We are looking for European Startups and SMEs building the Next Generation of IoT
IntellIoT’s mission is to enable the execution of semi-autonomous IoT applications for AI-enabled systems. With its partners in three main sectors – agriculture, healthcare, and manufacturing – IntellIoT is building an ecosystem united by a shared vision committed to privacy, security and trust, in which the intelligence of humans and devices can seamlessly intertwine. The consortium’s projects aim to overcome limitations of traditional cloud-centric IoT, such as unreliable connectivity, privacy concerns, or high round-trip times.
With the Open Call, IntellIoT invites SMEs and startups to join the consortium for pilots of 6 months to build applications, services and extensions on the project’s framework and the three use cases. New partners will receive up to 150,000 Euro to execute pilot projects alongside the 13 consortium partners to apply the IntellIoT technology, improve their products and services, and create new business.
Why join the programme?
Funding
Up to 150,000 Euro for teams contributing to the framework
Up to 100,000 Euro for teams contributing to one of the use cases
Ecosystem
Get access to a pan-European innovation network
BizDev
Explore novel business models and exploitation opportunities for your solutions
Innovation
Work with top-shelf experts on innovative next-generation IoT applications
Challenges
Agriculture
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In the Agriculture use case, we aim to apply our framework to a semi-autonomous tractor. It will be able to traverse over a dedicated field and perform a simulated task like ploughing or mowing. A camera setup mounted on the vehicle will provide environmental information capable of driving it around the field and detect potential obstacles that could endanger the vehicle. Suppose an unknown situation occurs and the vehicle does not know how to react to it; in that case, it will interact with other entities in the field (e.g., other vehicles or drones) or use the knowledge of a human operator to overcome the situation. The vehicle will collect environmental data and update its internal knowledge using AI algorithms to react to these situations.
Exemplary contributions include:
- Digital Twin Tooling;
- Drones;
- Smart Farming Solutions.
For more information, go to the Use Case subpage or read the Guide for Applicants
Healthcare
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In the healthcare use case, we will implement privacy-preserving AI solutions that leverage federated learning approaches to provide personalised interventions to patients and support them and their clinicians with effective disease management. Data will be collected from patients with a range of devices and then leveraged to design, develop and apply interventions. Our goal is to propose and evaluate interventions, models and workflows that may help improve the currently available options for the home monitoring and support of heart failure patients for better outcomes.
Exemplary contributions include:
- Next-generation Medical AI devices;
- AI development/models relevant in our ecosystem;
- Data & analytics;
- Wearables.
For more information, go to the Use Case subpage or read the Guide for Applicants
Manufacturing
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In the manufacturing case, we are working on a system connecting the logistics, storage and execution of a production plan. The developed framework will allow the creation of optimised production plans based on the smart contract. An intelligent environment will plan the production, transport and storage setup. Most importantly, it will empower semi-autonomous robot arms to transport workpieces.
Exemplary contributions include:
- Automated guided vehicle (AGV): Hardware (e.g., an AGV platform) and software to integrate the AGV into the IntellIoT framework;
- Localisation/navigation in a manufacturing IoT environment;
- Process industry machinery;
- Additive manufacturing machinery;
- New sensor technologies.
For more information, go to the Use Case subpage or read the Guide for Applicants
Framework
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To deliver the proposed framework, we bring together essential expertise and heterogeneous state-of-the-art technologies for the next generation of IoT. These include 5G communications, resource-aware edge computing, distributed AI, autonomous self-aware systems, DLTs, security & privacy for IoT, Tactile AR/VR HMI and vertical-specific know-how in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare.
To further enhance the platform’s capabilities and showcase the suitability of the IntellIoT framework, we are seeking additional technological building blocks that can further expand the capabilities of the framework and be applied horizontally across the project’s use cases. Therefore, besides contributions that target one or more specific use cases, we welcome more general contributions that can be applied across use case environments.
Exemplary contributions include:
- Digital Twin tooling;
- Edge and 5G Infrastructure;
- Blockchain-based marketplace;
- Devices/tools to support human-machine interaction;
- Data Analytics platform;
- Advanced sensing solutions.
For more information, go to the Framework subpage or read the Guide for Applicants
Eligibility criteria:
You need to be incorporated in the EU or one of the Horizon 2020 associated countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, UK and Ukraine.
Your organisation needs to be an SME according to the definition of the European Commission:
- Staff headcount: <250,
- Turnover: <50m Euro or balance sheet total: <43m Euro.
Your organisation cannot be a subsidiary or affiliated party of one of the consortium members.
Only individual applicants – consortia cannot apply.
Contact
Do you have any other questions? Or maybe you’d like to talk to us before applying? Sure thing!
You have two options:
- Contact our Open Call Coordinator
- Join one of the Office Hours
Kick-Off Video
Check out the video recording from the Open Call Kick-Off event – and see if the presentations or the Q&A session clarified some of your questions about the application process.
FAQ
IntellIoT is a pan-European Research and Innovation Project, supported by the European Commission, as a part of the Horizon2020 programme. The project aims to develop a reference architecture and framework, enabling IoT environments for semi-autonomous IoT applications. Over the course of three years, IntellIoT will test the developed framework in three industries: agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing.
The IntellIoT consortium consists of 13 partners, spread across 9 countries. We will facilitate two Open Calls to involve Startups and SMEs in the framework development process.
The first Open Call will take place between September 1st 2021, and November 1st 2021. Applicants are invited to submit a short outline of their technology and business proposition, highlighting how they may integrate with the IntellIoT framework. Each application can address the general framework or one of three Use Cases. During that process, IntellIoT will select 4 companies who will join the project.
After the application process is completed and new partners are selected, a six-month pilot project will begin. During that time, new partners will join the consortium to work on the project. Joining Startups and SMEs will receive funding of up to 150,000 Euro.
We are looking for European Startups, Scaleups and SMEs developing innovative solutions applicable to the IntellIoT framework and one of the use cases in agriculture, healthcare or manufacturing. You should be ready to integrate your solution within the IntellIoT framework and keep the components alive until the end of the project in September 2023.
Joining a pan-European Research and Innovation project has many perks.
You will get access to a well-established innovation network and ecosystem. You will work with top-shelf experts on innovative next-generation IoT applications that can change the market. It is also a significant growth opportunity for your organisation — you will explore novel business models and exploitation possibilities for your solutions.
Finally, you will receive equity-free funding of up to 150,000 Euro for solutions addressing the general framework, or up to 100,000 Euro for solutions addressing one of the three use cases.
To be eligible for the Open Call, your company needs to be considered a Startup or SME, as per definition by the European Commission, which you can find here.
In addition, you need to be incorporated in one of the member states of the EU or one of the Horizon2020 associated countries (the list of countries is available here).
IntellIoT partners and their related entities — or entities in which IntellIoT partners have shares or other interests — are entirely excluded from participating in the Open Calls.
For more information about the eligibility criteria, please read the Guide for Applicants.
No. Each proposal must be submitted by a single applicant, consortia are not allowed.
Yes, we do. As a newly joining partner, you will receive funding to work with us.
Within the Open Call 1, the funding available for selected companies is as follows:
- Up to 150,000 Euro for teams contributing to the framework
- Up to 100,000 Euro for teams contributing to one of the use cases
The above amount is the maximum total funding that can be applied for and received by one company. We will ask you to describe the expected work plan for the 6-month pilot and the budget required for its successful execution within the application form. This description will be a factor in the decision on granting the funding.
For more information on funding, please see the Guide for Applicants.
The application period for our Open Call 2021 starts on September 1st 2021, and ends on November 1st 2021 at 16:00, Central European Time. After that deadline, no applications will be considered or accepted for the Open Call 2021.
The next opportunity to apply will be the second Open Call in Autumn 2022.
Unfortunately – no. This Open Call is dedicated only to organisations that are already incorporated.
Your application must be submitted online through the IntellIoT Open Call submission platform on F6S. Proposals submitted by any other means will not be considered.
If you don’t have a profile on F6S yet, you will first have to create one. The application process is very simple: you answer the questions by filling the form online. You can save your proposal and come back to work on it again later. There is also the option to upload supporting documents. Just make sure your application is completed and submitted before the deadline — otherwise, we can not consider it.
The following sections are defined in the submission platform:
- General and company information
- Solution description
- Industrial relevance and impact
- Team
- Work plan
- Justification of resources and costs
You can find additional guidance about what information we are concretely looking for within these sections in the Guide for Applicants and the submission platform – F6S.
The evaluation and selection process of the Open Call is designed to create an open, accountable, multi-step selection process based solely on the merit of the submitted application. All submissions shall receive the same opportunity.
Projects will be evaluated in 3 phases: an eligibility check, an evaluation by at least two independent experts, and a final consensus meeting. Selected teams will sign a sub-grant agreement with the consortium, which will include all the terms of engagement.
The independent experts will evaluate all eligible proposals according to the following criteria:
- Relevance to IntellIoT (usefulness and complementarity)
- Impact and sustainability
- Technical excellence
- Quality of implementation
- Quality of the team
- Economic fairness
All criteria will be evaluated on a scale from 1-6. The threshold for the first criterion — relevance to IntellIoT — is 5. For all remaining criteria, the threshold is 4. The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the individual scores, will be 27. Proposals that fail to reach these thresholds will not be considered for the funding. For more details on the criteria and process, please read the Guide for Applicants.
We will select four companies in total — one addressing the general framework and one addressing each Use Case.
We will do the eligibility check immediately after the application deadline on November 1st 2021. If we determine that you are not eligible for the funding, we will inform you about our decision around mid-November. Eligible applications will then be reviewed by the independent experts, and we expect to inform you about the final selection in mid-December.
The duration of the pilot projects is 6 months, starting in February 2022.
Firstly, make sure to carefully read the Guide for Applicants. It’s a document with all the information necessary to apply. You can also watch the video recording from the Open Call Kick-Off event to learn everything about the programme or join one of the Office Hours to ask questions.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our Open Call Coordinator – Berkay Kabay. You can also join one of our Office Hour sessions.