Deadline: 3 September 2020
The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) is responsible for the implementation of open call for proposals for research and innovation actions and innovation actions, as well as coordination and support actions, in line with the Horizon 2020 rules for participation.
BBI JU Calls are open to private for-profit and not-for-profit organisations, including large enterprises as well as SMEs, Research and Technology Organisations, universities, associations, or any legal entity interested in BBI JU activities.
Research and Innovation actions
Definition
They are actions primarily consisting of activities aiming to establish new knowledge and/or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. For this purpose they may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing and validation on a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment. Projects may contain closely connected but limited demonstration or pilot activities aiming to show technical feasibility in a near to operational environment.
Size and resources
- The consortium must be composed of at least three ‘legal entities’ established in at least three different Member States and/or Associated Countries. The entities must be independent of each other.
- The size and composition of the consortium can vary depending on the topic. The BBI JU promotes the involvement of SMEs in its activities. More detailed information is available in the topics description in the work plan.
Activities
The activities to be carried out in the context of Research and Innovation Actions include:
- research and technological development activities, reflecting the core activities of the project; these should aim at a significant advance beyond the established state-of-the-art
- management activities linking together all the project components and maintaining communications with the BBI JU
- other activities including dissemination and exploitation
Funding Information
- The total project budget is €3,562,500 euros (total of direct costs + indirect costs). The budget per participant is: €875,000 for the RTO, €1,750,000 for the large industry, €500,000 for the SME and €437,500 for the university. According to the BBI JU rules only the SME, RTO and university partners are eligible for funding. In line with the H2020 rules, the funding rate is 100%.
- Total grant requested is 100% of €1,812,500 (RTO + SME+ University) = €1,812,500.
- Industry own contribution to the project is €1,750,000 (total costs not reimbursed by the BBI JU), which represents about 50% of the total budget.
Duration
Projects last typically up to 4 years.
Innovation actions
Innovation actions are industry-driven and consist mainly of activities aiming at producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. They may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
Context
- Innovation actions will address a whole value chain from feedstock sourcing to the market applications. The proposal should explain how potential bio-mass suppliers and customers will be involved. Innovation actions under this call /Guide for applicants cover “Demonstration” actions and “flagship” actions.
- The consortium must be composed of at least three ‘legal entities’ established in at least three different Member States and/or Associated Countries. The entities must be independent of each other.
- The size and composition of the consortium can vary depending on the topic. The BBI JU promotes the involvement of SMEs in its activities.
- The projects should contribute to strengthen the Bio-based industry in Europe, mobilise private investment and contribute to job growth.
Activities
The activities to be carried out in the context of Innovation Actions – “Demonstration” actions include:
- demonstration activities, focusing mainly on optimization of flows and cost reduction. Such demonstration activities could include engineering and testing operational conditions that have been identified at research and pilot scale to optimize productivity.
- Monitoring, data collection and analysis is considered critical during this phase;
- plant design, set-up and optimization of operations to reach the project objectives;
- management activities linking together all the project components and maintaining communications with the BBI JU;
other activities including dissemination and exploitation.
The activities to be carried out in the context of innovation – Flagship actions include:
- plant design, set-up and optimization of operations to reach the project objectives;
- an exploitation plan stating the activities to be performed to further increase the economic viability of their process, to prove market demand or include measures to increase market demand, to address consumer perception and to evaluate sustainability;
- management activities linking together all the project components and maintaining communications with the BBI JU;
- other activities including dissemination and exploitation.
Funding Information
The total project budget is € 29,800,000 (eligible direct costs + indirect costs). The total budget by participant is: € 3,875,000 for the university, € 9,750,000 for the 1st large industrial partner, € 9,375,000 for the 2nd large industrial partner, and € 6,800,000 for the SME.
Duration
Projects last typically 4-5 years.
Coordination and Support Actions
Definition
Coordination and Support Action means an action consisting primarily of accompanying measures such as standardisation, dissemination, awareness-raising and communication, networking, coordination or support services, policy dialogues and mutual learning exercises and studies, including design studies for new infrastructure, and may also include complementary activities of networking and coordination between programmes in different countries.
Purpose
The purpose of Coordination and Support actions is to address non-technological cross-sectorial challenges and support value chains through knowledge development (studies) and networking. Cross-cutting issues include cross-sectorial and critical elements which connect the different steps of the value chains, the different levels of innovation as well as the different stakeholders involved from the private and the public sector.
Activities
The activities to be carried out in the context of Coordination and Support Action include among others:
- Establishing new clusters and networks that aim to build new value chains which cut across existing value chains.
- An evaluation of existing standards and regulations across the sectors and value chains, in order to identify conflicts and barriers to growth, and to propose simple and applicable alternatives that facilitate investments in new value chains and products and increase the market uptake of bio-based products and processes.
- Identification of legislative barriers hampering cross-sectorial and across value chains integration of actors, in their efforts to establish new value chains utilising biomass in a cascaded manner. Special attention should be given to legislation governing the industrial use of biomass, for example waste legislation.
- Case studies on specific practical solutions for end-consumers, that cater to societal needs or concerns.
- Market surveys to measure progress in consumers’ engagement, market-uptake of bio-based products and public acceptance of the socio-economic and environmental benefits of bio-based industries. Survey results should be used to adapt priorities and communication key messages.
Funding Information
The total project budget is € 1,000,000 euros (total of direct costs + indirect costs). The budget per type of participant is: € 137,500 for the RTO, € 62.500 for the large industrial partner, € 575,000 for the SMEs and € 225,000 for the universities.
Size and resources
Unlike for other collaborative actions, Coordination and Support actions can be a carried either by a single ‘legal entity’ or a consortium of ‘legal entities’.
Duration
Project will typically last from 1 year up to 3 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Participation in a proposal requires the existence of a legal entity. “Legal entity” means any natural person, or any legal person created and recognised as such under national law, Union law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations. A legal entity can be a so-called “natural person” or a “legal person”. Depending on the type of action, a proposal may involve one or several participant(s). An entity which does not have legal personality under the applicable national law shall be considered as being assimilated to a legal entity provided that the conditions set out in Article 131(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and Article 198 of Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 are complied with.
For the purposes of the BBI JU calls, two different types of organisations are eligible and distinguished according to their sector:
- Academic sector;
- Non-academic sector.
Before applying, each organisation has to register and is automatically classified in one of the two sectors on the basis of the Participant Identification Code (PIC)4 assigned during the validation process. Organisations are considered as belonging to the academic sector if they have been assigned to one of the three categories mentioned below:
- Public or private higher education establishments awarding academic degrees;
- Public or private non-profit research organisations whose primary mission is to pursue research;
- International European Interest Organisations.
All other organisations are by default non-academic and include private enterprises (like SMEs ), non-profit or charitable organisations (e.g. NGOs, trusts), etc.
In the frame of a project, the following are eligible for BBI JU funding:
- any legal entity established in a Member State or associated country, or created under Union law;
- any international European interest organisation;
- any legal entity established in a third country identified in the Horizon 2020 Work Programme.
For more information, visit https://www.bbi-europe.eu/participate/calls-proposals