Call: New technologies and innovation – works or mixed

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport is the funding instrument to realise European transport infrastructure policy. It aims at supporting investments in building new transport infrastructure in Europe or rehabilitating and upgrading the existing one.

Trans-European Networks for Transport (TEN-T) policy objectives foresee:

• completion by 2030 of the Core Network, structured around nine multimodal Core Network Corridors.
• completion by 2050 of the Comprehensive Network in order to facilitate accessibility to all European regions

CEF Transport focuses on cross-border projects and projects aiming at removing bottlenecks or bridging missing links in various sections of the Core Network and on the Comprehensive Network (link), as well as for horizontal priorities such as traffic management systems.

CEF Transport also supports innovation in the transport system in order to improve the use of infrastructure, reduce the environmental impact of transport, enhance energy efficiency and increase safety.

Objective:

The general objective is to modernise transport infrastructure on the Core and Comprehensive Networks of the TEN-T.

Scope:

Works, with the possibility to include studies, related to the following Actions will be supported:

• Actions supporting new technologies and innovation, including automation, integrated infrastructure capacity and traffic management, enhanced transport services, modal integration in accordance with Article 9(2)(b)(iv) of the CEF Regulation, including aspects of the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) development, such as combined and e-ticketing for passengers or track and tracing features for goods (except for the alternative fuels which are supported by the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility).

Investments concerning rolling stock, notably the installation of sensors or other devices on wagons, will not be supported.

The foreseen duration of the action should be 4-5 years maximum.

• one or more EU Member States 
• by international organisations, joint undertakings, or public or private undertakings or bodies established in Member States  (with the agreement of the Member States concerned).

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • third countries associated to the CEF.

Specific cases:

• Entities from other countries are exceptionally eligible for projects of common interest in the field of transport, energyand digital and for cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.
• Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legalpersonality separate from that of the natural person).
• International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
• Entities without 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 guaranteesfor the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
• EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.

Proposal page limits and layout:

• Part A to be filled in directly online  (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
• Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system
• mandatory annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded):
  • detailed budget table per WP (template available in the Submission System)
  • activity reports of last year
  • list of previous projects (key projects for the last 4 years) (template available in Part B)
  • timetable/Gantt chart
  • agreement by the concerned Member States (letters of support)
  • environmental compliance file (for works and for studies with physical interventions)

The available call budget for Actions related to smart and interoperable mobility – General envelope (CEF-T-2021-SIMOBGEN) is EUR 400,000,000.

In order to ensure efficiency in EU funding interventions, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit applications for projects with a total requested EU contribution to the eligible costs of no less than EUR 1,000,000. Where possible, related projects should be grouped and submitted as one proposal.

The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rates fixed in the Grant Agreement (maximum 50% for the costs of studies, maximum 70% for the costs of works in outermost regions and maximum 50% for all other costs categories (‘project funding rate’)).