EC offers Grants for Demand-Led Innovation through Public Procurement

Deadline: 20-Nov-2024

The European Commission (EC) is offering grants for Demand-Led Innovation through Public Procurement under Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON).

Scope

• End-users and public procurers from several countries are invited to send proposals for launching a Pre-Commercial Procurement action for the acquisition of R&D services for the development of innovative civil security technology solutions.
• The proposals should build on the outcomes of CSA projects funded under previous work programmes aimed at creating Stronger grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies (for example, topic HORIZON-CL3-2022-SSRI-01-03: Stronger grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies.). The successful proposals could therefore give continuity to the works initiated by those CSA projects.
• The proposals are expected to provide clear evidence on a number of aspects in order to justify and de-risk the PCP action, including:
  • That the challenge is pertinent and that indeed a PCP action is required to complete the maturation cycle of certain technologies and to compare different alternatives;
  • That there is a consolidated group of end-users and procurers with common needs and requirements which are committed to carry out a PCP action in order to be able to take an informed decision on a future joint procurement of innovative solutions;
  • That there is a quantifiable and identifiable community of potential buyers (including and beyond those proposed as beneficiaries in the proposal) who would share to a wide extent the common needs and requirements defined and who could be interested in exploring further joint-uptake of solutions similar to those developed under the PCP, should these prove to be technologically mature and operationally relevant by the end of the project;
  • That the state of the art and the market (including research) has been explored and mapped to the needs, and that there are different technical alternatives to address the proposed challenge;
  • That the PCP tendering process is clear, that a draft planning has been proposed and that the supporting documentation and administrative procedures will be ready in due time in order to launch the call for R&D services according to the PCP rules.
  • That there is a commitment to pursue the exploitation of results beyond the end of the project through engagement with stakeholders and implementation of exploitation strategies towards future uptake.
• The open market consultations required prior to launching the PCP call for tenders must have taken place in at least three EU Member States. Market consultations conducted during the previous CSA projects can be used if this requirement is fulfilled, and if it is justified that: i) their purpose was enough to guarantee the viability of the procurement and; ii) that the state-of-the-art has not changed since they were conducted.
• In relation with the PCP tendering process, the applicants should clarify how they intend to guarantee that:
  • The principles of the EU Directive for public procurement and in particular with the provisions related to PCP will be duly respected;
  • Conflict of interests will be avoided, including through the ineligibility of bids from technology providers who are also beneficiaries of the project or who have been beneficiaries of the previous CSA projects;
  • The confidentiality of the intellectual property of potential bidders will be protected;
  • The technology developments to be conducted in the PCP will be done in compliance with European societal values, fundamental rights and applicable legislation, including in the area of free movement of persons, privacy and protection of personal data;
  • In developing technology solutions, societal aspects (e.g. perception of security, possible side effects of technological solutions, societal resilience) will be taken into account in a comprehensive and thorough manner;
  • All participating public buyers commit to comply with EU data protection legislation in the development of innovative, advanced systems to support security and in particular the principles of data protection by design and by default;
  • The guidance for attracting innovators and innovation, as explained in the European Commission Guidance on Innovation Procurement C(2021) 4320, will be duly taken into account, in particular those measures oriented to reduce the barriers to high-tech start-ups and innovative SMEs.
• Applicants should propose an implementation of the project that includes:
  • A minimal preparation stage dedicated to finalising the tendering documents package for a PCP call for tenders based on the technical input resulting from the previous CSA projects, and to define clear verification and validation procedures, methods and tools for the evaluation of the prototypes to be developed throughout the PCP phases.
  • Launching the call for tenders for research and development services. The call for tenders should envisage a competitive development composed of different phases that would lead to at least 2 prototypes from 2 different providers to be validated in real operational environment at the end of the PCP cycle;
  • Conducting the competitive development of the prototypes following the PCP principles including a design phase, an integration and technical verification phase and a validation in real operational environment phase. In evaluating the proposals and the results of the PCP phases, the applicants should consider technical merit, feasibility and commercial potential of proposed research efforts.
  • Consolidating the results of the evaluation of the developed prototypes, extracting conclusions and recommendations from the validation process, and defining a strategy for a potential uptake of solutions inspired in the PCP outcomes, including a complete technical specification of the envisaged solutions and standardisation needs and/or proposals. This strategy should consider joint-cross border procurement schemes and exploit synergies with other EU and national non-research funds.
• The applicants are expected to maximise the visibility of the project outcomes to the wide community of potential EU public buyers. Liaison with other civil security communities beyond those addressed by the project is encouraged in order to assess the possible reuse and extensibility of the identified solutions to different domains.
• In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low-value grant).

Expected Outcomes

• Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:
  • An identifiable community of EU civil security authorities with common user/functional needs for innovative technology solutions;
  • Tested and validated capacity of EU technology and industrial base to develop and produce technology prototypes that meet the needs of the EU user community;
  • Improved delineation of the EU market (including demand and supply) for innovative civil security systems that can articulate alternative options for uptake in function of different industrialisation needs, commercialisation needs, acquisition needs, deployment needs and additional funding needs (beyond R&I funding).

Eligible Activities

• Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:
  • aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
  • intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);
  • intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.
• Projects must, moreover, comply with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy, etc.).
• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’). Also eligible are bottom-up coordination actions which promote cooperation between legal entities from Member States and Associated Countries to strengthen the European Research Area, and which receive no EU co-funding for research activities.
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund) — A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation. It may also provide any relevant financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance30 or a combination thereof. The actions may be implemented by the beneficiaries directly or by providing financial support to third parties.
  • Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA) — Activities that embed an innovation action and other activities necessary to deploy an innovation on the market. This includes the scaling-up of companies and Horizon Europe blended finance.
  • Training and mobility actions (TMA) — Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.
  • Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP) — Activities that aim to help a transnational buyers’ group to strengthen the public procurement of research, development, validation and, possibly, the first deployment of new solutions that can significantly improve quality and efficiency in areas of public interest, while opening market opportunities for industry and researchers active in Europe. Eligible activities include the preparation, management and follow-up, under the coordination of a lead procurer, of one joint PCP and additional activities to embed the PCP into a wider set of demand-side activities.
  • Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI) — Activities that aim to strengthen the ability of a transnational buyers’ group to deploy innovative solutions early by overcoming the fragmentation of demand for such solutions and sharing the risks and costs of acting as early adopters, while opening market opportunities for industry. Eligible activities include preparing and implementing, under the coordination of a lead procurer, one joint or several coordinated PPI by the buyers’ group and additional activities to embed the PPI into a wider set of demand-side activities.

Eligibility Criteria

• 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, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
• Specific cases: 
  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call/topic conditions.
  • Associated partners — Entities not eligible for funding (and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries) may participate as associated partners, unless specified otherwise in the specific call/topic conditions.
  • Coordination and Support Actions – To be eligible to participate as beneficiaries (or affiliated entities) in ‘Coordination and support’ actions, legal entities must be established in a Member State or Associated Country, unless the specific call/topic conditions provide otherwise (in which case the general rules for eligibility for funding apply). Legal entities established in a non-associated third country may, however, participate in ‘Coordination and support’ actions as associated partners, unless this is explicitly excluded by the specific call/topic conditions.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
  • International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

For more information, visit EC.