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Call key data

Cognitive Computing Continuum: Intelligence and automation for more efficient data processing (AI, data and robotics partnership)

Funding Program

Horizon Europe - Cluster 4 - Destination 3: World Leading Data and Computing Technologies and Data Computing Technologies

Call number

HORIZON-CL4-2023-DATA-01-04

deadlines

Opening
08.12.2022

Deadline
29.03.2023 17:00

Funding rate

100 %

Call budget

€ 28,000,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

between € 4,000,000.00 and € 6,000,000.00

Link to the call

Link to the submission

Call content

short description

The Cloud-Edge Continuum must provide seamless management schemes to allow services and data to be processed across various providers, connectivity types and network zones. This requires innovative management techniques and computational methods of the whole computing continuum from Cloud to Edge to IoT that are enabled by Swarm computing and decentralised intelligence.

Call objectives

The Cloud-Edge Continuum involves hyper-distributed computing approaches encompassing resources from IoT and far-edge constrained devices, to federated fog/edge computing nodes to central cloud computing centres and hybrid cloud models which exploit Artificial Intelligence techniques to advance automation and dynamic adaptation of resource management in Cloud and Edge systems, and thus intelligently balance computing tasks across decentral and central computing environments to optimize resources and quality of service.

Focus should be on autonomous and AI-enabled management schemes and data processing methods that enable this transition to a compute continuum with strong capacities at the edge and fog/IoT edge in an energy efficient and trustworthy manner. Intelligent compute, data and code orchestration mechanisms need to be integrated, which allow efficient value extraction from the huge volumes of generated data at the edge of the network and which support unprecedented levels of resource dynamicity and scalability across the compute continuum.

Concept should cater for novel automated management tools, programming models, learning and decision-making methods, and approaches able to cope with end-to-end security and identity management, resources heterogeneity, extreme scale and fault-tolerance together with elasticity to flexibly allocate resources and tasks. For learning, methods need to be able to deliver a solution to (continuous) federated learning from data distributed over the edge and in the network. For security and identity management, proposals are expected to apply state-of-the-art technologies, develop synergies and relate to activities and outcomes in Cluster 3 (namely, HORIZON-CL3-2023-CS-01-01: Secure Computing Continuum (IoT, Edge, Cloud, Dataspaces) and HORIZON-CL3-2023-CS-01-02: Privacy-preserving and identity management technologies).

Resource heterogeneity should consider the diversity of devices equipped with storage and processing capacities at the Edge and their specific characteristics (e.g., resource‐constrained devices), but also the increasingly available variety of processor architectures for these devices, including where possible, emerging open solutions (e.g. RISC-V).

Novel approaches are needed to support distributed machine learning and decision-making by providing the right balance between centralized and decentralized solutions to maximize the energy efficiency, resilience and effectiveness of the system while increasing privacy and interaction between different organizations without explicit sharing of data.

In addition, proposed solutions should incorporate tools and mechanisms enabling the optimisation of energy efficiency and ecological sustainability taking into account end-to- end data processing across the continuum. Interoperability approaches (based on open standards, interoperability models and open platforms) should be considered where appropriate.

Projects are expected to develop synergies and relate to activities and outcomes of the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) and any existing or emerging Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) initiative.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.

International cooperation is encouraged, especially with Japan and S. Korea.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data and robotics.

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Expected results

  • Enhanced openness and open strategic autonomy in the evolving data and AI-economies across the computing continuum including adapted system integration at the edge and at device level, validation of key sectors and nurturing European value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions.
  • Paving the way to strategic industrial cooperation in data processing required to support future hyper-distributed applications by building open platforms, underpinning an emerging industrial open edge ecosystem critical to establishing a mature European supply chain.
  • Establishment of adaptive hybrid computing, cognitive clouds and edge intelligence beyond today’s investments on data infrastructure.
  • Better international collaboration with trusted partner regions, guaranteeing a minimum level of interoperability, portability thereby fostering competition in the Cloud/Edge services market for the European cloud/edge and software industry and facilitate European access to foreign markets.

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Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Island (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна)

eligible entities

EU Body, Education and training institution, International organization, Natural Person, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

  • at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Specific cases:

  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
  • Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
  • Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible

other eligibility criteria

Activities are expected to start at TRL 2 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.


For the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the following definitions apply:

  • TRL 1 — Basic principles observed
  • TRL 2 — Technology concept formulated
  • TRL 3 — Experimental proof of concept
  • TRL 4 — Technology validated in a lab
  • TRL 5 — Technology validated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL 6 — Technology demonstrated in a relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies)
  • TRL 7 — System prototype demonstration in an operational environment
  • TRL 8 — System complete and qualified
  • TRL 9 — Actual system proven in an operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies, or in space)

Additional information

Topics

Digitalisation, Digital Society, ICT

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

Additional Information

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.

The application form will have two parts:

  • Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
  • Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).

The limit for a full application (Part B) is 50 pages.


Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum.

Contact

National Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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