Excel4Pro Open Call

Description

Selected projects will be launched in November 2026 having an implementation timeframe of 15 months (until December 2027). The implementation period will be divided in 3 phases: Phase 1 - Design [Deliverable: Activity plan] (November 2026 – February 2027) - Payment of 30% of the total fund Phase 2 - Development [Deliverable: Report on Results/Outcomes] (March 2027 – July 2027) - Payment of 50% of the total fund Phase 3 - Validation [Deliverable: Final report on community-associated activities] (August 2027 – January 2028) - Payment of the final 20% of the total fund In all selected projects, payments are deliverable based, meaning that the subgrantees have to deliver a specific report after the end of each phase in order to receive the payment (no pre-financing is foreseen).

Beneficiary & submission

Submission: Excel4Pro Open Call for proposals will be submitted digitally through the opencalls.fund platform at https://opencalls.fund/open-call/excel4pro. All the documents needed for the application (Excel4Pro Open Call Kit) can be found on the Excel4Pro website, on the section dedicated to the Open Call (https://excel4pro.eu/open-call/). Interested Applicants should visit the Excel4Pro website for any updates and the FAQ section available in the opencalls.fund platform (https://opencalls.fund/open-call/excel4pro/faq). Submissions received through any other channel will be automatically discarded. Documents required in subsequent phases will be submitted via dedicated channels (e.g. via email or via the opencalls.fund platform), which will be indicated by the Excel4Pro consortium in the contracting phase. In case multiple versions of the same application are submitted, only the last version will be evaluated. All the previous ones will be discarded. Throughout the entire process, the confidentiality of applicants' identities and the contents of the proposals will be rigorously upheld. Any details pertaining to the proposed solution will be handled with the utmost discretion. By applying to Excel4Pro Open Call consortia automatically accept the terms and conditions of the Open Call as described in the Open Call Kit. Evaluation: After the Excel4Pro Open Call is closed, an eligibility check process will be carried out by the Excel4Pro Advisory Board to discard non-eligible applications. Following the eligibility check, a remote evaluation will be done by carefully selected external reviewers. Each proposal will be reviewed by two (2) external evaluators with specific technical and/or business expertise related to the topics of the call. The evaluators will have to evaluate each proposal under the specific evaluation criteria: Alignment: - Relevance and Alignment with Excel4Pro Open Call Objectives. Excellence: - Feasibility of concept; - Ethics and compliance; - Gender and inclusivity Impact: - Demonstration of impact on the Excel4Pro ecosystem; - Impact and sustainability; - Scalability and replicability; - Dissemination and policy uptake; - Community engagement Value: - Budget allocation; - Use of resources Implementation: - Team expertise and roles; - Quality of team as a whole; - Risk management All award criteria have the same weight. Each award criterion can be scored from 1 to 5 with a threshold of 3 points in each category, and a minimum of 15 points in total.

Further information

Excel4Pro Open Call will accept the submission of proposals from start-ups or SMEs established in Türkiye, Greece, or Ukraine. Startups and SMEs should specialize or intent to work on innovative technologies or solutions within the alternative plant-based protein area for the agri-food sector. Selected applicants will receive funding to innovate, test, validate, or implement breakthroughs within the Excel4Pro Focus Areas and integrate these innovations into the broader agri-food sector. The Open Call will result in at least 9 projects (max €40k per project). In total, a €360K budget will be allocated as financial support to third parties.