INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call for Local Innovation Hubs (LIH)

Description

The implementation of INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call for Local Innovation Hubs (LIH) sub-projects will last for 12 months and it will be divided into 3 phases: 1) Development of LIH, Execution Plan of implementation – M01-M02; 2) Demonstration - M03-M10; 3) Exploitation of results – M11-M12. Each of the 3 phases will be completed with submission of deliverable, which summarized the work done during that phase. The review process will be followed each phase of the implementation. Once the deliverable is received, it will be assessed by the INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call Advisory Board members. A request for the deliverable’s update may occur with specific requirements for what should be modified. Based on the results of the review and acceptance of respected deliverables, payment will be made towards the subgrantees in the following modalities: Development of LIH, Execution Plan of implementation – M01-M02, report: D1 (40% of the funding will be released upon acceptance); Demonstration - M03-M10, report: D2 (40% of the funding will be released upon acceptance); Exploitation of results – M11-M12, report: D3 (20% of the funding will be released upon acceptance)

Beneficiary & submission

SUBMISSION: In Open Call for Local Innovation Hubs (LIH), INCiTiS-FOOD project will select 8 winning consortia. All Open Call winners must meet the eligibility criteria outlined in Section 3 of the Applicants’ Guide. At the time of application, all applicants must submit the following: Declaration of Honour (for all the partners in the applying consortia), Declaration of Conducting Business (for all the partners in the applying consortia) and Consortium Declaration. During the contracting phase, winners of the INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call for Local Innovation Hubs (LIH) must also provide: Bank account information (for all the partners in the applying consortia) and signed copies of the Sub-grant Agreement for INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call winners (indicative model given, for informative purposes only), which will be given to them upon being declared a winning applicant. All applications for INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call for Local Innovation Hubs (LIH) must be done in English, since the submissions done in other languages will be considered ineligible and will not be evaluated. The entry point for submitting of all proposals for INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call is the INCiTiS-FOOD website, https://incitis-food.eu/open-call/, which will lead to the Open Call platform and INCiTiS-FOOD tab. Applications received through any other channel will be automatically discarded. All the documents needed for the application (INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call Kit) could be found on the INCiTiS-FOOD website, on the section dedicated to the Open Call. EVALUATION: After the INCiTiS-FOOD Open Call for Local Innovation Hub (LIH) has been closed, an eligibility check process will be carried out by the appointed Advisory Board to discard non-eligible applications. Following the eligibility check, a remote evaluation will be done by a carefully selected external reviewers. Each proposal will be reviewed by two different reviewers, with specific technical and/or business expertise related to the topics of the call. The evaluation criteria cover: Excellence 30% (maximum score 4.5 points): Alignment with INCiTiS-FOOD scope, design, novelty, reliability and innovative aspects of the solution, value proposition of the proposal; Current TRL of the solution and pathways to achieving a higher TRL. Impact 40% (maximum score 6 points): Solution output; business sustainability (including financial projections) and scalability strategy; exploitation plan; technical and commercial milestones; environmental and societal impact of the proposed solution. Implementation 30% (maximum score 4.5 points): Team capability and their key expertise (technical capacity, knowledge and business experience of consortium members); technical resource plan; the overall delivery plan; allocation of resources and timeline). Extra points scheme: Once the total evaluation score for each proposal is calculated, an applicant may obtain up to 1 extra point: -At least one legal entity within the applying consortium has attended training sessions at or visited any of the INCiTiS-FOOD Living Labs (0.5 points). -At least one legal entity within the applying consortium has signed an on-boarding agreement with any of the INCiTiS-FOOD Living Labs (0.5 points). The top 12 applicants selected during the remote evaluation will be invited to the online interview. The interview aims to deeply understand the proposed concept, team skills and competence, capacity and willingness to exploit achieved results. The interviews will be carried out by 5 INCiTiS-FOOD Consortium members (Coordinator, Open Call Manager, one of the LL managers and 2 relevant partners with technical and business expertise) and will evaluate the following criteria: Concept and technology (40%) [1-5; min. 3] – confirmation of feasibility and novelty of the proposed solution. Business and exploitation (30%) [1-5; min. 3] – the viability of the proposed business model and reliability to present to investors and corporates. Consortium (30%) [1-5; min. 3] – complementarity of the consortium, explanation of the role of each legal entity and its members, justification of funding allocation.

Further information

To reinforce multi-actor collaborations on main food system challenges and boost the overall impact of INCiTiS-FOOD, 2 Open Calls as part of the Cascade Fund and the FSTP mechanism will be launched. For better urban and peri-urban food systems across Africa, the Open Calls will provide financial support to 8 Local Innovation Hubs (consisting of 2-3 legal entities, 16-24 in total), which can be located also outside the INCiTiS-FOOD countries – total dedicated sum 940,000€. About 800-1000+ innovators (startups, SMEs, schools, etc.), external to the consortium, are expected to benefit directly or indirectly from the Cascade Fund. Applicants with circular and profitable entrepreneurial concepts, not awarded a grant, will be supported through capacity building offered by Living Labs.