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Call key data
Adaptive multi-scale modelling and characterisation suites from lab to production
Call number
HORIZON-CL4-2023-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01-12
deadlines
Opening
08.12.2022
Deadline
29.03.2023 17:00
Funding rate
100 %
Call budget
€ 22,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
between € 5,000,000.00 and € 7,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
To support the green and digital industrial transition, there is the need to develop innovative routes to accelerate the design and production of new advanced materials, improving the circular economy and developing alternative feedstocks to support the EU’s open strategic autonomy throughout value chains (and covering all aspects of sustainability). Industrial research for materials from laboratory to production requires the extension of current knowledge on materials behaviour to the entire value chain.
Call objectives
Achieving next step autonomy in robotics will require greater integration of AI technologies into the physical functioning of robots. This in turn requires AI to operate in real time at pace with the physical motion of the robot. Interpreting the working environment, interacting with complex objects or people and making and updating decision making, all in real time, requires a significant advance from the current state of the art. This will require novel architectures both in software and hardware and will require AI algorithms compatible with physical, real time, robot operation. In terms of R&I advancement a paradigm shift is needed to remove silos between disciplines in order to weld together expertise and create a conceptual shift to reach the goals of next step autonomy for robotics.
To tackle this challenge, we can build on European leadership in recent advances in multi-scale modelling and characterisation.
The development of novel advanced materials requires a wide and complex range of trusted information on materials and process behaviour, along the entire life-cycle of a material, reaching far beyond the data sets generally available to industry currently. In particular, an approach is required that provides end users with highly flexible, adaptable modelling and characterisation tools as a source of data and knowledge in critical application fields. Subsequently, the validation of the developed methods will help industry to establish trust in these methods. This will also support the emerging need for adopting alternative materials as feedstock compliant with the high qualification standards and strengthen the strategic autonomy and resilience of EU’s industry.
Proposals should address the development of benchmarked, integrated suites of models and characterisation methods for critical application fields in strategic innovation markets (*) covering the different stages in materials and industrial production value chains and circularity.
In particular, proposals should address all of the following:
- Develop integrated methodologies of multi-scale and multi-technique characterisation, combined with respective multi-scale modelling and machine learning to
- improve the reliability and quality of data;
- understand scaling relationships in the behaviour of advanced materials;
- develop complex structure-property correlations in advanced materials;
- ensure complete coverage of conditions in industrial environments.
- Integrate modelling and characterisation, in particular by
- Developing modelling methods that provide the capabilities to virtually characterise materials and enhance the interpretation of the results of particular characterisation methods in order to guide and refine experiments;
- Developing accurate, validated physics-based models, in areas where these capabilities are a bottleneck, by utilising a combination of characterisation and machine learning to generate material and application specific parameters and equations (called materials relations, ref. CWA 17284).
- Demonstrate the functionality of the suites for the development of certain advanced materials for the green transition.
- Validate the methodologies and provide benchmarks, i.e. clear documentation of capabilities that can serve as a standard point of reference for industrial application.
Research should build on existing standards or contribute to standardisation. Documentation and interoperability for data sharing should be addressed, based on the OntoCommons EcoSystem (OCES).
Projects should build on and seek collaboration with existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms. In particular, projects funded under this call should collaborate under the umbrella of the EMMC and EMCC and interact closely with topic HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-39 (CSA).
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Expected results
- Enable industry to more effectively develop new and work with existing advanced materials by building on digitally integrated and validated modelling and characterisation methods for enhanced materials knowledge along value chains.
- Accelerate the materials innovation process by allowing a better interpretation of available experimental data and by providing more effective guidance on further experiments.
- Overcome gaps in modelling and characterisation capabilities targeted at different stages in materials and production value chains by means of adapted and benchmarked suites covering all steps from materials design (including several scales, e.g. from molecular to macroscale) to product development.
- Achieve an integrated European materials platform, allowing a systemic use of tools and capabilities including materials modelling, characterisation, robotics, data documentation, ontologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, which are orchestrated to accelerate the design, development and application of chemicals, materials and related processes and manufacturing.
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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), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна)
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible
other eligibility criteria
Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.
For the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the following definitions apply:
- TRL 1 — Basic principles observed
- TRL 2 — Technology concept formulated
- TRL 3 — Experimental proof of concept
- TRL 4 — Technology validated in a lab
- TRL 5 — Technology validated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
- TRL 6 — Technology demonstrated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
- TRL 7 — System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
- TRL 8 — System complete and qualified
- TRL 9 — Actual system proven in an operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies, or in space)
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)
Additional Information
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 4, Destination 4HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 4, Destination 4(580kB)
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