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Call key data
EIT Innovate Together 2024
Funding Program
European Institute of Innovation and Technology
deadlines
Opening
02.10.2024
Deadline
06.12.2024 17:00
Funding rate
67%
Call budget
€ 5,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 800,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
The second edition of the Innovate Together 2024 Call, launched by EIT Manufacturing in collaboration with the European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA), and co-financed by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), is designed to foster collaboration between disruptive entrepreneurs and established industry leaders to develop market-ready solutions that drive innovation, sustainability, and competitiveness in the European manufacturing sector.
Call objectives
The Call focuses on strengthening European manufacturing in key strategic areas defined by the European Commission, with a particular emphasis in 2024 on technologies outlined in the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). By supporting the European Green Deal, Innovate Together helps European industry adapt to forthcoming regulations and bridge the gap between open research under Pillar 2 of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and open innovation in Pillar 3.
This Call will focus on two topics, First-Time-Right Manufacturing and End-of-Lifecycle Management.
First-Time-Right Manufacturing
One of the objectives of the European Green Deal is to promote sustainable manufacturing practices that minimise waste, pollution, and enhance efficiency. A key concept in achieving this objective is First Time Right (FTR), which encompasses a range of activities from Zero-Defect processes to strategies for Zero-Waste value chains. FTR is a manufacturing philosophy that prioritises getting things right the first time, rather than relying on rework and correction to achieve quality. By implementing FTR, manufacturers can reduce scrap and waste, improve efficiency, and ultimately enhance their bottom line. This approach involves the use of various solutions such as simulation, in-line quality monitoring, and non-destructive testing to ensure high-quality outcomes.
To achieve First Time Right (FTR), manufacturers should leverage the following technologies and solutions, in particular, applied to critical production processes:
- Simulation and digital twins;
- Advanced analytics;
- Real-time monitoring and sensors;
- Predictive maintenance;
- Artificial intelligence;
- Automation.
End-of-Lifecycle management
Another objective of the European Green Deal is to make the European Union climate-neutral by 2050. To accomplish this, a comprehensive and sustainable approach is required across all industries. End-of-lifecycle management plays a crucial role in this approach, focusing on the responsible handling of products at the end of their useful life to ensure they are either repurposed for their next lifecycle or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. In contrast to the traditional approach of disposing of products in landfills or incinerating them, the European Green Deal emphasises the importance of a circular economy. This entails creating a closed-loop system where waste materials are reused, recycled, or repurposed to minimise waste and maximise resource efficiency.
In order to advance towards these goals, it is crucial for manufacturers to take a proactive approach to end-of-lifecycle management. Innovate Together actively supports projects that foster:
- Circular design of products;
- Product reuse;
- Easy disassemly and recycling;
- Frameworks and platforms for circularity.
Note: each proposal must focus only on one topic, by selecting it properly in the submission form.
Proposed solutions that harm the environment or social welfare or discriminate based on gender, age, socio-economic and geographic situation, disability, ethnicity, and sexual or gender identity, or are not in line with the Do No Significant Harm Principle are not eligible.
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Expected effects and impacts
Project results are expected to contribute to the following expected impact:
- Improve resource efficiency by shifting towards zero-waste processes;
- Establishing Europe as a global exemplar in circular manufacturing processes, significantly contributing to environmental sustainability and resource efficiency.
Expected results
The following outcomes should be targeted according to the specific topic selected:
Topic 1 – First-Time-Right Manufacturing
- Scrap and waste reduction
- Efficiency improvement
- Product quality improvement
- Environmental footprint reduction
- Cost savings
Topic 2 – End-of-Lifecycle management
- Recycling rate improvement
- Repurposing rate improvement
- Waste reduction
- Resource efficiency
The consortium must propose an innovation with a TRL of at least 6 at the start of the project. The “demonstration in an operational environment” must be proven with supporting evidence (test reports, pictures,...) in the application form. The solution is expected to achieve TRL 8 or higher by the end of the activity. The Business Owner’s involvement and effort in the definition and execution of the Commercialisation Plan, which is expected to start from activity kick-off, should be described in the workplan.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
Education and training institution, Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
This Call for Proposals is open to:
- SMEs, large enterprises, research institutions and universities established in one of the Member States (including overseas countries and territories, (OCTs)) or Associated Countries to Horizon Europe and the low- and middle-income countries which presents a proposal fitting one of the topics presented under 3.1. of the call document
- All applicants must register in the Participant Register to obtain a PIC number and in the submission system— before the call deadline (check Chapter 4 for consequences of not compliance).
- Eligible applicants shall form a consortium of at least 3 legal entities independent from each other and established in countries covered by at least 2 different EIT Manufacturing ICs, as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, established in a Member States or Associated Countries
- Applicants must build the proposal on the results of a successfully closed project funded by a Factories of the Future (FoF)/Made in Europe (MiE) call under Horizon Europe Framework Programme. The applying consortium may be the whole consortium or a part of the consortium of the former FoF/MiE project and may also include new partners; the project consortium shall own the IPRs of the Core Technology (exploitable output) of the former FoF/MiE project that will be further developed and launched in the market by the end of this Call; the closing date of the FoF/Made in Europe funded projects cannot be older than three (3) years before the start date of the projects funded under this Call.
- The participants in each consortium must cover, at least, the following roles:
- Lead Partner: The organisation in charge of coordinating the consortium through the Activity Leader. The Activity Leader will be the direct contact for EIT Manufacturing and is responsible for the coordination of the consortium, including the implementation of the workplan, the execution of the budget, the submission of the deliverables, the risk management and mitigation and the impact achievements of the overall activity. The role of Activity Leader is open to any entity participating in the call for proposals.
- End-Users: At least 2 different industrial organisations that will deploy the solution in their production facilities to fulfil a specific need or achieve a business objective in a real-world industrial environment. The end-users must be consumers of the key marketable innovation(s) and each of them must provide at least 1 use case, testing and implementing the innovation(s) in their real industrial environment.
- Business Owner: The organisation in charge of the commercialisation of the solution with a legal entity established in a Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. The Business Owner will be the direct contact for EIT Manufacturing and the consortium for the Service Agreement and responsible for the commercialisation plan and its execution. A suitable Business Owner is a for-profit organisation, with a track record in creating new businesses, and in building marketing and commercialisation strategies. The organisation has a deep understanding of the identified market, its competitors, and barriers to entry, and most importantly a proven track record of sales and customers in the target group sector identified by the consortium. All these elements should be clearly described in the proposal (see “Business Plan” template).
- Participation of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) is strongly encouraged.
While all EIT Manufacturing partners are eligible to apply for funding, applicants do not need to be EIT Manufacturing partners at the submission stage. Successful applicants will be required to join the community and select a membership category (Core partner or Associate partner) when initiating their projects.
other eligibility criteria
EIT Manufacturing membership
EIT Manufacturing is a KIC of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). All entities submitting a proposal that is selected for funding need to be part of the KIC EIT Manufacturing community and will have to choose one of the following partnership models (and related annual fees) before signing the relevant agreements and initiating their projects:
- Core partner (voting right, privileged access to services, representatives in the KIC governance)
- Large enterprises, research institutes, and universities: € 50,000.00
- Mid-sized companies (<2,000 FTE): € 30,000.00
- SMEs (<250 FTE, turnover <EUR 50 000 000 or balance sheet <EUR 43 000 000): € 15,000.00
- Associated partner (no voting right, restricted access to services)
- Large enterprises, research institutes, and universities: € 35,000.00
- Mid-sized companies (<2,000 FTE): € 20,000.00
- SMEs (<250 FTE, turnover <EUR 50 000 000 or balance sheet <EUR 43 000 000): € 10,000.00
Both Core and Associate Partners of the KIC EIT Manufacturing pay annual membership fees as set by the EIT Manufacturing Partner Assembly. Membership fees are due every year regardless of whether a Partner receives funding for the relevant year. For the avoidance of doubt, as an example, an entity with zero funding but participating in a funded project will still have to pay membership fees. More information on the partnership models is available on EIT Manufacturing website. Please note that the total maximum EIT funding per year for all entities participating in EIT Manufacturing Calls is 1 500 000 EUR. Under Horizon Europe, Linked Third Parties/affiliated entities are eligible to participate in the proposal activities. At most, the following number of Linked Third Parties/affiliated entities of a Core Partner may receive funding per year through the Calls:
- Partners being large enterprises, research institutes and universities: 5
- Partners being mid-sized companies: 2
- Partners being SMEs: 1
If an affiliated entity is involved in a proposal, it means that:
- the affiliated entity carrying out the work shall be included in the proposal as a participant (not the Core Partner)
- according to the Financial Support Agreement, the Core Partner receives the EIT funding for the work to be carried out by the affiliated entity and then disburses the appropriate amounts to the affiliated entity based on their internal agreements. The Core Partner is responsible for ensuring that the funds are used for the purposes outlined in the proposal and in accordance with the Financial Support Agreement.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
project duration
18 months
Additional Information
ll consortia partners should have a justifiable core role with an appropriate budget to perform their defined activities. In particular, each partner is requested to contribute with eligible expenditures at least equal to 10% of the project total budget. Performative participation in projects or inclusion of partners without justifiable intrinsic value who are not demonstrably essential to project outcomes will be questioned during the evaluation and portfolio selection.
Please note that the information above is provided for information only and does not constitute any kind of commitment on behalf of EIT Manufacturing. Final EIT funding allocated might vary significantly based on the number of proposals evaluated and selected and other factors.
The exact number of activities to be funded will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the total funding available.
Activity proposals submitted to this call are expected to have a minimum co-funding rate of 33%.
The minimum co-funding rate refers to the total project budget. Partners in a consortium may have different co-funding rates as long as the overall project co-fund meets the required minimum.
Before submitting a proposal, all applicants must register on the:
- EU Participant Portal to obtain a PIC number - If you have already participated in projects funded by the EU before and have your PIC number validated, you can proceed with the registration of your organisation on the submission tool. If this is your first time participating in an EU-funded project or your organisation cannot access your already validated PIC and there are updates to the organisational data that need to be done, you need to register/re-register your organisation. Primary registration of your PIC number takes about 10 minutes, and your PIC number is generated within another 10 minutes and will be sent to the email address that you have indicated during the registration. All new PIC numbers get assigned a status of “Declared”, which means your organisation has not been fully validated, but the new PIC number can already be used during your proposal submission.
- Submission system - To access the submission system, applicants must follow these steps:
- For previously registered organisations: if your organisation has already participated in EIT Manufacturing calls, there is no need to register again. You can proceed by registering your user account through the Contact Form. Once your user registration is complete, access the call submission forms via the link provided on the call webpage.
- For new organisations: if your organisation has not participated in EIT Manufacturing calls before, you must first register your organisation through the New Organisation Registration Form. After registering the organisation, proceed to register your user through the Contact Form. Once both the organisation and user registrations are completed, you can access the call submission forms via the link provided on the call webpage.
Please refer to the Electronic Submission System Users’ Guide available on the call webpage for more detailed instructions.
Important: The registration process requires approval by the EIT Manufacturing team and is not automatic. Ensure that all information is consistent with the organisation’s details provided for the PIC number in the EU Participant Portal, including legal name, VAT, registration number, legal address, and LEAR (Legally Appointed Representative).
All entities participating in this call for proposals must be registered in the submission system as early as possible and no later than 3 working days before the call closing, 02/12/2024 17:00 CET otherwise they may not be eligible for funding.
Please note that, if your proposal is successful, the information provided when registering your organisation will need to be validated. EIT Manufacturing will contact you to submit the needed supporting documents.
The following documentation must be submitted by the applicants through the submission tool no later than the call deadline:
- Online application form;
- Business Plan (pdf only);
- GANTT chart (pdf only);
- SDGs template (excel file).
NB: Any documentation missing, incomplete or sent after the deadline, will be inadmissible.
Call documents
Contact
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