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Call key data
Supporting the emergence of an open human-centric Metaverse
Funding Program
Horizon Europe - Cluster 4 - Destination 6: A Human-centred and Ethical Development of Digital and Industrial Technologies
Call number
HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-23
deadlines
Opening
08.12.2022
Deadline
29.03.2023 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 2,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
around € 2,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
Call objectives
An acceleration of blending of the real world with augmented and virtual worlds is giving rise to the Metaverse, an online network of immersive and virtual worlds allowing people to interact in real time for various purposes, allowing a seamless blending of the digital and physical world. It offers an infinite array of possibilities and opportunities for many industrial and service sectors including creativity and arts as well as for citizens. At the same time, it also poses significant societal, regulatory and ethical challenges. To be in line with European values and principles, the Metaverse has to be open, human-centric, trustworthy, safe and ethical, offering opportunities to everyone, focusing not only on business opportunities but also on important societal challenges such as healthcare and the green transformation.
The selected proposal will contribute to the 3 important dimensions of people, technologies and infrastructure related to the European vision of the Metaverse. It will:
- contribute to structure and support the Metaverse community and stakeholders in Europe by activities such as networking, outreach, public awareness, technology watch, market analysis, standardisation efforts, and industry-academia collaboration as well as building links to national programmes and initiatives.
- organise a vast engagement process with relevant stakeholders and wide consultation with citizens and civil society on the topic of the Metaverse (expectations, opportunities, challenges, role of Europe)
- reinforce the links between the various Metaverse related elements, in particular eXtended reality and AI, Blockchain, Connectivity but also any other related technologies (such as for example simulation, 3D digitisation, 5G/6G, internet technologies, cloud computing, identity management, advanced microelectronics), ensuring transfer of knowledge and community building.
- support the development of an EU strategy and roadmap towards an open human-centric Metaverse, including the identification of priority areas and application areas with a strong public dimension that would require strong public support and public and private investments
- help with the definition of industry standards for the Metaverse, guarantying interoperability, openness and seamless integration with and between applications, systems, technologies, data and platforms
- identify the main the elements of continuity as well as the differences between the internet as it operates today and the expected trends for the emerging Metaverse.
- identify ethical, legal, societal and economical aspects of the Metaverse such as the ownership of the digital identity and help Europe to tackle these challenges in line with the EU Declaration on Digital Principles and Rights.
- identify IPR and governance models supporting the human-centric vision for the metaverse, and explore the potential of models based on open source for the metaverse.
- closely collaborate and build synergies with other existing related European initiatives such as the AR/VR coalition, the eXtended Reality Ethics, Interoperability and Impact CSA funded under HORIZON-CL4-2021-HUMAN-01-28, the Common European Data spaces funded under DIGITAL (for example Cultural heritage and Media), the relevant European Partnerships (such as Data, AI and Robotics; Photonics, the European Blockchain Partnership); Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, the European Flagships (such as Graphene), the EU supported digital twins initiatives (such as Destination Earth).
- support international cooperation, in particular in relation to interoperability and standardisation.
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Expected results
- Europe to co-shape and promote an open, decentralised, trustworthy European and global Metaverse in line with the vision of human-centric technology set out in the EU Declaration on Digital Principles and Rights.
- A strong and competitive ecosystem, with European companies playing a leading role in the adoption and acceptance, and in the development and deployment of Metaverse technologies.
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), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
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
No
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
Applications may be submitted by one or more legal entities, which may be established in a Member State, Associated Country or, in exceptional cases and if provided for in the specific call conditions, in another third country.
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
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 30 pages.
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 4, Destination 6HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 4, Destination 6(799kB)
Contact
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