The Horizon Europe Work Programmes will provide around €13.5 billion in funding for 2023-24 to promote European research and innovation in the fields of environment, energy, digital and geopolitics. Details of the digital calls are provided below.
The calls:
- European Digital Identity and Trust Ecosystem (Standard and Sample Implementation) – Accelerating the best use of technologies
- Alliance for Language Technologies – Cloud Data and Artificial Intelligence
- Specialised Education Programmes in Key Capacity Areas – Advanced Digital Skills
- Support for the implementation of Multi-Country Projects – Accelerating the best use of technologies
- Toward networked Local Digital Twins in the EU – Cloud, Data and Artificial Intelligence
- European Digital Media Observatory – Accelerating the best use of technologies
The deadline for the first call listed above was recently moved back from 24 September 2024 to 5 November 2024. The deadline for the second call is already on 26 September. The deadline for the latter four calls is 21 November 2024.
More details on the above grants are provided below.
European Digital Identity and Trust Ecosystem (Standard and Sample Implementation)
This call aims to test the optimum use of technologies relating to the introduction of the EU Digital Identity Wallet. It involves two large-scale pilot projects, testing different international use cases. The second round of grants is intended to help improve the technical specifications and implementation guidelines for the wallet and its ecosystem, and prepare its application in a new set of use cases. Approved proposals will receive 50% funding from the European Commission.
Budget: 20 million Euros
Deadline: 5 November 2024 (was originally 24 September 2024)
Alliance for Language Technologies
This call falls under the Digital Europe (DIGITAL) programme under the heading Cloud Data and Artificial Intelligence and focuses on the implementation of a European Common Data Infrastructure and the development of several major language models and their application, including generative AI. By combining the efforts of member states, this call will directly contribute to the preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe. There are two lines of action, the first of which will focus on data collection & fine-tuning.
The consortium implementing this action should consist of representatives of Member States, public and private organisations, SMEs, organisations with access to large computing capacities and public and/or private data providers, such as the media or publishing industry. Approved proposals will receive 50% funding from the European Commission, and €2 million will come from the national co-funding budget.
Budget: 20 million Euros
Deadline: 26 September 2024
Specialised Education Programmes in Key Capacity Areas – Advanced Digital Skills
This call aims to contribute to the goal of having 20 million ICT specialists in the EU by 2030 and create a better gender balance within the profession, as set out in the Digital Decade Policy Programme. It will not be possible to realise major breakthroughs in crucial digital technology areas (such as AI, data analytics, virtual worlds, photonics, quantum, cloud and edge computing) if there are not enough people with the right knowledge to develop, deploy and use these digital technologies and their related applications. To this end, more and better partnerships need to be built between academia, industry and research across the EU.
Besides the development of new curricula and stand-alone modules, selected projects may involve activities to attract qualified teaching staff and provide scholarships for students. Finally, the purchase or lease of equipment and other resources must be realised, in order to establish partnerships between academia, industry and research centres. The selected projects should also have a clear added value for the EU in terms of cross-border cooperation, networking and exchange of ideas. Half of the funding for projects will be provided by the European Commission, and the other half (€3 million per project) will be paid from national co-funding budgets.
Budget: 55 million Euros
Deadline: 21 November 2024
Support for the implementation of Multi-Country Projects – Accelerating the best use of technologies
This call focuses on the development of a number of Multi-Country Projects (MCPs) that facilitate digital transformation within the European Union. The projects should either deliver a digital infrastructure that is fully functional, or operational services with a clear long-term sustainability plan. Projects are expected to demonstrate through their impact a clear added value for the EU that no single entity or Member State could achieve alone.
The selected projects must be implemented by an EDIC (European Digital Infrastructure Consortium) or by a consortium of at least three Member States. The projects will get half of their funding from the European Union, with the other half being raised by the Member States themselves (€3 million per project).
Budget: 25 million Euros
Deadline: 21 November 2024
Toward networked Local Digital Twins in the EU – Cloud, Data and Artificial Intelligence
This call consists of three parts and aims to realise an EU ecosystem of Local Digital Twins (LDTs) sharing a common blueprint. This project should also increase the number of local platforms and digital twins, with associated services compatible with the EU's data cloud infrastructure, reusing interoperable and open-source tools from the LDT toolbox. Finally, this project should lead to new AI-based services that expand and complement the EU LDT toolbox catalogue for cities and communities.
In the public domain, it should lead to the expansion and refinement of the range of AI services on offer, paving the way for the CitiVERSE. The CitiVERSE focuses on advancing generative AI applications in smart cities, including simulations that address, for example, the impact of changing traffic conditions on air quality, decarbonisation and congestion. This call is a third-party financial support grant (FSTP) with 100% funding from the European Commission.
Budget: 20 million Euros
Deadline: 21 November 2024
European Digital Media Observatory – Accelerating the best use of technologies
This call involves the production of a continuous stream of fact-checks that will also be stored in the repositories of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). This could include providing analytical reports on specific disinformation campaigns and/or studies or surveys on relevant disinformation phenomena. But also devising and organising events and campaigns around media literacy at the national/multinational level to raise citizens' awareness and social resilience.
In addition, this project focuses on supporting the monitoring of online platforms' policies and, in particular, the implementation of the Code of Conduct on Disinformation in the geographical area covered by the hub. This is done with targeted input and analysis and the provision of overviews and reports that provide insight into the (dis)information landscape of the geographic/language area covered. Finally, the project aims to implement a communication strategy based on the targeted use of different channels, such as traditional and online media channels, podcasts and social media, with the aim of reaching a wide audience. The project will involve the European Commission providing 75% funding for SMEs and 50% funding for other beneficiaries.
Budget: 8 million Euros
Deadline: 21 November 2024
Moer information via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal
Additional links:
Horizon Europe work programmes - European Commission (europa.eu)
Europe's Digital Decade | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
Ontwikkeling van Citiverse | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
EU-brede praktijkcode tegen desinformatie | Europese Commissie (europa.eu)