SYNAPSE OPEN CALL

Description

The main objective of the SYNAPSE Open Call is to showcase the clear integration paths of SYNAPSE across the EU Digital Infrastructures, validating the relevance & transferability of the platform in additional organisations. Through the SYNAPSE Open Call, interested candidates are invited to present their contributions on how the SYNAPSE Platform could be enriched with additional cybersecurity services or evaluated in industries. In that context, we look for the following two types of entities: One (1) organisation operating a digital infrastructure, which will serve as end-user and provide a new pilot for the SYNAPSE project (Open Call Beneficiary Type A), preferably in the fields of Electrical Energy, Water, Transportation, Telecommunications, FinTech, Manufacturing, Agrifood, Logistics, etc. Two (2) SME partners covering the cybersecurity supply-side, which will provide innovative technological solutions and services to the SYNAPSE project (Open Call Beneficiary Type B). More specifically, the scope of SYNAPSE Open Call is the enhancement of SYNAPSE Intelligent Services, through: The incorporation of AI Agents in the Situational Awareness lifecycle, such as risk and threat management assisting human operators take prompt and accurate decisions. The improvement of risk assessment processes through the incorporation of AI and GenAI.   The development of protection measures against adversarial attacks. Methods and solutions for the protection of AI enablers, such as threat and vulnerability assessments of AI systems, exploiting information from publicly available sources, such as MITRE Atlas1, AI Risk Management Framework2, and ENISA AI cybersecurity challenges3.    The enhancement of AI and GenAI systems, such as LLM, ML and DL models, robustness against data poisoning attacks and model inference attacks.    Incorporation of innovative penetration testing methodologies.   More information available on SYNAPSE website (https://www.synapse-project.eu/open-call/) including submission link. For enquiries please use this email address: info@synapse-project.eu (as subject SYNAPSE OPEN CALL).   

Beneficiary & submission

The supporting documentation, including the “Proposal Submission Template”, is available on the SYNAPSE website (https://www.synapse-project.eu/open-call/), and it can be downloaded directly. Applicants are kindly asked to read and follow the instructions provided within this template carefully. The structure of the Proposal Submission Template must be followed when preparing your proposal. It has been designed to ensure that the important aspects of your planned work are presented in a way that will enable the evaluators to make an effective assessment against the evaluation criteria. Please be aware that proposals will be evaluated as they are submitted, rather than on their potential if certain changes need to be made. This means that only proposals that successfully address all the requests will have a chance of being evaluated. There will be no possibility for significant changes to content, budget and team composition during grant preparation. The page limit for the technical part is 6 pages. All tables, figures and references must be included as an integral part of the document and are thus counted against this page limit. Excess pages (in overlong proposals) will not be taken into consideration by the evaluators. Evaluators will be instructed to ignore hyperlinks to information that is specifically designed to expand the proposal, thus circumventing the page limit. Only references and links that point to the mandatory proof of maturity of the solution will be accepted. The following formatting conditions apply: the reference font for the body text is Calibri. The use of a different font for the body text is not advised and is subject to the cumulative conditions that the font is legible and that its use does not significantly shorten the representation of the proposal in the number of pages compared to using the reference font (for example, with a view to bypassing the page limit). The minimum font size allowed is 11 points. Standard character spacing and a minimum of single line spacing must be used. Text elements other than the body text, such as headers, foot/end notes, captions, formulas, may deviate, but must be legible. The page size is A4, and all margins (top, bottom, left, right) should be at least 15 mm.  For keeping the formatting of the document, the use of Microsoft Word or Word Online is recommended.   English is the official language for this Open Call.   The Open Call Evaluation Board will review each proposal, scoring them based on a set of questions that will be prepared and will be related to:   Alignment: Applicants must align with each call’s objectives and challenges as well as the HE specific call (HORIZON-CL3-2022-CS-01-01).   Excellence: The application must demonstrate a clear set of objectives aligned with the definition of the goals and with the general objectives of the project.   Impact: Applicants must define their ambition, and a clear set of expectations aligned with the objectives of the Call. Proposals must demonstrate the project’s impact.   Implementation: Applicants must provide credible evidence that the project team is committed and has the necessary skills, competence, and expertise to deliver the project and a proposed plan that can successfully address the Call objectives and the proposed innovation of the application. 

Further information

The SYNAPSE Open Call budget can be distributed to two (2) available types of entities (Type A and B), as follows: End-Users / Use Case Providers (Open Call Beneficiary Type A): they are requested to model and relate their digital applications, services, assets and operations with the SYNAPSE Platform and test its ability to meet their cybersecurity and data protection needs. The eligible Use Case Providers are asked to: Identify precise use case, along with validation scenarios, relevant requirements and KPIs. -Provide operational pilot environment for SYNAPSE integration. -Deliver SYNAPSE-integrated pilot environment for demonstration. -Contribute to SYNAPSE’s demonstration and validation.  The selected End-User / Use Case Provider will be funded with up to €300,000.  Cybersecurity Service / Product Providers (Open Call Beneficiary Type B): they are requested to propose and deliver innovative technological solutions and services to the SYNAPSE project, which will enrich the current SYNAPSE’s platform. The eligible Cybersecurity service Providers are asked to:  -Identify the precise technologies to be delivered, their specifications and the associated KPIs.  -Integrate their components into the SYNAPSE architecture.  -Develop, deliver and integrate components into the SYNAPSE platform and the Pilot testbed.  -Contribute to SYNAPSE’s domain demonstration, including:  -Integration of the technologies into all Pilot storylines.  -Integration of the chosen components into the Pilot deployments of the SYNAPSE platform.  Demonstration of the integration of selected components on at least two of the SYNAPSE pilots, which will be jointly agreed upon between SYNAPSE and the selected candidates.  Validation of relevant SYNAPSE and OC-specific KPIs.  Each of the two selected Cybersecurity Service/Product Providers will be funded with up to €200,000.  In addition to the present Guideline for Applicants, the following tools are available to support applicants:  -Frequently Asked Questions: A Frequently Asked Questions document about SYNAPSE Open Call is available on the website. The document will be periodically updated to reflect the questions received.  -SYNAPSE Newsletter: Subscribe to the SYNAPSE newsletter on the website and get to know about the webinar that will be organised to support you.  -SYNAPSE Contact: https://www.synapse-project.eu/contact/      For enquiries, please use this email address: info@synapse-project.eu (as subject SYNAPSE OPEN CALL).