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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

This grant aims to enhance the efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness of Europe's agri-food sector. It does this by leveraging digital and data infrastructure to improve data access, sharing, and reuse, fostering innovative solutions and reducing administrative burden.

Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: Consortia involving Member States and diverse stakeholders, including public and private entities (e.g., data providers, users) in the agri-food sector.
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC (Agri-Food Sector)
Geographic scope and any location requirements: Multi-country projects within Europe, focusing on EU Member States.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Focus on agri-food, digital infrastructure, data sharing/reuse, AI applications, multi-country collaboration, and alignment with EU data strategies.
Grant frequency and program context: This is a specific topic under the 'DIGITAL-2025-AI-08' call, part of the broader Digital Europe Programme. While the program is recurring, this specific topic is detailed for the 2025 work programme.

Financial Structure

Total budget for the 'DIGITAL-2025-AI-08-AGRIFOOD' topic in 2025: 15,000,000 EUR.
Minimum grant amount per project: Not specified.
Maximum grant amount per project: Not specified.
Currency: EUR (Euro).
Matching fund requirements: Not explicitly stated for the main grant recipients. However, specific rules apply for financial support to third parties.
Eligible costs: Not detailed in the provided information.
Ineligible costs: Not detailed in the provided information.
Financial support to third parties (FSTP): The project is encouraged to use financial support to third parties for developing, customizing, and integrating digital infrastructure, and for implementing cross-border use cases. Further details on funding rates and rules for FSTP are available in Appendix 2 and Annex 5 of the model grant agreement.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type & Structure

Consortium required: Yes, applications must be submitted by a consortium.
Active involvement of data providers and users from both public and private domains in the agri-food sector is highly recommended.
Eligible Countries: Organizations must be established in one of the EU Member States. These include: 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.

Capacity & Experience

Proactive collaboration with stakeholders is expected.
Demonstrated capacity to provide operational support for creating and maintaining a sustainable collaboration framework among Member States and other stakeholders.
Ability to analyze gaps in existing agri-food data infrastructures, propose measures, and develop/set up new digital and data infrastructures at the European level.
Expertise in developing and implementing cross-border use cases, especially those fostering advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Capacity to provide assistance, including financial support, to third parties for implementing use cases and developing infrastructure.
Proven track record of compliance with relevant EU legislation (e.g., GDPR, Directive on open data).
Projects must complement and avoid duplicating existing EU initiatives such as the Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS), Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEF) for AI in agri-food, Horizon Europe Partnership Agriculture of Data, European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), and EU Digital Identity Wallet/eID.

Technical Expertise Requirements

Expertise in digital infrastructure development, data management systems, data sharing protocols, and AI technologies relevant to the agri-food sector.

Application Process

Application Procedure

Application Deadline: 2025-10-02 00:00:00+0000.
Submission Method: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.
Submission Model: Single-stage application process.

Required Documentation & Materials

Application form: Standard application form specific to this call (DEP) available in the Submission System.
Proposal page limits and layout: Detailed in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form.
Detailed budget table: Must be completed and is available in the Submission System.
Ethics Self-Assessment: Guidelines on how to complete it are provided.

Project Implementation & Reporting

Grant duration: Not specified in the provided information.
Implementation timeline expectations: The project is expected to support large-scale deployment and long-term sustainability in the agri-food sector.
Reporting obligations: Not specifically detailed in this excerpt, but general Digital Europe Programme reporting requirements apply as per section 10 of the call document regarding the legal and financial set-up of grants.

Support and Resources

Application assistance: Support is available through the IT Helpdesk for technical questions (e.g., forgotten passwords, access rights, submission technicalities) and the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ for submission-related queries.
Online Manual: A step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes, from proposal preparation to project reporting, is available for 2021-2027 programmes.

Evaluation Criteria

Project Impact & Strategic Alignment

Contribution to enhancing efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness of the agri-food sector across Europe.
Alignment with the European Data Strategy, contributing to a fair, competitive, and innovative data economy.
Support for the digital transformation of the agri-food sector, making it smarter, more sustainable, and better adapted to user needs.
Potential to reduce administrative burden in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) data sharing, particularly in cross-border settings.
Complementarity with and acceleration of the development and implementation of the Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS).
Expected financial sustainability of the project's outcomes beyond the grant duration.
Outcomes and deliverables must be owned or usable by a lasting structure that supports the multi-country project (MCP) in the agri-food sector.

Quality of Concept & Implementation

Robustness of the proposed operational support for a sustainable collaboration framework among Member States and stakeholders.
Effectiveness of the planned information exchange platform for sharing insights, data, infrastructure details, tools, standards, and agreements.
Clarity and comprehensiveness of the coordination roadmap for preparing and implementing project actions.
Feasibility and quality of recommendations for the development, operation, and maintenance of digital infrastructure.
Thoroughness of the assessment of ongoing initiatives and lessons learned to tailor the deployment approach.
Technical soundness and innovation of the concept, specification, and set-up of the digital infrastructure for the agri-food ecosystem.
Quality and relevance of the portfolio of cross-border use cases, demonstrating cooperation and interoperability, adhering to guidelines and standards, and fostering advanced technologies (including AI).
Rigor of the use case evaluation reports, including performance results, lessons learned, and future recommendations.
Effectiveness of the proposed large-scale data infrastructure implementation and deployment at multi-country/EU level, with sustainable structures for maintenance and development.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Active involvement of data providers and users from both public and private domains to ensure outcomes meet needs and foster ownership.
Potential for reducing administrative burden and simplifying processes.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Compliance with applicable EU legislation is mandatory, specifically:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Directive on open data and the re-use of public sector information.

Intellectual Property Policies

The project's outcomes and deliverables should either be owned by or be usable by a lasting structure that will support the implementation of the Multi-Country Project (MCP) in the agri-food sector.

Risk Management

Projects must actively avoid duplication of existing initiatives related to agri-food data at European, national, and local levels.

Strategic Alignment & Collaboration

Close collaboration and alignment with existing and evolving EU initiatives related to agri-food data are crucial. These include: Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS), Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEF) for AI in agri-food, Horizon Europe Partnership Agriculture of Data, European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), and EU Digital Identity Wallet/eID.

Sustainability Requirements

The awarded project is expected to achieve financial sustainability beyond its duration.
Proposed structures for maintenance and further development of the implemented digital infrastructure must be sustainable.

Other Unique Aspects

The project must establish an information exchange platform, primarily among participants, for sharing insights and data regarding infrastructure, tools, standards, and agreements.
A comprehensive coordination roadmap is required, detailing the alignment of various initiatives and actors across different sectors and Member States.
The project should provide recommendations for the development, operation, and maintenance of key foundational elements for rolling out the MCP to new countries and further agri-food segments.
An assessment of ongoing initiatives at national and EU levels relevant to the project, with documentation of lessons learned, is expected.
The project will involve the concept, technical specification, and set-up of digital infrastructure for the agri-food ecosystem.
Development of a use cases portfolio demonstrating cross-border cooperation and interoperability is required, including guidelines and standards for general implementation.
Detailed use case evaluation reports, including performance results and recommendations, are expected from third-party beneficiaries under consortium guidance.
A 'deployment action' is expected for the large-scale implementation of the agri-food project at multi-country/EU level.
Policy recommendations aimed at creating favorable conditions for achieving MCP objectives and furthering digital transformation, reducing administrative burden, and simplification are also a deliverable.

Grant Details