Deadline: 30-Mar-22
The European Commission (EC) is offering Grants on ICT Innovation for Manufacturing Sustainability in SMEs (I4MS2) (Made in Europe Partnership) (IA) to support manufacturing SMEs and mid-caps in adopting the latest innovative digital technologies for their business operations. I4MS2 builds on I4MS and addresses more significantly a sustainable and resilient production.
I4MS2 calls for Innovation Action projects that will support European SMEs and mid-caps to innovate and make more sustainable their products, production processes and business models through experimentation and testing. At least 50% of the budget should be allocated to SMEs and mid-caps to participate in the experiments. The proposals may include financial support to third parties to finance SMEs and mid-caps. Proposals should describe their complementarity to existing initiatives, namely the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs, which is supported through the Digital Europe Programme. They should also indicate how they will collaborate with European Digital Innovation Hubs.
Priorities
Priority should be given to technologies that can:
- Improve the sustainability of processes and products; significantly reduce or reuse waste and lower the energy and carbon footprint;
- Make industrial processes more agile, secure and resilient to future changes;
- Make manufacturing jobs more attractive for humans, whichever the age, gender or social and cultural background, through better human-machine interfaces and more intuitive interaction with digital tools;
Areas
The following technology areas should be addressed in proposals:
- Artificial Intelligence applied to manufacturing, with a specific focus of AI applications at the edge;
- Cybersecure Industrial Internet of Things enabling trustworthy sharing of industrial data and value creation, to achieve further flexibility and agility of supply chains;
- Advanced interfaces and collaboration within smart working environments such as collaborative robots.
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 (lowvalue grant)
Expected Outcomes
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
- Making European manufacturing companies, especially SMEs and small mid-caps, more sustainable and resilient through the best use of digital technologies and upskilling of personnel;
- Making jobs of humans working in the manufacturing sector safer and more attractive for a diverse population of workers;
- Increasing innovation capacity, agility and productivity of the manufacturing sector, in particular for SMEs and mid-caps;
- Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs and mid-caps by reducing the entry barriers to the use of advanced digital technologies, and transferring innovative solutions into the wider manufacturing community.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3AQj899
