DigiFed launches Open Call for large companies seeking digital solutions from Start-Ups and SMEs

The new DigiFed “Digital Challenge Owner” Open call is targeted at European medium to large enterprises that have identified a specific business need for which no digital solution is currently available on the market.

On 22nd February the DigiFed project will start to offer a new series match funding opportunities that can help to accelerate access to advanced digital technology and solve real-world challenges. The project will provide support to aspiring so called “Digital Challenge Owners” that aim to rapidly address their digital needs in a cost-efficient and agile way and that are open to collaborate with start-up companies to prototype potential solutions in the field of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) & Embedded Systems.

DigiFed and the Digital Challenge Owners will jointly offer grants of up to € 100k as well as technical and business support for the development of smart applications in Europe. Hence, participants to the DigiFed Digital Challenge Owner scheme will need to be willing to co-fund the experiment anywhere between €30,000 to €50,000 for 9-12 months.

In return, they will gain access to a network of tech innovators and experts from StartUps or SMEs that can develop a customised solution to address their business challenge. Challenge Owners will also benefit from partnerships with leading Digital Innovations Hubs across Europe who will be able to accelerate their innovation journey, marketing capabilities and access to new markets.

The DigiFed project will provide innovation management support by helping the lager enterprises frame their challenge and leading the search for the appropriate provider Start-up or SME with the skills to address their business need. The selected StartUp/SME will then receive 100% of funding from DigiFed and the Digital Challenge Owner to addresses the digitisation challenge within the Challenge Owner’s business.

The StartUps and SMEs will be selected through an open call application process which will start in May/June 2021.

To apply for the Digital Challenge Owner Open Call please visit

About DigiFed

Operating within the framework of the Smart Anything Everywhere Initiative, the EU funded project “Digital Innovation Hubs Federation For Large Scale adoption of digital technologies by European SMEs (DigiFed) seeks to boost the adoption of advanced digital technologies, or cyber-physical systems (CPS), by EU SMEs with a focus on non-digital businesses.

Through its multiple innovation pathways – Application Experiments, Digital Challenges and Generic Experiments; it helps applicants implement business plans for the sustainability of a federation of Digital Innovation Hubs designated by the European Commission, while also providing key support mechanisms for both individual companies and groups of SMEs to foster the introduction of digital technologies in their product-and-service offerings.

Contacts

Ana Gheorghe ana.gheorghe@digicatapult.org.uk

Monaaz Dotivala monaaz.dotivala@digicatapult.org.uk

DigiFed Digital Challenge Owners Open Call Coordinators I Digital Catapult