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Deadline expired

The deadline for this call has expired.

Call key data

Facilitating strategic cooperation to ensure the provision of essential services

Call number

HORIZON-CL3-2023-INFRA-01-01

deadlines

Opening
29.06.2023

Deadline
23.11.2023 17:00

Funding rate

70% (NPO:100%)

Call budget

€ 5,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 5,000,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

Proposals under this topic should support the competent authorities of Member States to identify and develop the most suitable tools, solutions and strategies to ensure the resilience of key sectors and thus facilitate the implementation of [related/ future] EU legislation.

Call objectives

The EU Security Union Strategy for 2020-2025, Counter-Terrorism Agenda. for the EU and the Cyber Security Strategy stress the importance of ensuring resilience in the face of various risks. The livelihoods of European citizens and the good functioning of the internal market depend on the reliable provision of services fundamental for societal or economic activities in many different sectors. Those services often are reliant upon one another, thus disruptions in one sector can generate severe and long-lasting effects on the provision of services in others.

Member States hold the primary responsibility in ensuring that operators who use critical infrastructures to deliver such services (hereafter: ‘operators’) comply with applicable rules and have the necessary support to ensure their own resilience and as part of a complex system of interdependencies. On EU-level, there has been a revision of certain legislation aiming at the minimum harmonisation of such rules, such as the directive on the resilience of critical entities (CER) and the directive on measures for high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS-2). In combination with sectoral EU-legislation and policies on resilience (e.g. for a Network Code on sector-specific rules for cybersecurity aspects of cross-border electricity flows), this provides a comprehensive framework that needs to be put in practice.

“Facilitating strategic cooperation” refers to the necessity for public authorities of the Member States to be able to exchange information, in a secure way, on the risk assessments of their critical entities as well as their resilience. “Critical entities” is the specific term used in the CER directive to designate those entities that will be identified by the Member States under the directive. Pursuant to the directive, in particular of its articles 1 and 5, the identity of the critical entities will be classified. In the performance of the project, project participants will interact directly with Member States authorities responsible for risk assessment and analysis of the vulnerabilities of their critical entities. Pursuant to the proposed directive, the confidentiality of the critical entities (and of their vulnerabilities) shall be ensured and protected.

Proposals under this topic should support the competent authorities of Member States to identify and develop the most suitable tools, solutions and strategies to ensure the resilience of key sectors and thus facilitate the implementation of [related/ future] EU legislation.

Applicants should focus on delivering solutions that can be used by the competent authorities of EU Member States, to support their task in overseeing the resilience of key sectors in line with relevant EU rules. Such solutions should enhance their ability for cooperation and communication, conducting large-scale risk assessments (including the cross-border dimension), developing best practices for exercises and dedicated complex training modules. The proposals should address the development of improved concepts and instruments for the anticipation and management of strategic risks, strengthening governance framework and enhancing coordination between different authorities.

It is recommended that proposals develop concrete tools to support all-hazard analysis by integrating domain specific risk assessment and allowing to manage interdependencies phenomena among different sectors and Member States. Possible examples are virtual reality tools, dashboards, complex training and serious gaming modules or other instruments to be used and that currently may not exist on such scale.

Proposals should aim to cover the largest possible number of sectors described in the respective Annexes of the directive on the resilience of critical entities (CER) and the directive on measures for high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS-2). The inclusion of associations representing private or public operators in specific sectors, or across sectors on EU- or national level, is encouraged.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

Projects are expected to outline how results are fed into the work of relevant Commission expert groups – [for example the Critical Entities Resilience Group (CERG) and the NIS-2 Cooperation Group] – and to explore synergies with the actions undertaken by relevant EU agencies.

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Expected results

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:

  • Tools for EU Member State authorities and operators for the assessment and anticipation of relevant risks to the provisions of essential services are identified;
  • The cooperation between authorities of EU Member States is facilitated by providing solutions for data exchange and joint cross-border risk assessments;
  • Simulation tools are developed for large-scale exercises to test the resilience of operators and of specific sectors, and related training courses are designed;
  • Measures by Member State authorities to facilitate risk assessments by operators are identified, including the assessment of dependencies on different sectors and cross-border interdependencies;
  • Provide common European guidance and support for the drafting of their resilience plans in order to meet all the provisions of the proposed CER-Directive: risk analysis, domino effects, cross-sector and cross-border analysis, standardised plans, educational and training tools;
  • An all-hazards framework is created to support Member States in ensuring improved concepts and instruments for the anticipation of risks to entities that provide essential services, resulting in an improved preparedness and response against disruptions of key sectors in the EU and enhanced resilience of the EU internal market.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), Belarus (Беларусь), 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

Education and training institution, International organization, 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

This topic requires the active involvement, as beneficiaries, of at least 3 government authorities responsible for resilience on national level and / or for overseeing operators, from at least 3 different EU Member States. For these participants, applicants must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form with all the requested information, following the template provided in the submission IT tool. 

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). 

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security, namely to protect and to preserve the confidentiality of risk assessments and of the vulnerabilities of critical entities of Member States, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States only. Proposals including entities established in countries other than EU Member States will be ineligible.

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum. 

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 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

Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT, 
Disaster Prevention, Resilience, Risk Management

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 50 pages.

Call documents

HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 3HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 3(1701kB)

Contact

National Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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