CALL FOCUS:

FTI accelerates the market uptake of ground-breaking innovations by providing funding in an open, accessible scheme that nurtures ideas from consortia of innovators of all types and sizes from across Europe

ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS:

• Participation of three to no more than five different legal entities, independent of each other and established in EU Member States or in countries associated to H2020.
• Participation from industry is mandatory. Universities and research and technology organisations can also participate. Actors with an important role in commercialisation are encouraged to take part, such as cluster organisations, end-users, industry associations, incubators, investors, and the public sector. Including start-ups with ground-breaking ideas that could create new markets is encouraged.

FTI INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTION:

• FTI supports actions undertaking innovation from the demonstration stage through to market uptake, including activities such as piloting, test-beds, systems validation in real-world working conditions, validation of business models, pre-normative research, and standard-setting.
• If the proposal involves technological innovation, the consortium should declare that the technology or the technologies concerned are at least at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. The intention will be to bring the TRL up to 8 for technological innovations and to an analogous level of maturity for non-technological innovations during the lifetime of the FTI action.
• FTI actions are encouraged to be interdisciplinary, cutting across different sectors and technologies. Actions supporting innovative concepts that have the potential to disrupt or to create new markets are particularly welcome.

The proposal should:

• Specify the intended outcome and describe key performance indicators and success criteria.
• Make reference to and incorporate a business plan clearly describing the market potential, business opportunities for participants, measures to enhance the probability of eventual commercial take-up, and a credible commercialisation strategy that identifies next steps and specifies other actors to be involved.
• Pay particular attention to IP protection and ownership and to the possibility of commercial exploitation (often known as 'freedom to operate').
• Specify the expected impact in terms of competitiveness and growth of the business partners in the consortium, measured in terms of turnover and job creation.
• Clearly describe the expected impact in both qualitative and quantitative terms, with factors such as time sensitivity and international competitiveness considered in the light of the technology field, innovation area and industry sectors concerned.

The time to initial market take-up should be no more than 3 years from the start of the FTI actions (in very well justified cases linked to the specific characteristics of a particular innovation field or industry sector, this time could be longer).

INSTRUMENT FUNDING LEVEL:

• Innovation Actions: 70% (except for non-profit legal entities, where a rate of 100% applies).
• Maximun EU contribution is EUR 3 million
• Allocation of at least 60% of the overall budget to consortium partner(s) from industry; or a minimum of 2 industry partners out of a consortium of 3 or 4; or a minimum of 3 industry partners out of a consortium of 5.

ELIGIBLE COSTS:

•  Personnel cost
• Other direct cost: travel and subsistence; equipment, informatics, consumables, among other needed cost.
• Subcontracting
• Indirect cost (25% total direct cost, except subcontracting)

REMARKS:

• The threshold for the criteria 'Impact' and 'Excellence' is 4. The threshold for the criterion 'Quality and efficiency of the implementation' is 3. The overall threshold, meaning the sum of the three individual scores, is 13.
• The criterion 'Impact' will be evaluated first (50% weighting), followed by 'Excellence' (25% weighting), and 'Implementation' (25% weighting),.
• Participants are required to conclude a consortium agreement, in principle prior to the signature of the grant agreement.

INDICATIVE BUDGET:

Overall indicative budget: EUR 100.00 million (the same annual budget as in the previous FTI pilot calls in 2015-2016 and in the future calls 2019-2020).
The budget available will be divided equally between each cut-off date.

DEADLINES:

FTI 2018: 21 Febr; 31 May; 23 Oct-

FURTHER INFORMATION: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/index.html