Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
As past experience shows that pre-commercial procurement opens up the procurement market for startups and enables the public sector to address societal challenges more effectively, public procurers should make more strategic use of PCP. Applicants are invited to submit proposals for PCP action to acquire Research and Development (R&D) services and innovative civil security technology solutions.
Proposals should demonstrate interest from a broader community of potential buyers, beyond the direct beneficiaries, who share similar needs and are open to jointly adopting the solutions developed, provided they are proven mature and operationally viable. The proposals must include an analysis of the state of the art and market landscape, aligning research activities with identified needs and presenting a range of technical alternatives to address the challenge. Furthermore, to stimulate dialogue with the supply side, public procurers are required to organise proposals should demonstrate sustainability of the action beyond the life of the project.
Detailed Call Description
The proposals should build on the outcomes of CSA projects funded under previous work programmes aimed at creating Stronger grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies. The proposals should provide clear evidence to justify and de-risk the PCP action, demonstrating that the identified challenge is significant and necessitates a PCP action to mature certain technologies and compare alternatives. It must be shown that a consolidated group of practitioners and procurers with shared needs and requirements is committed to the PCP process, enabling informed decisions on future joint procurement of innovative solutions. Activities covered should include cooperation with policy makers to reinforce the national policy frameworks and mobilise substantial additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement in general beyond the scope of the project. The tendering process must be well-defined, supported by a draft plan, and include readiness of documentation and administrative procedures to ensure a compliant launch of the call for R&D services under PCP rules.
Proposals must demonstrate commitment to exploiting project results beyond its conclusion, ensuring engagement with stakeholders and implementation of strategies for future uptake. Applicants should also clarify measures to ensure compliance with the principles of the EU Directive on public procurement, particularly those related to PCP. The required open market consultations should be completed in at least three EU Member States. Prior consultations conducted under previous CSA projects may be used, provided they ensured procurement viability and remain relevant to the current state of the art.
Involvement of procurement decision makers is needed to ensure that end solution(s) are adopted by public buyers, increasing the societal impact of the related research activities. Therefore, procurers should declare in the proposal their interest to pursue deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP in case the PCP delivers successful solutions and indicate whether they will:
- procure successful solution(s) as part of the PCP.
- launch a separate follow-up procurement after the PCP to buy such type of solutions.
- adopt successful solutions without the need to procure them (e.g. in case of open-source solutions).
- foresee financial or regulatory incentives for others to adopt successful solutions (e.g. in case the final end-users of the solutions are not the procurers but for example citizens).
In these four cases, the procurers can implement the project as a fast-track PCP.
In the first case, the procurers must foresee the budget in the proposal to purchase at least one solution during the PCP.
In the second case, the procurers should include in the proposal a deliverable that prepares the follow-up procurement to purchase such type of solution(s) after the PCP.
In the first and third case, the procurers must foresee sufficient time during the project to deploy and validate that the solutions function well after installation.
In the fourth case, the procurers can use financial support to third parties to provide financial incentives to final end-users to adopt the solutions, with a maximum budget of €100.000.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €5.50 million
Thematic Categories
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Information Technology
- Justice - Security
- New Entrepreneurship
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Central Government
- International Organisations
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Semi-governmental organisations
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
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 Europe projects.
The following additional eligibility criteria apply: This topic requires the participation, as beneficiaries, of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. One organisation can have the role of practitioner and public procurer simultaneously, both counting for the overall number of organisations required for eligibility.
For participants with practitioner status, 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.
The specific conditions for actions with PCP/PPI procurements in section H of the General Annexes apply to grants funded under this topic.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
Christakis Theocharous
Scientific Officer A’
Telephone: +357 22 20 50 29
Email: ctheocharous@research.org.cy