GUARDIANS Test Before Invest Open Call

Description

The European project GUARDIANS aims to empower small - and medium-sized farms through smart solutions, bridging the technological gap with larger food producers. GUARDIANS will put in place a set of cost-effective and human-centric digital solutions, which aim to support and empower the penetration, sustainability and resilience of more agroecological farming models, like regenerative agriculture, natural grazing, alternative managed grazing strategies, and the promotion of pollinators in different farm structures. Following a multi-actor co-creation methodology 9 different technologies, combining software and hardware, will be customized to cover the farmers' needs. To reinforce multi-actor collaborations and foster co-creation between research and technical experts and farmers and boost the overall impact of the project, GUARDIANS will launch two Open Calls. The first one, the Co-Creation Open Call, was launched on May 2025 and selected 9 consortia, each consisting of one tech provider and one farm, to co-design, develop and test technological solutions. This Open Call had a budget of €729,000. The second one, the Test Before Invest Open Call, will select up to 9 farms to test and validate up to 9 technological solutions. These solutions will be selected from both the 9 technologies developed during the Co-Creation Open Call and those 9 emerging from the project itself, with a budget of €90,000 (up to €10,000 per farm). During the execution of the Test Before Invest Open Call, the entity in charge of the technological solution will support the applicant throughout the testing process. Beneficiaries from GUARDIANS Test Before Invest Open Call will participate in a 3-month funding programme, focused on replicating and testing digital technologies developed under the GUARDIANS project or the Co-Creation Open Call. The beneficiaries will have the following responsibilities: Implement the selected technology according to the instructions provided by the technology provider. (Milestone 1) Provide feedback and basic KPI data to the technology provider via short forms or questionnaires. (Milestone 2) Share lessons learned or suggestions for improving the technology in real-world farm conditions. (Milestone 3) Funding is lump-sum based, up to €10.000 per farm, disbursed upon successful completion of the milestones. While farms do not produce full deliverables themselves, they are responsible for providing the required KPI forms, installation confirmation and qualitative feedback.

Beneficiary & submission

Submission through the application form available on: https://forms.gle/3KrQHeh4W7rX1VYM9 The selection of the Open Call proposals will be carried out in a three-step process: Step 1 will check the proposals against eligibility criteria. Step 2 will involve external experts’ evaluation to assess the proposal according to the criteria. Step 3 will involve GUARDIANS Selection Committee that will undertake the final validation of the selected proposals. For further information see the Guide for Applicants section 4.

Further information

Open Call Microsite: https://guardians-project.eu/call/open-call-2-test-before-invest/ Open Call application form: https://forms.gle/3KrQHeh4W7rX1VYM9 Open Call helpdesk email: ocguardians@ctic.es Project website: https://guardians-project.eu/