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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

This grant aims to drive the AI/ML digital transition of Copernicus Services, focusing on research and innovation to enhance the quality, timeliness, and user experience of Earth observation data and applications. It targets organizations capable of significant R&I work in space and AI/ML technologies. This is a SECTOR-SPECIFIC grant within the Earth Observation and Space sectors.

Core Objective: To integrate AI/ML strategies across Copernicus Services' value chains and workflows, transforming data, products, and user interactions.
Target Recipients: Organizations involved in research and innovation, including companies, research entities, universities, and public bodies.
Geographic Scope: Open to organizations from EU Member States and countries associated with Horizon Europe.
Key Filtering Criteria: Proposals must demonstrate a strong focus on AI/ML for Copernicus data, services, or workflows, aiming for game-changing and disruptive approaches.
Grant Frequency: Part of the broader Horizon Europe program, indicating recurring opportunities in related fields.

Financial Structure

Funding Amount: The grant provides a total of 12,000,000.0 EUR for one successful project.
Funding Type: The grant is provided in the form of a lump sum contribution.
Eligible Costs (for lump sum calculation): The lump sum is determined based on estimated direct and indirect project costs, covering categories such as:
- Personnel costs (employees, contractors, seconded persons, SME owners).
- Subcontracting costs.
- Purchase costs (travel, subsistence, equipment, other goods, works, and services).
- Other cost categories (financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, access to research infrastructure).
Indirect Costs: A flat rate of 25.0% of direct eligible costs will be included in the lump sum calculation.
Payment Mechanism: Payments are tied to the proper implementation and completion of specific work packages, as outlined in the grant agreement. Payments do not depend on actual costs incurred.
Co-financing: The principle of co-financing is maintained, meaning the total estimated costs of the action should be greater than the estimated EU contribution. For Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), the reimbursement rate is typically up to 100% of eligible costs.
Financial Reporting: Beneficiaries have no obligation to document actual costs incurred for the action. Financial checks and audits will primarily focus on the technical implementation of the project and the fulfilment of work package conditions.
Financial Guarantees: Between 5.0% and 8.0% of the total lump sum is retained as a contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.

Eligibility Requirements

Organization Types

Organizations of any type, including companies, research organizations, and universities.
Public bodies, with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) explicitly mentioned as a potential participant.

Geographic Requirements

Organizations must be established in an EU Member State or a country associated with the Horizon Europe Programme. This includes, but is not limited to, the following EU countries:
AT, BE, BG, HR, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SI, ES, SE.
For associated countries, applicants should consult Annex B of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific Qualifications & Technical Requirements

Projects that use satellite-based Earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data and services must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS data/services (other data and services can also be used).
Projects must adhere to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.

Financial and Operational Capacity

Applicants must demonstrate financial and operational capacity as described in Annex C of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Consortium Requirements

While not explicitly stated as 'mandatory' for every applicant, Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) under Horizon Europe typically require consortia comprising multiple entities from different eligible countries to foster collaboration and maximize impact. JRC participation is noted 'as member of the consortium selected for funding', reinforcing the consortium expectation.

Exclusion Criteria

Organizations failing to meet the financial and operational capacity criteria, or those subject to exclusion criteria outlined in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes, will be ineligible.

Application Process

Application Process & Submission

Submission Deadline: The final deadline for submitting proposals is 2025-09-25 00:00:00+0000.
Submission Format: Applications must be submitted electronically through the Funding & Tenders Portal's Electronic Submission Service.
Application Type: This is a single-stage submission process.
Required Documentation: Applicants will need to complete:
- The standard application form (HE RIA).
- A detailed budget table (HE LS) for the lump sum contribution, providing a breakdown per work package and per beneficiary/affiliated entity.

Timeline and Implementation

Project Duration: Not explicitly stated, but typical for Horizon Europe RIA projects. The program framework runs from 2021-2027.
Indicative Timeline for Evaluation: Details are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes, but not provided in the topic information.
Reporting Obligations: Progress tracking mechanisms will focus on the technical implementation of work packages. Payments are contingent upon the successful completion of these work packages.
Post-Award Requirements: Continued compliance with grant agreement obligations, focusing on technical progress, ethics, research integrity, dissemination, exploitation of results, and intellectual property management.

Application Support

Online Resources: The Funding & Tenders Portal provides comprehensive guidance, including an Online Manual, the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, and an FAQ section.
Helpdesks: Dedicated IT Helpdesk for technical issues, and a Research Enquiry Service for general questions about European research funding.
National Contact Points (NCPs): Provide guidance, practical information, and assistance in EU Member States and many non-EU/non-associated countries.
Enterprise Europe Network (EEN): Offers advice to businesses, particularly SMEs, including guidance on EU research funding.
Intellectual Property Support: The European IPR Helpdesk assists with intellectual property issues.
Standardization Advice: CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk offer guidance on standardization in project proposals.
Partner Search: The portal offers a partner search tool to help identify potential consortium members.

Evaluation Criteria

Standard Horizon Europe Evaluation Criteria

Excellence: Assesses the clarity and pertinence of the project's objectives, the soundness of the proposed methodology (including interdisciplinary approaches), the extent to which the R&I goes beyond the state-of-the-art, and the quality of the team.
Impact: Evaluates the project's potential to contribute to the expected outcomes, benefits to relevant stakeholders, and effectiveness of proposed measures for communication, dissemination, and exploitation of results.
Quality and Efficiency of Implementation: Examines the coherence and effectiveness of the work plan, appropriateness of resources (including financial aspects for lump sum projects), and the complementarity of the participants.

Specific Scoring Factors for AI/ML Digital Transition

Integrated AI/ML Strategy: How well the proposed solution integrates AI/ML across Copernicus Services, value chains, and workflows.
Improved Quality and Timeliness: The potential for the project to enhance the quality, timeliness, reliability, and resilience of Copernicus data, products, and applications.
Efficiency Gains: The capacity to improve 'time-to-solution' and 'energy-to-solution' for Copernicus operational workflows.
User Experience Transformation: How the project will enhance interactivity and on-demand capabilities for Copernicus services.
Knowledge Exchange and AI-Readiness: The commitment to fostering knowledge exchange, benchmarking, best practices, and enhancing the AI-readiness of Copernicus data (especially high-value labelled datasets).
Game-changer and Disruptive Approaches: Preference for proposals that promote innovative and transformative approaches for next-generation Earth system re-analysis and prediction systems, and foundation models.
Explainable and Trustworthy AI: Emphasis on the use of explainable, trustworthy, open-source, and responsible AI approaches, especially given the QA/QC requirements for Copernicus products.
Benchmarking: Encouragement of approaches to quantify the positive impact and improvements of AI/ML methods over time.
Transfer to Operations: Active attention to the transfer of research results into operational deployment.
Gender Dimension: Integration of sex and gender analysis in the research and innovation content, only if relevant to the objectives of the research effort.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Projects must adhere to regulatory compliance requirements as detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific restrictions apply for the protection of European communication networks.

Data Protection and Privacy

Data protection and privacy regulations must be observed, in line with general EU requirements.

Ethical Standards

Compliance with ethical standards and research integrity is a key requirement and will be checked during project implementation.

Intellectual Property Policies

Provisions for making available, re-using, and exploiting project results (including Intellectual Property Rights - IPR) by relevant Entrusted Entities (e.g., Copernicus services, Destination Earth) must be addressed during project implementation.

Risk Management

Proposed solutions should consider fault and outlier detection in production and delivery workflows to ensure more robust services.

Technology Specifications

If using satellite-based Earth observation, positioning, navigation, or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must integrate Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS data/services.
Emphasis on explainable, trustworthy, open-source, and responsible AI approaches, considering the 'black box' nature of AI and the stringent QA/QC requirements of Copernicus products.

Special Considerations

Strategic Alignment: Projects are expected to contribute to the 'Open strategic autonomy in developing, deploying and using global space-based infrastructures, services, applications and data'.
Collaboration: Collaboration with the EuroGEO initiative and projects funded under the topic 'HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-09: Delivering Earth Intelligence to accelerate the green and digital transition' is encouraged.
Transfer to Operations: Active attention should be given to ensuring the transfer of research results to operational deployment.
Benchmarking: Approaches to quantify the positive impact and improvements of AI/ML methods over time are particularly encouraged.
Gender Dimension: Integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant to the objectives of the research effort.
JRC Participation: The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate in consortia and can offer support such as access to models/tools, understanding operational workflows, and testing new developments.

Grant Details