Open microbusiness models for innovation in European family-owned heritage houses.

The objective of the action is to strengthen the capacity of private owners of heritage houses and equip them with innovative business models. The preparatory action will map the existing business models used by family-owned heritage houses in the EU, compare them, identify and share best practices and potential innovations. It will also quantify and qualify the economic value of family-owned heritage houses in the EU and identify their potential to contribute to various EU policies, including innovation, social inclusion, education, youth work and intercultural dialogue. Added value will derive from the synergies with current EU actions dedicated to cultural heritage (European Heritage Days, EU Prize for Cultural Heritage, European Heritage Label). Finally the action will contribute to the objectives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage through dissemination and awareness raising of European value of heritage.

TED publication date	09/12/2017
Question deadline	N/A
Answer deadline	N/A
Time limit for receipt of tenders	31/01/2018 12:00
Conditions for opening tenders (date)	01/02/2018 10:00

U.S. Embassy in Tanzania: Ambassador’s Fund for HIV/AIDS Relief

Deadline: 28 February 2018

U.S. Embassy in Tanzania is seeking applications for its Ambassador’s Fund for HIV/AIDS Relief to support small community and faith-based organizations (CBOs and FBOs) that are making significant contributions to the fight against HIV and AIDS in Tanzania.

The AFHR awards target projects that provide care, support, and economic opportunity to individuals and communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

Funding Information

Grants range from 5,000-30,000 USD (11-67 million TZS)

Selection Criteria

• Impact on HIV-affected communities
• Application completeness and timeliness
• Reasonable budget and pro forma invoices
• Local implementation and community contributions

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted via email at the address given on the website.

Eligible Country: Tanzania

For more information, please visit U.S. Embassy in Tanzania.

Save the Children International in Kosovo: Enhancing Social Services for Vulnerable Groups

Deadline: 30 January 2018

The current Call for Proposals has launched under the Enhancing Social Services for Vulnerable Groups Scheme representing one of the main components of the Project to enhance provision of social services to the most vulnerable groups in Kosovo, through the financing of best proposals that will address and improve the delivery of social services to each community member. It also provides an opportunity for organisations that provide social services to further strengthen their capacities to transform the needs of their beneficiaries into concrete actions, thereby contributing to improved community-based, essential social services for the most vulnerable communities.

Through the sub-granting scheme implemented by Save the Children in Kosovo, the Project will be financing projects aimed at increasing the delivery, availability, and quality of social services for vulnerable groups in Kosovo.

Save the Children in Kosovo and European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research are implementing the project “Support for Better Social Services for the Most Vulnerable Groups” (henceforth “the Project”) financed by the European Union and co-financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) under contract number 2016/383-067.

The present Call contains 3 Lots:

• Lot 1 Provision of community-based residential and day-care services
• Lot 2 Provision of home-based services for children and adults in need
• Lot 3 Provision of services for victims of domestic violence and trafficking.

Objectives of the Call and Priority Issues

• The objective of the Call is to:
  • Contribute to the delivery of higher-quality social services to vulnerable groups, including children and persons in need,
  • To strengthen the capacities and sustainability of organisations delivering social services to vulnerable groups in Kosovo.
• The sub granting scheme will support most vulnerable groups in Kosovo through provision of specific and professional social service assistance to improve their overall well-being.
• Actors eligible for grants under this sub-granting scheme include civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fully engaged in and committed to the delivery of social services to the most vulnerable groups in Kosovo.

Types of Action

Provision of specialized social services for excluded children and adults;

• Provision of community-based residential and/or day-care services for vulnerable groups;
• Provision of home and home-based services for vulnerable children and adults in need, particularly the elderly;
• Provision of services for victims of domestic violence, trafficking, and war sexual violence;
• Supporting the implementation of child rights and of the rights of vulnerable communities, particularly the elderly and victims of domestic violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation;
• Delivery of preventative and/or protective community-based services for vulnerable groups;
• Ensuring access and referral to public and non-public social services for vulnerable groups and working to meet their physical, social, and developmental needs.
• Actions designed to increase the standard of living of beneficiaries of social services in Kosovo, such as support to establish social enterprise(s) that would create opportunities for employment (registration costs, drafting business plans, procurement of equipment and/or materiel, etc.)

Funding Information

• Lot 1 Provision of community-based residential and day-care services
• Lot 2 Provision of home-based services for children and adults in need
• Lot 3 Provision of services for victims of domestic violence and trafficking.

The total budget available for all lots is up to EUR 1,500,000 EUR.

Duration

The planned duration of sub grants may not be neither lower than 12 months nor exceed 17 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible for a sub grant, the applicant must be a Civil Society Organization (CSO) or Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) established and acting in the territory of Kosovo.
• All applicants must demonstrate that they are registered and active in by presenting the following documents together with their application:
  • Certificate of Registration in Kosovo;
  • Statute of the organization;
  • Fiscal Number Certificate in Kosovo;
  • A document issued by the Kosovo Tax Administration certifying that the organization has no pending financial obligations, such as social, health or tax obligations – issued within the Call period;
  • The Declaration by the Applicant duly signed.
  • Last two years’ financial documents of the organization such as audit reports (if applicable)
  • Vetting Information
  • CV of the organization, signed by its legal representative, including all the past and present projects in the last two years (funding source and contacts, timeframe, region of coverage and partnerships);

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted at the address given on the website.

Eligible Country: Kosovo

For more information, please visit Call for Proposals.

International projects

International projects: Calls for international project proposals

MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE Innovative Training Networks - MSCA-ITN-2018

The Innovative Training Networks (ITN) aim to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit.

ITN will raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training in Europe, extending the traditional academic research training setting, incorporating elements of Open Science and equipping researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences. It will provide enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set.

Scope:

ITN supports competitively selected joint research training and/or doctoral programmes, implemented by partnerships of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs, and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond.

Partnerships take the form of collaborative European Training Networks (ETN), European Industrial Doctorates (EID) or European Joint Doctorates (EJD).

Each programme should have a clearly identified supervisory board co-ordinating network-wide training and establishing active and continuous communication and exchange of best practice among the participating organisations to maximise the benefits of the partnership.

The programme should exploit complementary competences of the participating organisations, and enable sharing of knowledge, networking activities, the organisation of workshops and conferences.

Training responds to well identified needs in defined research areas, with appropriate references to inter- and multidisciplinary fields and follows the EU Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training. It should be primarily focused on scientific and technological knowledge through research on individual, personalised projects.

In order to increase the employability of the researchers, the research training should be complemented by the meaningful exposure of each researcher to the non-academic sector. Secondments of the researcher to other beneficiaries and partner organisations are encouraged, but should be relevant, feasible, beneficial for the researchers and in line with the project objectives.

Substantial training modules, including digital ones, addressing key transferable skills common to all fields and fostering the culture of Open Science, innovation and entrepreneurship will be supported.

In order to reflect the new modus operandi of research supporting the development of open science, training should prepare early-stage researchers for increased research collaborations and information-sharing made possible by new (digital) technologies (e.g. collaborative tools, opening access to publications and to research data, FAIR[1] data management, public engagement and citizen science, etc.).

A Career Development Plan should be established jointly by the supervisor(s) and each early-stage researcher recruited by the selected network. In addition to research objectives, this plan comprises the researcher's training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, teaching, planning for publications and participation in conferences.

Attention is paid to the quality of supervision and mentoring arrangements as well as career guidance. Joint supervision of the researchers is mandatory for EJD and for EID, and encouraged in ETN. In EID, the joint supervision of the researcher must be ensured by at least one supervisor from the academic sector and one supervisor from the non-academic sector. These arrangements will be taken into account during the evaluation of the proposal.

In EID and EJD, fellowships offered to early-stage researchers should lead to a doctoral degree. EJD result in joint[2], double or multiple doctoral degrees[3] awarded by institutions from at least two different countries, primarily within Europe.

In EID and EJD, enrolment in a doctoral programme and the creation of a joint governance structure - with joint admission (EJD only), selection, supervision, monitoring and assessment procedures - is mandatory. These arrangements will be taken into account during the evaluation of the proposal.

Expected Impact:

At researcher level:

• Increased set of skills, both research-related and transferable ones, leading to improved employability and career prospects both in and outside academia (leading in the longer-term to more successful careers)
• Increase in higher impact R&I output and more knowledge and ideas converted into products and services
• Greater contribution to the knowledge-based economy and society

At organisation level:

• Enhanced cooperation and better transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines
• Improvement in the quality of training programmes and supervision arrangements
• Creation of new networks and enhanced quality of existing ones
• Boosting R&I capacity among participating organisations
• Increased internationalisation of participating organisations

At system level:

• Increase in international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility of researchers in Europe
• More structured and innovative doctoral training, enhanced implementation of the European Charter and Code and the EU Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training
• Stronger links between the European Research Area (ERA) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), notably through supporting the knowledge triangle between research, innovation and education
• Improvement in the working and employment conditions for doctoral candidates in Europe
• Increased societal and economic relevance of European higher education
• Strengthening Europe's human capital base in R&I with a new generation of more entrepreneurial and highly-skilled early career researchers
• Increase in Europe's attractiveness as a leading research destination, accompanied by a rise in the numbers of talented researchers attracted and retained from abroad
• Better quality research and innovation contributing to Europe's competitiveness and growth

1. Eligible countries: described in Annex A of the Work Programme.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon 2020 projects. See the information in the Online Manual.

2. Eligibility and admissibility conditions: described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.
 

Proposal page limits and layout: please refer to Part B of the proposal template in the submission system below.

3. Evaluation: The award criteria and evaluation procedure specific to Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) are described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.

The maximum length of a proposal is 30 pages, excluding the annexes.

4. Indicative time for evaluation and grant agreement:
Information on the outcome of evaluation: maximum 5 months from the deadline for submission.
Signature of grant agreements: maximum 8 months from the deadline for submission.
 

5. Proposal templates, evaluation forms and model grant agreements (MGA):

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) - European Training Networks:

Specific rules and funding rates are described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.
Standard proposal template
MSCA standard evaluation form
Guide for applicants MSCA-ITN
MGA MSCA ITN - Multi-Beneficiary
Annotated Grant Agreement

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) - European Industrial Doctorates:

Specific rules and funding rates are described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.
Standard proposal template
MSCA standard evaluation form
Guide for applicants MSCA-ITN
MGA MSCA ITN - Multi-Beneficiary
Annotated Grant Agreement

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) - European Joint Doctorates:

Specific rules and funding rates are described in the MSCA part of the Work Programme.
Standard proposal template
MSCA standard evaluation form
Guide for applicants MSCA-ITN
MGA MSCA ITN – Multi--Beneficiary
Annotated Grant Agreement

6. Additional provisions:

Horizon 2020 budget flexibility 
Classified information
 

Members of consortium are required to conclude a consortium agreement, in principle prior to the signature of the grant agreement.

7. Open access must be granted to all scientific publications resulting from Horizon 2020 actions.

Where relevant, proposals should also provide information on how the participants will manage the research data generated and/or collected during the project, such as details on what types of data the project will generate, whether and how this data will be exploited or made accessible for verification and re-use, and how it will be curated and preserved.

Open access to research data
The Open Research Data Pilot has been extended to cover all Horizon 2020 topics for which the submission is opened on 26 July 2016 or later. Projects funded under this topic will therefore by default provide open access to the research data they generate, except if they decide to opt-out under the conditions described in Annex L of the Work Programme. Projects can opt-out at any stage, that is both before and after the grant signature.

Note that the evaluation phase proposals will not be evaluated more favourably because they plan to open or share their data, and will not be penalised for opting out.

Open research data sharing applies to the data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications. Additionally, projects can choose to make other data available open access and need to describe their approach in a Data Management Plan.

Projects need to create a Data Management Plan (DMP), except if they opt-out of making their research data open access. A first version of the DMP must be provided as an early deliverable within six months of the project and should be updated during the project as appropriate. The Commission already provides guidance documents, including a template for DMPs. See the Online Manual.

Eligibility of costs: costs related to data management and data sharing are eligible for reimbursement during the project duration.

The legal requirements for projects participating in this pilot are in the article 29.3 of the Model Grant Agreement.

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-msca-itn-2017.html#c,topics=callIdentifier/t/H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017/1/1/1/default-group&callStatus/t/Forthcoming/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Open/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Closed/1/1/0/default-group&+identifier/desc

ERC Proof of Concept Grant - ERC-2018-PoC

Objectives

Frontier research often generates unexpected or new opportunities for commercial or societal application. The ERC Proof of Concept Grants aim to maximise the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by funding further work (i.e. activities which were not scheduled to be funded by the original ERC frontier research grant) to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. Proof of Concept Grants are therefore on offer only to Principal Investigators whose proposals draw substantially on their ERC funded research.

Ethical Principles

All proposals will be subject to ethics review as with proposals for the ERC's frontier research grants.

Maximum size of grant and grant assessment

The financial contribution will be up to a maximum of EUR 150 000 for a period of 18 months. The ERC expects that normally, proof of concept projects should be completed within 12 months. However, to allow for those projects that require more preparation time, projects will be signed for 18 months. Given this initial flexibility, extensions of the duration of proof of concept projects may be granted only exceptionally.

The overall level of the funding offered will be assessed during the evaluation. The funding requested by the applicant will be judged against the needs of the proposed activity before award. The funding requested by the Principal Investigator must be fully justified by an estimation of the actual costs for the proposed activities.

The Union financial contribution will take the form of the reimbursement of up to 100% of the total eligible and approved direct costs and of flat-rate financing of indirect costs on the basis of 25% of the total eligible direct costs (excluding the direct costs for subcontracting and the costs of resources made available by third parties which are not used on the premises of the host institution.). The level of the awarded grant represents a maximum overall figure – the final amount to be paid must be justified on the basis of the costs actually incurred for the project.

The indicative budget for this call for 2018 is EUR 20 000 000 (approximately one-third of which will be for each of the three evaluation rounds following three specific cut-off dates - proposals submitted before each cut-off date will be evaluated with the proposals submitted before the same cut-off date).

Profile of the ERC Proof of Concept Grant Principal Investigator

All Principal Investigators in an ERC frontier research project, that is either on going or has ended (where the duration of the project fixed in the ERC Grant Agreement has ended) less than 12 months before 1 January 2018, are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.

For further information please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2018.

Topic conditions and documents

Please read carefully all provisions below before the preparation of your application (for more detailed information please refer to the Information for Applicants to the Proof of Concept Grant 2018 Call and the Frequently Asked Questions -FAQs).

1. List of countries and applicable rules for funding:

The conditions specific to the ERC are described in the ERC 2018 Work Programme under the heading 'Eligibility criteria' and in 'Annex 3'. An overview is provided below:

The ERC actions are open to researchers of any nationality who intend to conduct their research activity in any EU Member State or H2020 Associated Country. Principal Investigators may be of any age and nationality and may reside in any country in the world at the time of the application. ERC Principal Investigators do not have to be based full-time in Europe.

The host institution must either be established in an EU Member State or H2020 Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law.

Note also that a number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon 2020 projects. See the information in the Online Manual.

 

2. Eligibility and admissibility conditions: 

The conditions specific to ERC grants are described in the ERC Work Programme 2018 under the heading 'Eligibility criteria' and in the ERC Rules for Submission and Evaluation under Section 2.4. An overview is provided below:

Eligible proposals: All proposals must be complete and submitted before the relevant call deadline. A complete proposal needs to include all parts or sections (see “Proposal submission and description” below). Incomplete proposals may be declared ineligible. The content of the proposal must relate to the objectives and to the grant type set out in the call, as defined in ERC Work Programme 2018. A proposal will only be deemed ineligible on grounds of ‘scope’ in clear-cut cases.

Eligible Principal Investigators: All Principal Investigators in an ERC frontier research project, that is either on going or has ended (where the duration of the project fixed in the ERC Grant Agreement has ended) less than 12 months before 1 January 2018, are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.
Principal Investigators may submit only one proposal under Work Programme 2018. If multiple submissions are made at different cut-off dates under the ERC Work Programme 2018 only the first eligible proposal will be considered. 
A Principal Investigator whose proposal was rejected on the grounds of a breach of research integrity in the calls for proposals under Work Programmes 2016 or 2017 may not submit a proposal to the calls for proposals made under the ERC Work Programme 2018.

Eligible Host Institution: The host institution (Applicant Legal Entity) must engage the Principal Investigator(s) for at least the duration of the project, as defined in the grant agreement. It must either be established in an EU Member State or Associated Country as a legal entity created under national law, or it may be an International European Interest Organisation (such as CERN, EMBL, etc.), the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) or any other entity created under EU law. Any type of legal entity, public or private, including universities, research organisations and undertakings can host Principal Investigators and their teams.

3.  Evaluation

The conditions specific to ERC are described in the ERC Work Programme 2018 under the heading 'Evaluation procedure and criteria' and in the ERC Rules for Submission and Evaluation. An overview is provided below:

3.1  Evaluation criteria and procedure, scoring and threshold:

A single-stage submission and single-step evaluation procedure will be used. The evaluation will be conducted by independent experts. These experts may work remotely and may if necessary meet as an evaluation panel as set out below on the application of the evaluation criteria.
Proof of Concept Grants are awarded in relation to an existing ERC-funded project which has already been evaluated on the basis of excellence as the sole criterion. The evaluation criteria for selection of proposals for Proof of Concept Grants are excellence in innovation potential, impact and quality and efficiency of the implementation.

The detailed evaluation elements applying to the proof of concept project and the Principal Investigator are set out in the ERC Work Programme 2018.

3.2  Indicative timetable for evaluation and grant agreement:
Please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2018 under the heading 'Indicative summary of main calls from the 2018 budget'.

3.3 Guide to the submission and evaluation process:
Please refer to:
The Information for Applicants to the ERC Proof of Concept Grants 2018 Call
The ERC Rules for Submission and Evaluation.
For more information on the Peer review evaluation methodology, please refer to the ERC Guide for Peer Reviewers applying to the Proof of Concept call.


4. Provisions, proposal templates and evaluation forms: 
These templates and instructions are for information only and will be updated for the opening of the call (06 September 2017).
Proposal page limits and layout: please refer to Part A and Part B of the standard proposal template.
A complete proposal is composed of:

• Administrative Proposal Submission forms (Part A) (including Ethics Review Table): available on this page below and online via the Participant Portal Submission System (PPSS) – registration to Participant Portal is required first.

• The Proposal (Part B) and any supporting documentation should be uploaded and submitted via Participant Portal Submission System as PDF files.
Part B (7 pages + Budget Table):
• The Idea and Demonstration of Innovation Potential : max. 2 pages
• Expected Impact of the proposed Innovation : 2 pages
• The proof of concept plan : 2 pages
• Budget Table and Budget justification: 1 page (+ Budget Table)

• The Supplementary Documents:
• Host Institution Binding Statement of Support (available on this page below and as a word-template in PPSS). Only the host institution of the Corresponding Principal Investigator must confirm its association with and its support to the project and the Corresponding Principal Investigator, listing the other participating Principal Investigators.
• Ethics review self-assessment (if applicable) and supporting documentation.

Proposal templates are provisional and will be available after entering the submission tool below.
- ERC proposal template for POC (administrative forms and structure of technical annex)
- ERC standard evaluation form for POC: please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2018 under the heading 'ERC Proof of Concept Grant Evaluation'.

Additional provisions:
Horizon 2020 budget flexibility: please refer to the ERC Work Programme 2018 in the Proof of Concept grants section, under the heading 'Maximum size of grant and grant assessment'.

H2020 ERC MGA PoC - Multi-Beneficiary
H2020 ERC MGA PoC - Mono-Beneficiary
H2020 Annotated Grant Agreement


5. Open access must be granted to all scientific publications resulting from Horizon 2020 actions, and proposals must refer to measures envisaged. 

The ERC supports the principle of open access to the published output of research, including in particular peer-reviewed articles and monographs, as a fundamental part of its mission. It also supports the basic principle of open access to research data and data related products such as computer code. The ERC considers that providing free online access to all these materials can be the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of the research it funds can be accessed, read and used as the basis for further research.

Under Horizon 2020, beneficiaries of ERC grants must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications (including journal articles, monographs, book chapters, edited volumes, etc.) related to the results of the project as set out in Article 29.2 of the ERC Model Grant Agreement.

Link for more information: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/erc-2018-poc.html#c,topics=callIdentifier/t/ERC-2018-PoC/1/1/1/default-group&callStatus/t/Forthcoming/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Open/1/1/0/default-group&callStatus/t/Closed/1/1/0/default-group&+identifier/desc

3rd Fed4FIRE+ Competitive Call – Innovative Experiments

 Category “Medium Experiments” & “Large Experiments”

Call information:

• Project full name: Fed4FIRE+: Federation for FIRE
• Project grant agreement number: 732638
• Call identifier: F4Fp-03
• Call title: 3rd Fed4FIRE+ Competitive Call - Innovative Experiments Category “Medium Experiments” & “Large Experiments”

Submission deadline 15 January 2018, at 17:00 Brussels local time

Call Objectives:

The major objective of this Call is to make Fed4FIRE’s federated infrastructure directly available for execution of innovative experiments by experimenters at both industrial (including SMEs) and research organisations. Examples of such experiments may include but are not limited to testing of new protocols or algorithms, performance measurements or scalability testing. These Calls envisage experiments by which existing products or services are tested, implemented or optimized on the Fed4FIRE+ testbeds rather than proposing or developing new ideas from scratch.

Funding for Experimenters:

Funding is available to support experimenters, as described in the following table.

Medium

Max Experimenter Funding Per Experiment € 55 000

Testbed Patron Funding per experiment € 5000

Max number of experiments funded in this call 5

Max duration of experiment 6 months

Large 

Max Experimenter Funding Per Experiment € 95 000

Testbed Patron Funding per experiment € 5000

Max number of experiments funded in this call 2

Max duration of experiment 12 months

Eligibility:

• Proposals will only be accepted from a single party eligible for participation in EC H2020-projects.
• Proposers must from parties or organisations that are not already part of the Fed4FIRE+ project consortium.
• Proposers can submit multiple experiment proposals, but only one experiment per proposer will be selected for funding in this Call.
• Proposers who have submitted proposals in previous calls of the Fed4FIRE+ - project (Open Call 01 and Open Call 02) are allowed to re-submit.

Detailed information about the open call and its aspects can be retrieved online (www.fed4fire.eu) Language in which the proposal must be submitted: English
Contact: contact@fed4fire.eu

2 Introduction to Fed4FIRE+

Fed4FIRE+ is a Research and Innovation Action under the European Horizon 2020 Programme addressing the work programme topic Future Internet Research and Experimentation. The project started on 01 January 2017 and runs for 60 months, until the end of 2021.

The Fed4FIRE+ project has the objective to run and further improve Fed4FIRE+’s “best-in- town” federation of experimentation facilities for the Future Internet Research and Experimentation initiative. Federating a heterogeneous set of facilities covering technologies ranging from wireless, wired, cloud services and open flow, and making them accessible through common frameworks and tools suddenly opens new possibilities, supporting a broad range of experimenter communities covering a wide variety of Internet infrastructures, services and applications.

Fed4FIRE+ continuously upgrades and improves the facilities and include technical innovations, focused towards increased user satisfaction (user-friendly tools, privacy- oriented data management, testbed SLA and reputation, experiment reproducibility, service- level experiment orchestration, federation ontologies, etc.). It will open this federation to the whole community and beyond, for experimentation by industry and research organisations, through the organization of Open Calls and Open Access mechanisms

The project also offers a flexible, demand-driven framework which allows test facilities to join during the course of its lifetime by defining a set of entry requirements for new facilities to join and to comply with the federation.

Fed4FIRE+ also continues to build on the existing community of experimenters, testbeds and tool developers and bring them together regularly (two times a year) in engineering conferences to have maximal interaction between the different stakeholders involved.

An overview of the available FIRE facilities offered through Fed4FIRE+ can be retrieved at the facility overview page on the Fed4FIRE+ website1. Additional background information about both the offered facilities, the tools adopted by the federation, and the implementation steps needed from a facility when joining the federation can also be found in the Fed4FIRE+ training material2.

3 Objectives of the call

The major objective of this Open Calls is to make the federated infrastructure directly available for execution of innovative experiments by experimenters at both industrial (including SMEs) and research organisations. These experiments should be of a duration as defined by the type of the call (Extra Small, Small, Medium or Large) and use one or more Fed4FIRE+ testbeds. Examples of such experiments may include but are not limited to testing of new protocols or algorithms, performance measurements, service experiments. It is required that these experimenters will come from parties or organisations that are not part of the Fed4FIRE+ project consortium.

In view of the targeted timeline and duration of the experiment, it should be clear that these Calls envisage experiments by which existing products or services are tested, implemented or optimized on the Fed4FIRE+ testbeds rather than proposing or developing new ideas from scratch. Examples of such experiments may include but are not limited to testing of new protocols or algorithms, performance measurements, service experiments.

The Fed4FIRE+ project is issuing this series of open and competitive calls for experiments with a degree of industrial and/or scientific innovation, relevance for the Fed4FIRE+ federation and an appropriate scale of complexity. Independent evaluations of the submitted proposals will be performed, in order to select experiments which will be executed within the project. It is required that the experiments are performed by a single organization.

This 3rd Open Call targets 2 specific categories for experiments:

• “Medium Experiments” with a maximum budget (including the financial support to the Fed4FIRE+ partner(s) acting as a Patron) of € 60 000 and a maximum duration of 6 months.
• “Large Experiments” with a maximum budget (including the financial support to the Fed4FIRE+ partner(s) acting as a Patron) of € 100 000 and a maximum duration of 12 months.
  The proposal template will allow ticking one and only one of these categories. The top ranked proposals in the category “Medium Experiments” with a maximum of 5 experiments and the top ranked proposals in the category “Large Experiments” with a maximum of 2 experiments will be selected for funding.
  Benefits for an experimenter to propose experiments on the Fed4FIRE+ federation of testbeds:

• Possibility to perform experiments that break the boundaries of different testbeds or domains (wireless, 5G, wired, OpenFlow, cloud computing, smart cities, services, etc.)
• Easily access all the required resources with a single account.
• Focus on your core task of experimentation, instead of on practical aspects such as learning to work with different tools for each testbed, requesting accounts on each testbed separately, etc.
• An extra benefit which is offered in this call is the dedicated support from specific Fed4FIRE members. Each proposer, preparing a proposal is required to seek a supporting Fed4FIRE consortium partner or partners (the “Patron”) that will be in charge of dedicated (advanced) support of the experiment.

4 Eligibility

• Proposals will only be accepted from parties eligible for participation in EC H2020-projects.
• Proposals will only be accepted from single parties (no consortia are allowed).
• Proposers must from parties or organisations that are not already part of the Fed4FIRE+ project consortium.
• Proposers can submit multiple experiment proposals, but only one experiment per proposer will be selected for funding in this Call. I case multiple proposals are submitted by the same party, reference should be made to each submitted proposal and clear indication should be given on the complementarity of the proposals.
• Proposers who have submitted proposals in previous calls of the Fed4FIRE+ - project (Open Call 01 and Open Call 02) are allowed to re-submit. Details on how this information needs to be included in the proposal are given below and should be included in a specific section in

the proposal (cfr. Proposal template)

• Parties who have submitted proposals in previous calls which were NOT selected for funding should indicate the exact dates and details of the previous submissions.
• Parties who have submitted proposals in previous calls which were selected for funding should indicate the difference between the current proposal and the previously submitted proposal.
• Parties belonging to a legal entity of which other groups have submitted proposals in previous calls also need to indicate the difference between the current proposal and the previously submitted proposals.

5 Inclusion into the consortium

Once a party is selected to perform the proposed experiment, it will be contracted by the project coordinator (imec) as a 3rd Party receiving financial support. This will require the signature of the Agreement of which can be found as download on the Fed4FIRE+ website together with this Call information.

6 Participation in meetings and submission of reports

6.1 Submission of reports

(templates can be found as download on the Fed4FIRE+ website together with this Call information)

The proposer will need, if its experiment is:

• To submit a report at the end of the experiment using the template in Annex 2 to this document.
• To prepare a Poster (A1-format) describing the objective and results of the experiment as well as the impact of the experiment on the proposers’ business. This poster can be used by the Fed4FIRE+ consortium at public events and will be used at the occasion of the review meetings.
• To prepare a flyer (2 A4-pages) describing the objective and results of the experiment as well as the impact of the experiment on the proposers’ business. This flyer can be used by the Fed4FIRE+ consortium at public events.
• To prepare a presentation and demo explaining and illustrating:

o the objective and results of the experiment
o the impact of the experiment on the proposers’ business.
o The feedback towards the Fed4FIRE+ consortium on the use of the facilities

• The production of a short video about the experiment is recommended. This video will be used by the Fed4FIRE+ project at public events.

6.2 Attendance at meetings

• FEC3 (March 13-15, 2018): Paris, France:
o To be attended by all selected experimenters
o Objective: attend tutorials and learn about Fed4FIRE+

• FEC4 & Formal Review Meeting (October 2018): Belgium
o To be attended by all finished experiments in the category “Medium Experiments” o To be attended by the running experiments in the category “Large Experiments”
o Objective:

• §  presentations by the finished and running experiments will serve as tutorials and demonstrations towards participants and new experiments attending the event.
• §  finished experiments in the category “Medium Experiments” will undergo a formal review by the EC at this FEC4. This formal review is required for obtaining full payment of the experimenters.

• FEC5 (March/April 2019): TBD
o To be attended by all finished experiments in the category “Large Experiments”
o Objective:
o presentations by the finished experiments will serve as tutorials and demonstrations

towards participants and new experiments attending the event.

• Formal review meeting (Belgium)
o A formal review meeting by EC representatives of all finished experiments will also

be required. These formal review meetings will be organized according to the availability of the reviewers. At FEC4, a formal review will be possible for the finished experiments in the category “Medium Experiments”. A formal review meeting will be organized for the finished experiments in the category “Large Experiments” at a date co-located with FEC5 or later.

o It is therefore recommended to budget these as separate meetings in the proposal.

• Project meetings
o As the experimenter will be linked to the project as 3rd Party, there will no possibility

to attend formal meetings of the consortium but specific (remote) meetings regarding the experiment can be set up with Fed4FIRE+ partners. The engineering conferences should be used to discuss face-to-face.

Interreg Baltic Sea Region European Institution Public Link Interreg Baltic Sea Region - Third call for applications

Interreg Baltic Sea Region is launching the third call for applications for its priorities 1-3. The Programme offers financial support to transnational projects contributing to the development of a more innovative, better accessible and sustainable Baltic Sea region. The Programme is designed under the territorial cooperation goal of the European Union. In practice, the Programme combines financing from the EU structural funds European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI)1 as well as the financial contribution of the Kingdom of Norway and the Russian Federation.

The Programme funding is allocated through calls for applications.

2. Objectives and priorities

The Programme promotes transnational cooperation and integration by projects addressing common key challenges and opportunities of the region. It exploits opportunities and addresses issues which cannot sufficiently be dealt with by single countries but require a joint response by partners from several countries from the Baltic Sea region.

The Programme is divided into three thematic priority axes addressing transnational key challenges and opportunities of the Baltic Sea region:

Priority 1 - Capacity for innovation

The priority is dedicated to actions strengthening the ability of the Baltic Sea region to create and commercialise innovation. Thus, the Programme encourages experimentation with new approaches and solutions to be practically tested through pilot actions. Furthermore, the priority aims to increase the capacity of the public sector as an innovation driver and enhancing innovation uptake by SMEs. Thematically, one of the priority’s focuses is the utilisation of the potential of existing and planned research and innovation infrastructures. Additionally, the priority supports capacity building for smart specialisation strategies and their implementation, e.g. through test and pilot activities. Finally, the priority provides support for non-technological aspects of innovation.

Priority 2 - Efficient management of natural resources

The priority supports transnational cooperation enhancing the capacity of public authorities and practitioners to ensure a better environmental status of the Baltic Sea region waters and to strengthen resource-efficient growth. It will help develop integrated approaches to reducing nutrient loads and decreasing discharges of hazardous substances in the waters. Moreover, the priority supports development and testing of governance and funding models as well as technological solutions for production and distribution of renewable energy and for improved energy efficiency. Finally, it aims to strengthen the sustainable and resource-efficient blue growth in the Baltic Sea region.

Priority 3 - Sustainable transport

The priority covers capacity-building measures ensuring more sustainable transport solutions in the region. In particular, it aims to better connect the secondary and tertiary transport networks and nodes in the Baltic Sea region to core transport networks. Furthermore, the priority aims to improve the accessibility of distant areas that have accessibility deficits to urban, administrative and economic centres as well as areas affected by demographic change. Due to the significance of maritime transport for the region, the priority also focuses on the improvement of maritime safety and environmentally friendly shipping. Finally, the priority specifically focuses on urban areas of the Baltic Sea region with the aim of increasing environmentally friendly mobility.

A detailed description of the actions to be financed under each of the priorities can be found in the Cooperation Programme.

3. Focus of the third call for applications

The first and second call for applications resulted in 74 projects contributing to twelve Programme specific objectives in priorities 1-3. Applicants preparing proposals for the third call are encouraged to become acquainted with the current project portfolio of the Programme to enable synergetic effects and to avoid overlaps. Summaries of all projects are available on the Programme website: www.interreg-baltic.eu. Further details are available in the project library: projects.interreg-baltic.eu.

The graph below shows the current number of projects per specific objective.

( IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE)

In addition, applicants are encouraged to get familiar with similar projects funded by other programmes.

The third call is open for applications in all specific objectives of the Programme priorities 1-3. The call focuses on projects that increase institutional capacity of public authorities at all levels of governance. All applications, except with specific objective 1.1 ‘Research and innovation infrastructures’, should clearly demonstrate how they achieve this. It is expected that projects include public authorities with relevant roles in the partnership.

Furthermore:

• –  regarding specific objective 1.1 ‘Research and innovation infrastructures’ the Progamme welcomes in particular applications that include private partners; and
• –  regarding priority 2 ‘Natural resources’ and priority 3 ‘Transport’ the Programme welcomes in particular applications that plan investments to be realised with funding outside of the Programme.

4. EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

Interreg Baltic Sea Region takes an active part in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) and its Action Plan. The funding for implementing the Action Plan should be drawn from a variety of funding sources, including other territorial cooperation programmes in the area. Applicants are encouraged to become acquainted with the Action Plan and to consider the possible contribution of their project to a policy area or a horizontal action of the Strategy.

The Programme particularly encourages flagship projects of the Action Plan thematically relevant to the Programme to apply. The coordinators of the policy areas and horizontal actions of the Strategy together with their steering groups are responsible for selecting flagship projects and for issuing a “letter of commitment” to be submitted with the application. Applicants are encouraged to be in contact with the relevant Policy Area/Horizontal Action Coordinator as early as possible. In the event that there are several applications demonstrating the same level of quality according to the quality assessment criteria of the Programme, priority will be given to the flagship project.

For more information on the Strategy please go to: http://www.balticsea-region-strategy.eu/.
For contacts to Policy Area/Horizontal Action Coordinators please go to: http://www.balticsea-region- strategy.eu/contacts

5. Availability of funds

The available2 Programme co-financing allocated to priorities 1-3 is shown in the tables below:

(TABLE NOT AVAILABLE )

It is envisaged that Russian partners of the projects applying in the third call for applications receive Programme co-financing for their project activities. The Programme co-financing will combine the contribution of the European Union provided by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) and the financial contribution of the Russian Federation.

Russian partners should note that the Programme co-financing can be made available only when the Financing Agreement has been concluded between the European Commission, Russian Federation and Germany as the country hosting the Managing Authority, and there will be enough liquidity on the Programme accounts for the respective funds to make payments to the projects.

The negotiations on the Financing Agreement are in their final stage.

Belarus has not signed a Financing Agreement and therefore partners from this country are not eligible for Programme funding.

6. Project partnership

Public authorities at local, regional or national level, research and training organisations, NGOs, sectoral agencies and associations as well as private for-profit organisations from the Programme area are invited to apply. The Programme Manual specifies which legal entities can act as lead partners and project partners. Organisations not falling under these legal requirements may participate in the projects as associated organisations.

The Interreg Baltic Sea Region area covers eleven countries. It comprises eight EU Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, parts of Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden) and three partner countries (Belarus, Norway and parts of Russia). The detailed geographical coverage of the Programme is defined in the Cooperation Programme.

As a general rule, project partners can only receive co-financing from the Programme if they are located in the regions belonging to the Programme area. However, in exceptional cases partners located outside the Programme area can join the project partnerships. More details can be found in the Programme Manual.

Each project has to involve at least three project partners from three different countries of the Programme area: a lead partner and at least two project partners. Lead partners must be located in the territory of an EU Member State in the Programme area or in Norway. At least one of the partners has to be located in the territory of an EU Member State in the Programme area.

Specific implementing provisions for participation of Russian partners have not been finalised and are under discussion. Please refer to point 5 of this Announcement Note. Further details on the composition of the project partnership can be found in the Programme Manual.

7. Lead partner principle

Each project has to appoint a lead applicant/lead partner who is responsible for the preparation and submission of the application form. If the project is approved, the lead partner takes over the full responsibility for management, communication, implementation, and co-ordination of activities among the involved partners. The lead partner bears legal responsibility for the whole partnership. The lead partner is also the link between the project and the Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat (MA/JS) of the Programme.

8. Duration of projects

The project duration consists of three phases: a contracting phase, an implementation phase and a project closure phase. The contracting phase lasts three months and starts the day after the Monitoring Committee decision. The duration of the implementation phase may vary from 12 to 30 months. The closure phase lasts three months.

9. Co-financing rates

Project partners have to provide their own contribution to receive Programme co-financing. The level of these contributions depends on the Programme co-financing rate, which varies between countries and funds. Partners from Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden are entitled to receive 75% ERDF co- financing, while partners from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are entitled to 85% ERDF co-financing. Norwegian partners will receive 50% co-financing from Norwegian national funding. Russian partners will receive 85% Programme co-financing, combining the EU funding from the European Neighbourhood Instrument and the financial contribution of the Russian Federation5.

The Programme works with the reimbursement principle. Further details can be found in the Programme Manual.

10. Application procedure

Projects are selected for funding in a one-step application procedure including a compulsory consultation with the MA/JS. All lead applicants are asked to submit a project idea form (PIF) available at - https://www.interreg-baltic.eu/apply-for-funds/consultations.html briefly describing the project’s strategic relevance, main outcomes, core activities and the planned partnership. The completed PIF can be sent any time but no later than 15 January 2018 to idea@interreg-baltic.eu. The MA/JS will provide feedback on project ideas by organising consultations at its office premises, during information events or via online meetings. Only after a consultation lead applicants can obtain access to the online application system (BAMOS), where they can submit a complete project application no later than 9 April 2018 .

Please note that PIFs submitted to the MA/JS will be forwarded to the Monitoring Committee of the Programme along with comments from the MA/JS. Applicants may be contacted by Monitoring Committee members or National Contact Points on their project ideas. Any information in the project idea form, including MA/JS feedback or feedback from Monitoring Committee members and National Contact Points will not influence the quality assessment of the application.

The table below summarises the information about documents that applicants need to submit during the call:

Project idea form

Digital version

Which documents? Project idea form

When? By 15 January 2018

How? E-mail to: idea@interreg-baltic.eu

After launching the call the MA/JS offers consultations for all applicants. Participation in a consultation is obligatory for obtaining access to BAMOS.

Project application

Digital version

Which documents? Online application

When? By 9 April 2018, 16:00 CEST (UTC+2)

How? Submitting via online system: ba.bamos.eu
Log-in will be provided after a consultation with MA/JS.

 

Paper version

Which documents?

Signed application (identical to the digital version)

Partner declarations for all project partners (including lead applicant) original or copies

State aid self-declarations for all project partners (including lead applicant) original or copies

Optional:
Scanned letters of support from associated organisations

Scanned letters of commitment from relevant Policy Area Coordinator/Horizontal Action Coordinator

When?

By 9 April 2018
The date on the post stamp must be the date of the deadline or earlier !!!

How?

Mail documents to:
Interreg Baltic Sea Region
Managing Authority/Joint Secretariat ,IB.SH Grubenstraße 20
18055 Rostock, Germany

The applicants are asked to carefully follow the guidance provided in the project idea form as well as in the online submission system. The guidance outlines the Programme expectations regarding the quality and amount of information to be provided.

The MA/JS is responsible for the verification of completeness and correctness of the submitted documents as well as for the quality assessment of the applications. The assessment criteria are presented in Annex I to the Programme Manual. The Monitoring Committee of the Programme will be responsible for the final selection of applications at its meeting in September 2018.

11. Reimbursement of preparation costs

Project partners eligible for ERDF, Norwegian national funding or ENI/Russian funding can apply for reimbursement of costs related to the preparation of the project proposal. Only projects selected by the Monitoring Committee can have their preparation costs reimbursed. The reimbursement of preparation costs is lump sum based. Projects that have received seed money funds from the EUSBSR Seed Money Facility, Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme or any other EU funds for the preparation of the same project will not receive reimbursement of preparation costs. Further details can be found in the Programme Manual.

12. Programme language

The official language of the Programme is English. Therefore, all communication between applicants and the MA/JS is held in English. Information in project idea forms, application forms as well as official correspondence must be treated accordingly.

13. Further information and assistance

The official Programme documents are available on the Programme website www.interreg-baltic.eu and include:

•   Interreg Baltic Sea Region Cooperation Programme;
•   Programme Manual;
•   Guidance for Russian partners; and
•   Application package for third call.
  The MA/JS offers the following assistance to applicants:

•   For general advice please contact: info@interreg-baltic.eu;
•   The MA/JS provides written feedback to project ideas and offers face-to-face consultations at its offices in Rostock and Riga, as well as during events and via online meetings. If interested, please
  write to: info@interreg-baltic.eu;
•   The Programme provides a search tool for project ideas and partners on LinkedIn -
  https://de.linkedin.com/in/interregbaltic;
•   The MA/JS organises events to facilitate the project development process. An Information

Seminar for the third call will be organised in Riga, Latvia, on 18-19 October. The MA/JS will be present in national information events during autumn. Information about upcoming events is available at the Programme website: http://www.interreg-baltic.eu/events.html.

https://www.interreg-baltic.eu/home.html