TrialsNet Open Call

Description

The main objective of the TrialsNet Open Call is to provide added value to the project through the following main actions: Involve key actors to perform beyond 5G large-scale trials through diversified and heterogeneous vertical use cases that cover key industrial and societal sector. Support the deployment of new trials over the project platforms and network solutions, as well as to extend its infrastructures domain in other geographical locations in Europe (to complement the core clusters). The Open Call will maximize the impact and accelerate the adoption of TrialsNet solutions by demonstrating its flexibility, user acceptance, and technology transfer. Through its Open Call, TrialsNet will foster the further take-up of TrialsNet solutions as well the enlargement of scopes and scale of beyond 5G demonstration activities by inviting new or complementary innovative use cases towards the new generation of mobile networks. The Open Call will have a clear European dimension.

Beneficiary & submission

TrialsNet is inviting verticals, companies (including SMEs), start-ups, research institutes, groups of entrepreneurs, app developers or any other relevant entity as well as infrastructure owners to undertake a set of new or complementary use cases to further enrich the TrialsNet domains and to perform related beyond 5G large-scale trials in these domains: •eHealth •Infrastructure •Environment •Security & Safety •Culture •Education •Entertainment •Transportation TrialsNet allocates 5.580.900 euros to provide financial support to the selected applicants. The funding rate for selected projects is 100 % of the eligible costs for all types of organizations. The rate is 100 % for profit-making as well as for non-profit legal entities. The proposals may be summitted by a single beneficiary or by a consortium of up to 3 partners. The maximum allowed for single beneficiary is €200,000, and €300.000 if a consortium. TrialsNet is giving the opportunity to the applicants of the Open Call two options: Option 1. Submit a proposal for a) new use case(s) and field trials supported by one or more TrialsNet infrastructures in terms of platforms and network solutions, or b) improvement of TrialsNet use case(s) by the integration of software applications, features, devices, new users, and datasets Option 2: Submit a proposal for new use case(s) leveraging on new additional field trials infrastructures such as experimental, private, and/or commercial network deployments. The sub-projects selected during the Open Calls will be requested to provide feedback for new requirements, 5G KPIs, datasets and lessons learnt. Each of them will run indicatively for a period of 12 months (this indicative period may be changed upon further notice) and receive a funding up to €200.000 (under option 1) or €300.000 (under option 2). A single applicant may receive up to € 200,000. Applicants’ organizations can submit multiple proposals; however, only one proposal per organization might be selected for funding in this Open Call. A specific Helpdesk opencall@trialsnet.eu is active to support the applicants. Elegibility As regards eligibility rules for participation and funding in the Open Calls, the General Annexes to Horizon Europe for the Work Programme 2023-2024 apply. The call for applications is accessible to legal entities located in eligible countries. These entities must be established in the Member States of the European Union or associated countries, following the rules of Horizon Europe. Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16th December 2022, no legal commitments can be signed with Hungarian public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. A list of these institutions can be found here. The restrictions apply case-by-case using the PIC number. For the most updated information please refer to the FAQ on Hungary, which is regularly updated and available on the EU Funding and Tender Portal. Applicants must maintain complete independence from project partners, their affiliated entities, and any controlled companies. Institutions, organizations, or other legal entities funded by or affiliated with a TrialsNet partner are ineligible. TrialsNet reserves the right to reject a selected application if any of the aforementioned conditions is not met. Successful applicant(s) awarded funding will be required to sign the TriaslNet Third Parties agreement, in order to be able to receive the funds and become third party of the project. After closing the application phase (19 January 2024), all received applications will be first filtered according to their eligibility status; for all non-eligible applications, no further evaluation will take place. Extra information may be requested by the applicants to validate their legal entity status characterization (i.e., to fill in documents related to the “Declaration of Honour on exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interest”). As regards the rules for participation and funding in the Open Calls, the General Annexes to Horizon Europe for the Work Programme 2023-2024 apply. Applicants’ organizations can submit multiple proposals; however, only one proposal per organization might be selected for funding in this Open Call. Submission Applications should be submitted electronically via the Funding Box tenders portal electronic submission system (Accessible here, at https://trialsnet.fundingbox.com). Paper submissions are not possible. Applications should be submitted using the forms provided inside the Funding Box electronic submission system. The structure and presentation should correspond to the instructions given in the forms. Applications will be discharged if not complete and if they don’t contain all parts and mandatory Annexes and supporting documents. The evaluation is limited to 60 eligible proposals; the priority is given by the time stamp of the completion and submission of the proposal. The online Application Form shall be completed any time after the launch of the Open Call (16 October 2023) until 19 January 2024 (05:00:00 PM CEST). The form will be deactivated on 19 January 2024 at 05:00:00 PM CEST. Any applications received after the specified deadline will be automatically rejected. It is highly advised that applicants submit their applications well in advance of the deadline to account for any potential technical or connectivity issues and ensure timely delivery. Upon receipt of the application, TrialsNet will send a confirmation receipt to the provided email address. This confirmation serves as acknowledgment that the email was received on time but does not certify that the application is complete and suitable for evaluation. Feasibility check The Open Call applicants are encouraged to contact the TrialsNet consortium to share their intentions of contribution in order to verify the feasibility of the proposal and to receive informal and not binding feedback on it. To perform the feasibility check, the applicants need to fulfill the provided Feasibility Check Form and send it to opencall@trialsnet.eu indicating in the subject the short name of the proposal. A draft version of the proposal can be also attached to provide more detailed information. Received requests will be processed according to their arrival and feedbacks will be provided not later than 5 working days. Feasibility check deadline: 10 December 2023 at 17:00 (CEST). Evaluation The following aspects will be considered and evaluated. The criteria that will be evaluated are presented in bullet form: • Capacity of the applicant to perform the field trial (Threshold 3/5; Weight 2). • Relevance for TrialsNet and for 5G evolution (Threshold 3/5; Weight 2) • Industrial and/or scientific innovation (Threshold 3/5; Weight 1). • Clarity and methodology (Threshold 3/5; Weight 1) • Impact for market and society (Threshold 3/5; Weight 1) • Technology expertise, security practices and quality (Threshold 3/5; Weight 1) Each criterion is scored on a scale from 0 to 5, as follows: 0 – The proposal fails to address the criterion under examination or cannot be judged due to missing or incomplete information. 1 – Poor. The criterion is addressed in an inadequate manner, or there are serious inherent weaknesses. 2 – Fair. While the proposal broadly addresses the criterion, there are significant weaknesses. 3 – Good. The proposal addresses the criterion well, although improvements would be necessary. 4 – Very good. The proposal addresses the criterion very well, although certain improvements are still possible. 5 – Excellent. The proposal addresses successfully all aspects of the criterion. All submitted proposals will be evaluated using criteria similar to Horizon Europe. Evaluations will be organized in three steps. Initially, each proposal will be assigned to at least two external expert evaluators: independent experts not belonging or involved in the TrialsNet consortium. After individual evaluation, the experts will have a consensus telco to agree on a common evaluation text and a score. Finally, to smooth out any human factors, all evaluators will have a common panel telco together with a project’s representative to rank and short list the proposals. The successful applicants will be informed by the contracting party within February 2024, and they will be put in contact with the suitable testbed.

Further information

Granted applicants will be asked to sign an appropriate Non-Disclosure Agreement. The selected applications will start the contracting phase, which should end within the official kick-off of activities (indicative planned date: within May 2024). A different contractual period may be agreed during the contracting phase. As the experimenter will be linked to the TrialsNet consortium as Third Party receiving financial support, specific arrangements are given by the EC with respect to financial costs and payment schemes. As a third party, the proposing party needs to include an overview of the estimated costs in its proposal at the time of submission. Costs consist of personnel costs, direct costs (such as travel, consumables, etc.) and indirect costs (25% flat rate). The project contribution to the selected third parties will be 100% of the declared costs, in accordance with the corresponding rules for participation in the SNS JU programme. The costs incurred by a third party must adhere to the regulations and principles outlined in the Horizon Europe program and must be properly documented in the third party's financial records. This means that the rules pertaining to cost eligibility, identification of direct and indirect costs, upper funding limits, as well as controls and audits, must be followed. The costs of a Third Party have to comply with the rules and the principles mentioned in the Horizon Europe AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement (see https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/aga_en.pdf), in the same way as the beneficiaries, and must be recorded in the accounts of the Third Party. In other words, the rules relating to eligibility of costs, identification of direct and indirect costs and upper funding limits apply. Equally those concerning controls and audits of the European Commission. The payment is scheduled in three parts, subject to the level of development of the action, the submission of deliverables and the accomplishment of KPIs as reflected in the description of the trial: 20% of the assigned Grant after 1 month from the Grant signature against presentation of a detailed plan of activities 65% at completion of the contracted activities 15% when the EC will accept TrialsNet's final results For further details, please refer to TrialsNet project website