Soft Robotics for Advanced physical capabilities (IA) (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership)

Grant Purpose and Target

Core Objective
The grant's core mission is to fund projects that advance the field of soft robotics by exploiting novel materials, innovative design methods, and advanced control techniques. The aim is to create inherently safe, compliant, and versatile robotic systems that can securely interact with humans and be applied across various industries.

Funding Organization
European Commission, through the Horizon Europe programme (managed by HaDEA - European Health and Digital Executive Agency).

Target Recipients
This grant is open to a wide range of legal entities, including SMEs, large enterprises, universities, research organizations, public bodies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Applications must be from consortia, typically comprising at least three partners from different eligible countries.

Sector Focus
SECTOR-AGNOSTIC. While the core focus is on developing foundational soft robotics technology, projects are required to demonstrate the technology's advantages in at least three different sectors. The grant explicitly mentions healthcare, maintenance, manufacturing, and transportation as potential application areas.

Geographic Scope
Applicants must be legal entities established in EU Member States or countries associated with the Horizon Europe programme. Participation from other countries is possible under specific conditions detailed in the programme guide.

Key Filtering Criteria
* Project Type: Innovation Action (IA), focusing on activities closer to the market, such as prototyping, testing, demonstrating, and piloting.
* Consortium: A consortium of multiple partners is mandatory.
* Technology Focus: The project must be centered on soft robotics, including novel materials, design, control, actuation, or sensing.
* Demonstration: Proposals must include plans for at least three distinct demonstrators in different application sectors.

Financial Structure

Funding Range
The grant provides a fixed contribution of €10,000,000 per project. The total budget for this topic is €20,000,000, with an expectation to fund two projects.

Co-financing
The funding rate depends on the type of organization:
* For-profit legal entities: The funding rate is 70% of the total eligible costs.
* Non-profit legal entities (e.g., public universities, research organizations, NGOs): The funding rate is 100% of the total eligible costs.
The remaining project costs must be covered by the applicants' own resources (co-financing).

Eligible Costs
Eligible costs are those directly linked to the project's implementation and incurred during its lifetime. They include:
* Direct Costs: Personnel costs, subcontracting, purchase costs (travel, equipment), and other direct costs (e.g., dissemination, protection of results).
* Indirect Costs: A flat rate of 25% of the total eligible direct costs (excluding subcontracting and financial support to third parties) is applied to cover general administrative overheads.

Ineligible Costs
Costs that cannot be reimbursed include:
* Identifiable indirect taxes, including VAT.
* Interest owed.
* Provisions for future losses or debts.
* Currency exchange losses.
* Costs declared and covered in another EU action.

Payment & Reporting
Grants follow a standard Horizon Europe payment structure:
1. Pre-financing payment upon grant signature.
2. Interim payments based on periodic reports of incurred costs.
3. Final payment after the project's completion and submission of the final report.

Eligibility Requirements

Formal Criteria
* Consortium Composition: For Innovation Actions, proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least three independent legal entities established in three different EU Member States or Associated Countries. At least one of these must be established in an EU Member State.
* Admissibility: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal before the deadline, using the provided templates. Page limits and layout requirements described in the application form must be respected.

Organizational Status
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment or legal form, may participate, provided it meets the consortium requirements. This includes companies of all sizes (startups, SMEs, large enterprises), research and technology organizations (RTOs), universities, public administrations, and NGOs.

Technical Expertise
Proposals must demonstrate strong expertise in one or more of the following areas:
* Novel materials for soft robotics (passive, active, or composite).
* Design methods for non-rigid robotic structures.
* Advanced control methods for soft or compliant structures.
* Sensing and actuation for soft robots.
* Modelling, simulation, and integration of soft electronics.
* Application development in fields like healthcare, manufacturing, or logistics.

Exclusion Criteria
Standard Horizon Europe exclusion criteria apply. Applicants will be excluded if they are in situations such as bankruptcy, have been convicted of professional misconduct, are guilty of grave misrepresentation, or have shown significant deficiencies in a prior EU contract. Furthermore, proposals may be subject to restrictions related to the protection of European communication networks.

Application Practical Information

Deadlines
* Call Opening: 10 June 2025
* Submission Deadline: 02 October 2025, 17:00 Brussels time (CEST)
* Evaluation Period: October 2025 - February 2026 (indicative)
* Grant Agreement Signature: By March 2026 (indicative)

Required Documents
The application consists of two main parts, to be completed and submitted via the portal:
* Part A: Administrative forms containing information about the participants, budget, etc.
* Part B: A technical annex describing the project in detail, structured according to the evaluation criteria (Excellence, Impact, Implementation). A specific template is provided in the submission system.

Application Process
The submission process is a single-stage procedure:
1. Find partners and form a consortium.
2. Create an account on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
3. Register your consortium and start a draft proposal under the topic ID HORIZON-CL4-2025-04-DIGITAL-EMERGING-05.
4. Jointly prepare the proposal documents (Part A and Part B).
5. Submit the complete proposal package electronically before the deadline.

Support
Financial support is provided in the form of a grant. Additionally, applicants can access non-financial support from:
* National Contact Points (NCPs) for guidance and information.
* Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) for business and partnership support, especially for SMEs.
* IPR Helpdesk for advice on intellectual property.

Post-Award Obligations
* Projects must allocate tasks for cohesion and collaboration activities with the European Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics (ADRA).
* Communicable results must be shared with the European R&D community via the AI-on-demand platform.
* Standard obligations include periodic technical and financial reporting, and a plan for the exploitation and dissemination of project results.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are evaluated based on three standard award criteria for Horizon Europe Innovation Actions. Each criterion is scored out of 5, and specific thresholds apply.

1. Excellence (Threshold: 3/5)
* 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 the underlying concepts, models, and assumptions; quality of the open standards and practices; and the quality of the proposed demonstrators.
* Credibility of the proposed approach to incorporate mechanisms for assessing progress, including KPIs, benchmarking, and monitoring.

2. Impact (Threshold: 3/5)
* Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes mentioned in the topic description, including increased exploitation of novel materials and the creation of safe and versatile robotic systems.
* Suitability and quality of the measures to maximize expected outcomes and impacts, as set out in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities.
* Contribution to the European Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics (ADRA) and dissemination of results through the AI-on-demand platform.
* Demonstration of the technology's advantage in multiple application scenarios across different sectors.

3. Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation (Threshold: 3/5)
* Quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including the assessment of risks and the appropriateness of the effort assigned to work packages.
* Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures, including risk and innovation management.
* Complementarity of the participants within the consortium and the extent to which the consortium as a whole brings together the necessary expertise.
* Appropriateness of the allocation of tasks, ensuring that all participants have a valid role and adequate resources to fulfil that role.

Compliance and Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance
* Safety: As the grant focuses on creating 'inherently safe' robotic systems for human interaction, projects must consider relevant safety standards and regulations (e.g., EU Machinery Directive).
* Ethics: All projects must comply with ethical principles, including those reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. An ethics self-assessment is a mandatory part of the application.
* Data Protection: If projects handle personal data, they must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

IP Policy
The standard Horizon Europe Intellectual Property (IP) rules apply, as detailed in the Model Grant Agreement:
* Ownership: Results are owned by the beneficiary that generates them.
* Protection: Beneficiaries must protect their results if they can be commercially or industrially exploited.
* Exploitation & Dissemination: Beneficiaries must use their best efforts to exploit their results. Dissemination of non-sensitive results is an obligation, including through the AI-on-demand platform.
* Access Rights: Consortium partners must be granted access to necessary background and results to carry out their work and for exploitation purposes. The EU retains royalty-free access rights for policy-related purposes.

Unique Aspects
* Mandatory Collaboration: Proposals must build on or seek collaboration with existing relevant projects and initiatives.
* Partnership Integration: Active engagement with the ADRA partnership is a requirement.
* Multi-Sector Demonstration: A key requirement is to showcase the technology in at least three demonstrators from different industrial or societal sectors.
* Platform Dissemination: Results must be shared through the AI-on-demand platform to strengthen the European AI, Data, and Robotics ecosystem.

Industry-Specific Rules
Projects may be subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. Additionally, demonstrators developed for specific sectors (e.g., healthcare) must consider the regulatory frameworks applicable to that sector.