Digital Challenge FAQ

Digital Challenge Owners Open Call

1. What are the resource commitments requirements from a Digital Challenge Owner?

  • The company should be able to commit resources to work with innovators to implement the technology solution, providing mentoring, access to facilities and knowledge as required
  • The Digital Challenge Owner understands the benefits of taking part in an agile open innovation activity and will co-fund the experiment anywhere between €30,000 to €50,000 for 9-12 months
  • DigiFed will match-fund the same amount as contributed by the Digital Challenge Owner

2. What kind of SmartUps and SMEs will be targeted?

  • Participating Startups and SMEs shall be pan-European (EU member states or H2020 associated countries, including the UK)
  • Will need to have existing customer experience or ideally, successfully taken a product or a service from TRL 3 to TRL 83
  • Will be using an agile approach during the development and work closely with the Digital Challenge Owner to deliver the proposed solution
  • UK companies remain eligible for grants and procurement procedures as if the UK was a member state for the entirety of the Horizon 2020 framework programme and previous framework programmes. This also applies for financial support to third parties according to Article 204 FR (cascading grants) and applies for the duration of the H2020 project.

3. Who will be involved in the Digital Challenge?

The following DigiFed consortium member will be part of the Digital Challenge:

  • Digital Catapult (DIGICAT)
  • Minalogic Pertenaires Association (MMNT)
  • Steinbeis Innovation GGmbH (SEZ)
  • Univerza V Ljubljani (UL)
  • AVL list GmbH (AVL) (TBC)

Digital Challenge Open Call

1. Can two companies apply for the Digital Challenge?

Yes, two companies can apply to the open call an propose a solution to the Digital Challenge (one solution / application)

2. How many candidates will be selected for the Digital Challenge Open Call?

Only one solution will be selected at the end of the open call. If the selected solution is proposed by one company only, then the selected company will receive up to 100k Euros; if the selected solution is proposed by two companies than the two companies will share the 100K Euro funding (each company receiving up to 50k Euro)

3. Who can apply for the Digital Challenge Open Call?

Start-up and SME who can can guarantee required resources to implement the DigiFed Digital Challenge and are not in any situation which would exclude them from receiving financial support,

  • agree to sign the standard contract if selected and are
  • based in EU member state or EU associated country can apply for the Digital Challenge Open Call.

4. I have missed the Pre-Selection deadline; can I still apply for the Open Call?

We recommend submitting your pre-selection form by the 16th July, if selected you will have the opportunity to engage with the Digital Challenge owners during tailored webinar sessions organised in August and learn more about the specifics of the Digital Challenge.
If you missed the pre-selection deadline, please get in touch with us at info@digifed.org

5. I am not based in the same country as the Digital Challenge Owner (GE Hydro), can I still apply?

Yes, we are looking for European companies to propose solutions to the Digital Challenge; if during the development stage you will be required to travel to the Digital Challenge Owners site, the travel costs will be covered by the DigiFed funding (you need to include these costs in your budget proposal).

6. Am I eligible to apply for this call?

The EU Associated Countries participate in Horizon 2020 under the same conditions as EU Member States. A list with all eligible Associated Countries can be found here:

https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/3cpart/h2020-hi-list-ac_en.pdf

Legal entities established in any other country or region cannot receive funding in this open call.

UK companies remain eligible for grants and procurement procedures as if the UK was a member state for the entirety of the Horizon 2020 framework programme and previous framework programmes. This also applies for to financial support to third parties according to Article 204 FR (cascading grants) and applies for the duration of H2020 projects.