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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

This grant, 'Transversal Centres of Excellence', aims to establish technical hubs for High-Performance Computing (HPC) application developers. These centers will provide essential expertise, tools, and support to streamline software development, optimize performance, and facilitate the adoption of best practices and emerging HPC technologies. The grant targets legal entities (including private sector entities, universities, and public research institutions) involved in HPC and AI. It is SECTOR-AGNOSTIC in its application focus, supporting various scientific and industrial domains that rely on HPC. Its geographic scope is limited to legal entities established in eligible countries as described in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided in this document). This is a recurring grant opportunity as part of the broader EuroHPC Joint Undertaking program.

Financial Structure

Funding Details

Grant Type: HORIZON JU Research and Innovation Actions (RIA).
EU-Funding Rate: The grant will cover up to 50% of the eligible costs. This is an exception from the usual Horizon Europe funding rates.
Minimum Grant Amount (per project): 1,000,000 EUR.
Maximum Grant Amount (per project): 2,500,000 EUR.
Total Call Budget: The overall budget for the HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-COE-LH-01 call (which includes this topic) is 60,000,000 EUR for the year 2025. This specific topic (01-02) expects to fund 4 grants.

Reporting and Other Financial Requirements

Financial and Operational Capacity: Must meet requirements detailed in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes (not provided in this document).
Eligible Costs: Not explicitly detailed, but generally, eligible costs are those necessary for carrying out the project activities and complying with the grant agreement, subject to EU financial regulations.
Indirect Cost Policies: Not specified in the provided documents, but generally covered by the funding rate up to 50% for eligible costs.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Eligibility

Eligible Organization Types: Legal entities are eligible. The grant strongly encourages participation from private sector entities (which can include SMEs, startups, and larger enterprises), universities, and other research institutions (which might be public or NGOs involved in research).
Geographic Location: Limited to legal entities established in countries specified in Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. The specific list of countries is not provided in the grant materials.
Consortium Requirement: Yes, proposals must be submitted by consortia. Consortia should have a balanced composition, integrating HPC specialists and domain experts.
Financial and Operational Capacity: Applicants must meet the financial and operational capacity criteria described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes (details not provided).

Technical Requirements

Expertise: Must demonstrate technical expertise in HPC application development, profiling, performance optimization, application deployment, co-design, data processing, interoperability, resilience, fault tolerance, security, data privacy, and energy-efficient computing.
Collaboration: Strong links must be established with other initiatives under the EuroHPC Applications and Technologies pillar, including Community CoEs, Lighthouse Codes, and the Support Centre for HPC-powered AI Applications. Engagement with national and EU-funded projects and broader AI and HPC initiatives (e.g., RISC-V, European Processor Initiative, AI Factories) is also expected.
Dedicated Resources: Generally, proposals should allocate at least 12 person-months for collaboration activities with other grants awarded under this call. This will be assigned to a specific collaboration task defined after evaluation.

Application Process

Application Forms: Application form templates specific to this call are available in the Submission System. Standard application forms (HE RIA, IA) are used.
Submission Format: Proposals must adhere to a page limit of 70 pages.
Submission Platform: Applications are submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission Service. You will need to log in to access the application forms.

Timeline

Planned Opening Date: June 10, 2025.
Application Deadline: January 20, 2026, 00:00:00 UTC (midnight).
Evaluation and Grant Agreement Timeline: Indicative timeline described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes (not provided).

Deliverables and Reporting Beneficiaries will be required to submit the following: * Data Management Plan: To be submitted at the beginning, mid-term, and towards the end of the project. * Communication Plan: To be submitted 6 months after the project starts, together with the Dissemination and Exploitation (D&E) plan. * Plan for Dissemination and Exploitation of Results: To be submitted 6 months after the project starts, and towards the end of the project. Support Available Various support resources are available, including: * Online Manual for guidance on procedures. * Horizon Europe Programme Guide for detailed guidance on structure, budget, and political priorities. * Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ for common questions. * Research Enquiry Service. * National Contact Points (NCPs) for country-specific guidance. * Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) for advice to businesses, especially SMEs. * IT Helpdesk for technical issues. * European IPR Helpdesk for intellectual property issues. * CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk for standardisation advice. * The European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for their recruitment. * Partner Search tool to find partner organizations.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. While the full details are not provided, the grant's objectives and scope imply key areas that will likely be assessed:

Relevance and Alignment: How well the proposal addresses the need for critical expertise, tools, and services for HPC application developers, and its contribution to strengthening the European HPC and AI ecosystem.
Impact Expectations: Expected outcomes include enhanced performance and efficiency of HPC/AI applications, stronger integration of tool development with user needs (with quantifiable benefits), enhanced interoperability across the computing continuum (security, data privacy, resilience, fault tolerance, energy efficiency), and increased knowledge transfer and skills development.
Quality of the Proposal: This would include the soundness of the approach to addressing a specific, well-defined transversal technical area, the quality of the work plan, and the appropriateness of the resources allocated.
Team and Consortium Quality: The balance and expertise within the consortium, including HPC specialists and domain experts.
Dissemination and Exploitation: Plans for coordinated provision of software, algorithms, and relevant information to the wider European HPC user community, dissemination of training activities, and a robust plan for dissemination and exploitation of results.
Collaboration and Coordination: The strength of links with other EuroHPC initiatives and the commitment to allocating resources for collaboration activities.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Ethical Compliance

General Conditions: Proposals must comply with general conditions described in Annex A (admissibility), Annex B (eligible countries), Annex C (financial/operational capacity, exclusion), Annex D (award criteria), Annex F (submission/evaluation processes, timeline), and Annex G (funding rates) of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. These annexes are referenced but not provided within this document.
Strategic Assets and Security: Given the sensitive nature of HPC applications (security, digital autonomy, critical infrastructure), specific conditions are outlined in EuroHPC JU Decision No 19/2025 (not provided). The EU aims to avoid technological dependency on non-EU sources for close-to-market critical technologies.
Data Protection and Privacy: Implied by the scope, particularly for applications processing sensitive data (e.g., drug discovery, nuclear research).
Ethical Standards: While not explicitly detailed, adherence to ethical standards is expected for EU-funded projects.

Dissemination and Open Science

Open Science Practices: Beneficiaries are subject to additional obligations regarding open science practices. This includes coordinated provision of software, algorithms, and relevant information to the wider European HPC user community without undue delay, especially to participating supercomputing centers.
Dissemination of Training: Training activities must be disseminated in collaboration with linked grants and relevant Coordination and Support Actions, forming a coordinated training program.

Unique Aspects and Strategic Alignment

Role of Transversal CoEs: These CoEs are critical for bridging the gap between cutting-edge HPC infrastructure and application developers, streamlining software development, and facilitating adoption of best practices.
Focus Areas: Proposals must address one specific, well-defined, and coherent transversal technical area supporting HPC application development. Examples include application profiling, performance optimization, deployment, portability, co-design with vendors, automated testing, code adaptation to computing continuum, data processing, resilience, fault tolerance, security, and energy-efficient computing. This list is not exhaustive.
Industry Collaboration: Strong encouragement for private sector entities to enhance industry collaboration and impact.
Cross-Cutting Themes: The call emphasizes energy efficiency, interoperability, security, data privacy, resilience, and skills development across the European HPC ecosystem.
Impact through Collaboration: Projects are expected to maximize impact through strong links with other EuroHPC initiatives (Community CoEs, Lighthouse Codes, Support Centre for HPC-powered AI Applications), national and EU-funded projects, and broader AI/HPC initiatives (e.g., RISC-V, European Processor Initiative, AI Factories).
Risk Mitigation: Safeguarding the integrity, resilience, and security of critical European HPC infrastructure from cyber-attacks and other threats is a core concern.

Grant Details