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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core Objective: To explore and leverage the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence, including generative AI, for creativity-driven innovation within Europe's Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), while addressing challenges related to ethics, intellectual property, and workforce skills.
Target Recipient Type: Organizations and professionals within the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), research institutions (including SSH disciplines), policymakers, cultural institutions, and potentially technology developers.
Target Size: Predominantly focuses on SMEs within the CCI sector, but also encompasses larger entities involved in research and cultural heritage.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic Scope: EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe.
Key Filtering Criteria: Focus on AI and its intersection with cultural heritage and creative industries; commitment to ethical AI and open-source principles for developed software; engagement with CCI representatives.
Grant Frequency: Recurring, as part of the annual Horizon Europe Work Programme.

Financial Structure

Funding Type: Lump Sum Grant (HORIZON Lump Sum Grant).
Budget Range: Expected grants range from a minimum of 4,000,000 EUR to a maximum of 5,000,000 EUR per project.
Total Topic Budget: 15,000,000 EUR for the year 2025 (for 3 expected grants).
Eligible Costs: Will take the form of a lump sum, approximating beneficiaries' underlying actual costs. Proposals must detail estimated direct and indirect costs.
Cost Categories Covered by Lump Sum: Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners/natural person beneficiaries), subcontracting costs, purchase costs (travel, equipment, other goods/services), and other cost categories (financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, transnational/virtual access to research infrastructure, PCP/PPI procurement costs, Euratom Cofund staff mobility, ERC additional funding).
Indirect Costs: Calculated by applying a 25% flat rate to direct cost categories that qualify under Horizon Europe rules.
Payment Schedule: Payments are released upon proper implementation of the corresponding work packages as defined in the grant agreement's Annex 1.
Financial Guarantees: Between 5% and 8% of the total lump sum is retained as a contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.
Co-financing: Compliance with the co-financing principle requires that the total estimated costs of the action are greater than the estimated Union contributions.
Financial Reporting: Simplified; no obligation to report actual costs incurred. Focus of checks and audits is on technical implementation and fulfillment of work package conditions.

Eligibility Requirements

General Eligibility

Legal entities established in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries are eligible.
Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in Innovation Actions in any capacity.

Organizational Type and Structure

Eligible organization types include (but are not limited to) those active in Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI), research institutions, cultural heritage institutions, and entities engaged in policy making.
Proposals should involve representatives from the CCI, including arts and cultural heritage, from the outset.
This is a Research and Innovation Action (RIA) which typically requires a consortium of multiple beneficiaries.

Technical and Capacity Requirements

Demonstrated expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its applications.
Expertise in cultural and creative domains, including arts, cultural heritage, design, visualization, storytelling.
Capacity to conduct research, including Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines.
Ability to leverage existing data and services from European Research Infrastructures, European Open Science Cloud, and relevant Data Spaces (e.g., common European data space for cultural heritage).
Commitment to developing software as open source (CC0 public domain dedication or OSI-approved license), or providing free user licenses for non-open source libraries if used.
Compliance with specific data models and software development guidelines elaborated by the project funded under topic 'HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01' for developed software and deliverables.

Application Process

Application Deadline: 2025-09-16 00:00:00+00.
Submission Procedure: Single-stage.
Submission Platform: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Required Documentation and Materials

Part B of the Application Form: Page limit of 50 pages for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) using the lump sum model.
Detailed Budget Table: Mandatory submission using the template available in the Submission System.
Applicants are asked to confirm their choice of action type (HORIZON-RIA) and Model Grant Agreement (HORIZON Lump Sum Grant) during submission.

Evaluation and Selection

Proposals will be evaluated according to standard Horizon Europe procedures by external independent experts.
Experts will assess the quality of proposals based on excellence, expected impact, and quality and efficiency of implementation.
Experts with financial knowledge will review the detailed budget estimate.
The final lump sum amount will be established by the authorising officer based on the evaluation findings and included in the grant agreement.

Support and Guidance

Online Manual: Guide for proposal submission and grant management.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide: Detailed guidance on program structure, budget, and political priorities.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ: Answers to common questions.
Research Enquiry Service: For general questions on European research and EU Research Framework Programmes.
National Contact Points (NCPs): Guidance and assistance on participation.
Enterprise Europe Network: Advice for businesses, especially SMEs, on EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk: For technical issues related to the Funding & Tenders Portal.
European IPR Helpdesk: Assistance with intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk: Advice on standardisation in project proposals.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment: General principles for researchers, employers, and funders.
Partner Search: Tools to find partner organizations.

Evaluation Criteria

Quality of Project

Excellence: Assessed by the soundness of the approach, methodology, and scientific/technical quality of the proposed research and innovation activities.
Impact: Evaluated on the project's potential to contribute to expected outcomes such as insights for policymakers and CCI, evidence-based policy recommendations, frameworks for IP management, and mechanisms for collaboration. Expected impact includes realizing the full potential of cultural heritage, arts, and CCI as drivers of sustainable innovation and a European sense of belonging.
Quality and Efficiency of Implementation: Assessed based on the coherence and effectiveness of the work plan, appropriateness of resources, and management structures.

Financial Aspects

Experts with financial knowledge will check the budget estimate for each work package based on benchmarks (market prices, statistical data, historical data).
Verification that the proposed resources and breakdown of lump sum shares enable achieving the defined activities and expected outputs.
Proposals must include a declaration that beneficiaries followed their own accounting practices for budget preparation.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Projects that demonstrate alignment with European Commission priorities, such as the New European Bauhaus initiative, UN Sustainable Development Goals, European Green Deal goals, and a Europe fit for the digital age.
Emphasis on human-centric AI tools that address biases (gender, sex, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, migrant status), safeguard cultural diversity, and enhance user experience.
Consideration of the role of cultural organizations in training AI systems to represent multilingualism and cultural diversity and foster accessibility.

Strategic Fit

Contribution to fostering a culture- and creativity-driven European innovation ecosystem.
Exploration of the potential of creativity and the arts to engage with AI developments.
Building on existing knowledge, activities, and networks, especially those funded by the European Union, and seeking complementarities and synergies with relevant Horizon Europe Cluster 2 and 4 projects, and other EU programmes like Creative Europe and Digital Europe.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Ethical Compliance

Adherence to general conditions described in Annexes A, B, C, D, E, F, G of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Compliance with the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under Horizon Europe.
Projects must adhere to ethical standards, addressing ethical dilemmas and biases in AI development.

Data and Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of digital objects stored in the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) and produced by ECCCH-based collaboration must be fully recorded and traceable.
Guidelines for IPR use, such as RightsStatements.org, should be used where appropriate.
All software developed should be open source, licensed under a CC0 public domain dedication or an open-source license recommended by the Free Software Foundation or Open Source Initiative.
If not fully open source, suitable non-open source function libraries may be used, provided a full user license, free of charge for an unlimited period, is granted to the ECCCH consortium and all ECCCH users.
All software and related deliverables must comply with the data model and software development guidelines from the project 'HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01'.
Any data produced in the context of the topic should be FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable).

Project Implementation and Monitoring

Projects funded are required to participate in concertation activities with the project funded under topic 'HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01'.
Monitoring and evaluation will focus on the technical implementation of the action and the fulfillment of conditions for releasing lump sum contributions per work package.

Unique Aspects and Challenges

The grant uses a lump sum funding model, which simplifies financial management but requires a detailed upfront budget estimate linked to work packages.
Projects are expected to contribute to the New European Bauhaus initiative, UN Sustainable Development Goals, European Green Deal goals, and a Europe fit for the digital age.
Emphasis on addressing the multifaceted intertwining between AI and the CCI, including the potential for job profile changes, skill needs, and capacity building.

Grant Details