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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core objective: To create a pioneer federated digital infrastructure for advanced materials research and development, facilitating industrial uptake and providing feedback to academic research.
Target recipient type and size: Primarily publicly funded organizations acting as major national/regional hubs, but also targets industry, academia, research organizations, and strongly supports SMEs.
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic scope and any location requirements: EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe are eligible. Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions in any capacity.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Focus on advanced materials R&I, digital infrastructure development, use of AI/HPC, and strong collaborative potential across academia and industry.
Grant frequency and program context: Part of the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 (HORIZON-CL4-2025-01), indicating recurring calls within this multi-annual framework.

Financial Structure

Funding type: Innovation Action (IA).
Total budget for this specific topic: 28,000,000 EUR.
Minimum grant amount per project: 28,000,000 EUR.
Maximum grant amount per project: 28,000,000 EUR.
Currency: EUR.
Co-financing requirements: Not specified in the provided text. General conditions regarding legal and financial set-up of grants are described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Funding rate: Not specified in the provided text.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type & Capacity

Eligible organizations are in principle publicly funded organizations with the necessary expertise.
Organizations must be mandated by their competent ministry.
Must function as major (national or regional) hubs and contact points for stakeholders in national ecosystems.
Includes academia, industry, and research organizations.
Strong support for SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises).
A consortium is required to apply, bringing together EU-level experience, knowledge, and resources.

Geographic & Legal

Eligible countries are those listed in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, typically EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe.
Legal entities established in China are explicitly not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions in any capacity under this call.

Financial & Operational Capacity

Financial and operational capacity requirements are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Applicants must meet exclusion criteria as per Annex C.

Project Specific

Proposals should demonstrate expected outcomes by including a business case and an exploitation strategy for industrialisation.
For projects at TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels) 6 and 7, a credible strategy to achieve future full-scale deployment in the EU is expected.
Projects are encouraged to have a duration of around four years.

Application Process

Submission Details

Application deadline: 2025-09-23 00:00:00+0000.
Submission session became available on: 2025-05-22.
Application procedure: Single-stage submission process.
Submission platform: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Required documentation: Use the Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) specific to this call, available in the Submission System.
Proposal page limit and layout: Described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes, and specifically in Part B of the Application Form.

Evaluation & Selection

Evaluation and award processes: Described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: Described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Support and Guidance

Comprehensive guidance available through the Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, and Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ.
Support services include: Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs) for general guidance, Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) for business/SME advice, IT Helpdesk for technical issues.
Specialized helpdesks: European IPR Helpdesk for intellectual property, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk for standardization.
Ethical guidelines: The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment are to be consulted.
Partner search: A tool is available to help find partner organizations for proposals.

Post-Award & Implementation

Expected grant duration: Applicants are encouraged to consider a project duration of around four years.
Legal and financial set-up of grants: Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Model Grant Agreements (MGA) are available for reference.

Evaluation Criteria

Impact Criteria

Proposals will be assessed on their expected impact, especially through the business case and exploitation strategy for industrialisation.
Enhanced market opportunities for participants and deployment in the EU (short to medium term) must be demonstrated.
Clear identification of targeted market(s) and estimated market size (EU and globally).
Solutions must match market and user needs in a cost-effective manner.
Description of expected market position and competitive advantage is required.
Credible strategy to achieve future full-scale deployment in the EU (for TRLs 6 and 7).
Identification of obstacles, requirements, and necessary actions for reaching higher TRLs (e.g., securing investments, accessing skills, matching value chains, enhancing product robustness, securing industrial integrators, user acceptance).
Where relevant for skills, proposals should consider developing scalable training material to equip workers with the necessary skills for uptake and deployment of new products/services.

Technical Excellence & Scope

Ability to create a pioneer federated digital infrastructure for advanced materials R&D.
Provision of access to interoperable, heterogeneous, and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data sources and computational tools.
Solutions must address requirements of experimental workflows for high-quality, well-structured, and documented primary data.
Framework to support self-driving labs using state-of-the-art AI technologies and predictive modeling techniques.
Mechanisms for long-term sustainability and expansion to future use cases.
Interconnection of existing and new digital infrastructures for advanced materials, supported by AI tools and High-Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.
Fostering trust in data sharing based on FAIR data principles, common materials taxonomies, ontologies, and data interoperability.
Inclusive user-centric approach considering intellectual property rights (IPR) and ownership.
Support for virtual design of advanced materials and related processing.
Fostering progress towards widely accessible self-driving labs.

Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation

Project planning must include Phase 1 (Planning & Framework Establishment): identifying requirements and existing solutions, planning governance, long-term sustainability, addressing compatibility/standardization, and identifying key stakeholders.
Phase 2 (Initial Build-up): establishing trust infrastructure, remote access, operational governance, standards, machine-readable domain-specific data schemas, and Advanced Programming Interfaces (APIs).
Phase 3 (Demonstration): integration of workflows and tools (including for primary data creation), conducting 5 use cases across different sectors with demonstrators, and taking concrete steps towards sustainability.
Appropriate expertise in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) is expected to ensure a user-centred design.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Admissibility conditions (page limits, layout) as per Annex A and Annex E of Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Eligible Countries as per Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria as per Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and financial set-up of grants as per Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Compliance with EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509.
Adherence to Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment, and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Technical & Quality Standards

Projects must adhere to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles for interoperable, heterogeneous data sources.
New chemicals and materials should be developed using the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework, including animal-free new approach methodologies and systematic life-cycle assessments.
Requirement for common materials taxonomies, ontologies, and data interoperability.
Integration of state-of-the-art AI technologies and predictive modeling techniques, and High-Performance Computing (HPC) facilities.

Ethical & Social Considerations

Inclusion of appropriate expertise in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) is crucial for user-centred design that facilitates access across different sectors and communities.
Consideration of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and ownership in data sharing among stakeholders.
Proposals are encouraged to develop training material to endow workers with relevant skillsets, test it, and ensure scalability, potentially with support from European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Strategic Alignment & Collaboration

Projects should seek complementarity and synergies with existing national initiatives (e.g., Material Digital, DIADEM, CaPeX) and EU initiatives (e.g., 'Innovative Materials for EU' partnership, Data Spaces including European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), EuroHPC, Open Innovation Testbeds).
The action should envisage coordination with a possible mutual learning exercise (MLE) on this topic.
Consortia are encouraged to consider voluntary contributions of data, indicators, and knowledge to relevant Joint Research Centre (JRC) platforms such as INnovation Centre for Industrial Transformation and Emissions (INCITE) and The Energy and Industry Geography Lab (EIGL).

Grant Details