IMAGINE-B5G: 1st Open Call for Vertical Experiments and Platform Extensions

Only 2 days left to apply to the IMAGINE-B5G project Open Call. This Open Call has a budget of 2M€ and will fund up to 15 projects that allow testing and validation of their novel vertical applications through pilots and tests in the IMAGINE-B5G facilities; and up to 7 projects that provide novel functionalities through HW and SW extensions to the IMAGINE-B5G facilities.

About the IMAGINE-B5G Project

IMAGINE-B5G, a Smart Network and Services (SNS) Project, aims to implement an advanced, accessible, secure, and programmable end-to-end (E2E) 5G platform for large-scale trials and pilots in Europe by leveraging the best breed of B5G features. The project has already shortlisted seven verticals and corresponding stakeholders related to:

Ensuring the safety and well-being of the public in times of crisis through effective protection and relief efforts.
5G technology revolutionizes the media landscape with enhanced speed and connectivity.
Enabling innovative educational experiences through increased connectivity and improved online learning opportunities.
Smart Agriculture & Forestry. 5G enables networks for precision farming and sustainable forest management.
5G powering the future of eHealth with reliable, high-speed connectivity for telemedicine and remote patient monitoring.
Transportation & Logistics. 5G revolutionizes transportation and logistics with its high speed and low latency capabilities.
Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 transforms traditional manufacturing into a smart, automated, and interconnected system.

In total, the IMAGINE-B5G will run 3 open calls:

The first open-call has been published in June 2023 and will remain open for two months, with an expected start date of projects in October 2023.
The second open-call will be published in June 2024 and will remain open for two months, with the expected start date of projects in October 2024.
Finally, the third open-call will be published in December 2024 and remain open for two months, with an expected start date of projects in April 2025.

IMAGINE-B5G 1st Open Call

The objective of IMAGINE-B5G is to provide an advanced open platform for large-scale trials and pilots in Europe for 5G. The platform aims to demonstrate the automation (based on artificial intelligence) of the 5G mobile core and use case components, as well as the dynamic and automated adaptation of the network to changes in the public cloud or edge cloud. The 1^st Open Call to participate will be open until the 1st September 2023, 5pm CET.

In the first open call, third parties are invited to present proposals:

to test and validate their novel vertical applications through pilots and trials on the IMAGINE-B5G facilities;
to provide novel features through hardware and software extensions to the IMAGINE-B5G facilities thanks to the openness of the platform.

The call is open to all EU member states and associated countries. While it may be advantageous in some aspects to be in close proximity to the project facilities, it is not a requirement. The project facilities are located at:

Norwegian Facility (Telenor, Nokia-Finland, University of Oslo)
Spanish Facility (Telefonica, Nokia-Spain, Funcación Valenciaport, UPV, Keysight)
Portuguese Facility (Altice LAbs, Capgemini, Ubiwhere, IT-AV, Keysight)
French Facility (Eurecom, Samsung, AirBus, Keysight)

More info about the project facilities is provided in the official website of the project.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The profile of participants is SMEs, industry, or academics, active in research and/or development of B5G technologies and/or applications. Each project proposal must be submitted by a single legal entity acting as Coordinator (representing a single entity or a Team of maximum two members representing two different legal entities). The rules of participation are the same as for any HEU proposal.

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Applicants must fill in the feasibility check (template) and send an email to the open call mailing list with this template. IMAGINE-B5G will then carry out the evaluation of the feasibility and will get in touch with the applicants if more information is needed. The process can take 7-10 days. IMAGINE-B5G will then send the result of the feasibility check to the applicant. If the feasibility check is approved, the applicants will upload the result of the feasibility check along with the proposal to the submission portal.

Before the official submission of the application, applicants must be of having a preliminary ok from the facility they are planning to work with. The proposal template can be found on the website of the project.

Each Project will be evaluated by a team of internal and external evaluators. This team will be appointed based on the expertise of the evaluators on the topic, while avoiding any conflict of interest.

The project will implement two ranking lists in order to fund two categories of stakeholders, including SMEs, scaleups and start-ups, and other (Academia, research, etc.) projects at 50% / 50% of budget.

DURATION OF THE PROJECTS & FUNDING

The awarded projects in Open Call 1 have different maximum funding levels to be granted per project depending on the type of the open-call project, and number of team members (up to maximum of two), as follows.

Vertical Experiments: Research & Innovation & Experimentation projects for vertical applications (pilots and trials). For vertical experiments projects, the maximum grant values per project are defined as €100.000 for a one-partner team (one coordinator) or €140.000 for a two-partner team (one coordinator and one distinct partner broken down as follows: Coordinator €80.000 and partner €60.000). To achieve a greater impact with these projects, careful design and thorough analysis of the experiments are required. Considering that learning to run experiments in a new experimental platform also takes time even in the presence of available resources such as a user manual and targeted hands-on workshops, these projects are given a 12 month-period to design and execute their experiments.
Platform Extensions: Hardware and / or Software Extensions to the IMAGINE-B5G Platform. The maximum grant values per platform extension projects is defined as €150.000 for a one-partner team(one coordinator) or €200.000 for a two-partner team (one coordinator and one distinct partner broken down as follows: Coordinator €125.000 and partner €75.000). The reason behind this is twofold: (1) Due to the proposed HW extension, the third party may need to purchase HW, and / or due to the proposed SW extension, there might be some licencing costs required, (2) the platform extensions require more time/resources for integration as well as testing and validation. Therefore, they are given a longer project period of 18 months for platform extension projects.

WHERE TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

The sole entry point for all application submissions to the IMAGINE-B5G Open Call is https://imagine-b5g-oc1-2023.hotcrp.com/. Applications must be submitted in English and before the official deadline: 1^st September, 17:00 CET.

PAYMENT CONDITIONS

The payments to the participants will be made to the project coordinators on the following schedule using a Lump Sum Model:

35% of the maximum financial support after approval of Deliverable 1 (D1) by IMAGINE-B5G consortium.
50% of the maximum financial support after approval of Deliverable 2 (D2) by IMAGINE-B5G consortium.
15% of the maximum financial support after the successful review of the project that includes the first two payments for the open call projects, only after approval of the PARTNER’s work by the IMAGINE-B5G project and by the independent reviewers in the periodic review process. The final total amount to be paid to the PARTNER will be defined after approval of the final PARTNER’s report, which cannot be higher than the maximum financial support defined above.

USEFUL INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

For further questions and clarifications, you may check and address the following ways:

Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs]
Guidelines for applicants [LINK]
Proposal template [LINK]
Facility Description [LINK]

How can SPLORO support your organisation with cascade funding grants?

We want to help you make these type of calls more accessible for your organisation. That is why we have designed a series of services to maximise your opportunities of receiving cascade funding grants:

Identification and analysis of funding opportunities: our team monitors all open calls and make a first check on the eligibility of your organization.
Proposals writing and submission management: we support you to land that idea that you have in mind and adapt it to the requirements of the call. In addition, we carry out the management and upload on the different platforms of all the necessary documentation to ensure that your project is eligible for the call.
Access to international network: if you have not identified a partner yet, or simply don’t know who to start this adventure with, in consortium projects we take care of finding the partner for your project.
Project management support: our service does not end with uploading the documentation, we help you throughout the full life cycle of the project, providing you management support and ensuring that you receive 100% of the grant you have won.

If you want to discover all the Cascade Funding opportunities we have created a dedicated webpage that maps out all available calls. We invite you to check it out and see what is on offer! We also have a free-subscription newsletter to be up to date with all the calls opening.

If you need assistance in the proposal writing preparation, finding the right partners for the call or even having a double-check on what you are currently preparing, do not hesitate to contact us

If you are, on the other hand, managing a cascade grant and want us to promote your call and do a review of this nature, feel free to contact, we can definitely address the topic and help with dissemination within our networks.