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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Grant Purpose and Target

Core objective: To significantly advance CNS (Communication, Navigation, Surveillance) capabilities for U-space (unmanned aircraft system airspace) and extend the U-space ecosystem.
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: Any legal entity that can form a consortium (minimum three independent legal entities).
SECTOR-SPECIFIC
Geographic scope and any location requirements: EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Specific low- and middle-income countries are also eligible for funding if their participation is considered essential or explicitly provided for.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Focus on U-space, CNS, UAS, 5G/cellular networks in aviation. Consortium formation. Strict geographic and political exclusions apply.
Grant frequency and program context: This is part of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking Bi-Annual Work Programme 2024-2025, indicating a recurring program context.

Financial Structure

Grant type: This is a lump sum grant.
Funding rate: A funding rate of 70% applies to all beneficiaries, regardless of their legal status.
Minimum grant amount (per project): EUR 2,000,000.
Maximum grant amount (per project): EUR 5,000,000.
Total budget for the entire 'HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02' call: EUR 230,000,000.
Currency: EUR.
Eligible costs: Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum. The detailed budget table submitted with the proposal (Part B) will be used to justify and fix this lump sum, and costs must comply with basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants.
Ineligible costs: Costs that do not comply with eligibility criteria or those that would lead to a profit from the grant.
Indirect cost policies: Indirect costs are covered within the lump sum amount; no separate flat rate applies.
Payment schedule and mechanisms: Normal payment schedule includes pre-financing (typically 160% of average EU funding per reporting period) and interim/final payments linked to periodic reports. Payments may be adjusted if a beneficiary has outstanding debts to the EU.
Audit requirements: Depending on the grant amount and beneficiary type, a certificate on financial statements may be required.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Eligibility

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, is eligible to participate in Horizon Europe actions.
To be eligible for funding, entities must be established in one of the following:
EU Member States: 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.
Horizon Europe Associated Countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, United Kingdom, Ukraine.
A specific list of low- and middle-income countries (refer to the Horizon Europe Programme Guide for the full, extensive list). Entities from these countries are automatically eligible for funding.
Legal entities established in countries not listed above may be eligible for funding if explicitly provided for in the specific call conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
Consortium required: Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate. The consortium must include:
At least one independent legal entity established in an EU Member State.
At least two other independent legal entities, each established in different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Exclusions

Legal entities established in China are NOT eligible to participate in Horizon Europe Innovation Actions in any capacity (including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties, or subcontractors).
Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are NOT eligible to participate in any capacity.
Entities subject to EU restrictive measures are NOT eligible.
Entities assessed as 'high-risk suppliers' of mobile network communication equipment (and any entities they own or control) are NOT eligible, as this call is subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

Technical and Operational Capacity

Applicants must possess the necessary know-how, qualifications, and resources to successfully implement their tasks and contribute their share. This includes sufficient experience in EU/transnational projects of comparable size if relevant.
Operational capacity is assessed during the evaluation of the 'Quality and efficiency of the implementation' criterion.

Application Process

Application deadline: 2025-09-16 00:00:00+0000.
Submission procedure: Single-stage submission via the Funding & Tenders Portal electronic submission system.
Required documentation:
Part A: Completed directly online, includes administrative information, summarized budget, and call-specific questions.
Part B: Technical description of the project, downloaded, completed, and uploaded as a PDF. The page limit for Part B is 50 pages for Innovation Actions.
Mandatory Annexes and supporting documents, uploaded as PDF files.
Pre-application requirements: Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register to obtain a Participant Identification Code (PIC). A validated PIC is not required for submission but is for grant agreement signing.
Submission format: Electronic submission only; paper submissions are not accepted.
Application assistance: SESAR 3 JU Call Helpdesk, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, National Contact Points (NCPs), and Enterprise Europe Network offer guidance.

Timeline and Implementation

Project duration: Maximum 36 months.
Indicative evaluation timeline: Information on outcome approximately 5 months from the submission deadline (around February 2026).
Indicative grant agreement signing: Around 8 months from the submission deadline (around May 2026).
Reporting obligations: Milestones and deliverables will be managed through the grant management system, and periodic reports will be required.

Evaluation Criteria

Award Criteria Proposals are evaluated against three main criteria, each scored out of 5. An individual threshold of 3 applies per criterion, and an overall threshold of 10 applies to the sum of the three scores. - Excellence (40% weighting) - Clarity and pertinence of the project's objectives, and the extent to which the proposed work is ambitious and goes beyond the state of the art. - Soundness of the proposed methodology, including underlying concepts, models, assumptions, and inter-disciplinary approaches. - Appropriate consideration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content. - Quality of open science practices, including sharing and management of research outputs and engagement of citizens/civil society. - Impact (40% weighting, weighted by 1.5 for ranking purposes) - Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts specified in the work programme. - Likely scale and significance of the project's contributions. - Suitability and quality of measures to maximize expected outcomes and impacts, as outlined in the dissemination and exploitation plan (including communication activities). - Implementation (20% weighting) - Quality and effectiveness of the work plan. - Assessment of risks. - Appropriateness of the effort assigned to work packages and overall resources. - Capacity and role of each participant, and the extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise. Ranking and Prioritization

Proposals passing both individual and overall thresholds will be considered for funding.
In case of tied scores, priority is given based on:
Addressing aspects of the call not covered by higher-ranked proposals.
Higher score in 'Excellence' (if still tied, then 'Impact'). For Innovation Actions, priority is given to 'Impact' first, then 'Excellence'.
Gender balance among researchers.
Geographical diversity (number of Member States/Associated Countries represented).

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Projects must comply with ethical principles, including the highest standards of research integrity, and applicable EU, international, and national law.
Ethics self-assessment is required as part of the application. Projects with ethical issues will undergo an ethics review.
Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications. Exclusions include human cloning for reproductive purposes, heritable human genetic modification (except for cancer treatment), and creating human embryos solely for research.
Compliance with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy).

Data Protection and Security

The call is subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
Projects involving classified and/or sensitive information will undergo a security appraisal process.
Personal data collected will be processed in accordance with Regulation 2018/1725.

Intellectual Property (IPR) and Dissemination

Beneficiaries must proactively share relevant results, royalty-free, with other grants awarded under the same call.
Results must be made available for reuse under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions through a trusted repository.
If results are relevant for standardization, beneficiaries must grant a non-exclusive, royalty-free license.
Mutual access to background and results of linked actions must be ensured if necessary for implementation or exploitation.
Open science practices require providing access to data or other results to validate scientific publications.
In case of public emergency, beneficiaries must immediately deposit research output in a repository and provide open access (CC BY license, CC0 or equivalent).
The granting authority may object to transfers of ownership or exclusive licensing of results for up to 4 years after the action ends.
Beneficiaries must inform the granting authority if results could contribute to European or international standards for up to 4 years after the action ends.

Other Special Requirements

Gender Equality Plans (GEPs): Legal entities from EU Member States and Associated Countries that are public bodies, research organizations, or higher education establishments must have a GEP meeting specific minimum process-related requirements (publication, dedicated resources, data collection, training).
No double funding from the EU budget is allowed for the same costs.
The grant operates under a 'no-profit rule'; any profit will be deducted from the final grant amount.
A written consortium agreement is generally recommended for multi-beneficiary grants.

Grant Details