy for the development and uptake of GenAI solution “made in Europe” in all strategic industries.
• By identifying prioritized sectors and sharing best practices, the project aims to bridge existing gaps, connect stakeholders and foster innovation uptake.

Funding Information

Budget (EUR) – Year 2025: 3 000 000
Contributions: around 3000000

Expected Outcomes

• Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected outcomes:
  • Creation of the GenAI4EU HUB: developing a strong and visible GenAI4EU community, supporting the uptake of European GenAI solutions across strategic application sectors and the HE Clusters, through collaboration and knowledge exchange.
  • This CSA will also support and collaborate with the European Commission’s AI Office in its function to promote an innovative ecosystem of trustworthy AI, to reap the societal and economic benefits.

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.