The Open Call 2 for Innovation Experiments will be running from 1 March 2021 to 31 May 2021 

 agrobofood

We are pleased to announce that the Open Call 2 for Innovation Experiments is officially launched on 1st March 2021 and it will be open until 31st May 2021 (17:00 CET)! This call aims to strengthen the network, communication and partnerships between DIHs and SMEs in the robotic sector. This call is open for consortia consisting of 2-5 SMEs in agri-food and robotics with the condition that each consortium must have at least one end user and one technology provider.

 
Open Call 2 aims at selecting approximately six (6) Innovation Experiments. Selected consortia will receive up to 500 thousand euros. Chosen experiments will go through a 17-month process that consists of three phases. After positive evaluation, each phase is followed by financial support.


Funding schema of 2nd Open Call

agrobofood funding schema

Open Call Timeline

agrobofood open call

You can find all the key information and Open Call Documentation on the agROBOfood website: https://agrobofood.eu/2nd-open-call-for-innovation-experiments/. The project’s FAQ section is updated as well, covering all relevant questions, and of course, Consortium will be available for any clarifications and additional questions.


Also note, the project will be organizing a webinar about the Open Call 2 for Innovation Experiments, for DIH and Regional Cluster representatives during March, so that we can exchange information about this call, and lessons learned from the first two calls. Webinars dedicated to interested SMEs will be happening during March and April, and the Open Call will also be presented in IoF2020 Final event and ERF 2021. 


Let's make a joint effort in promoting this Open Call, through Social Media and emails, so that we can reach the widest number of potential applicants! 

Additionally, as we have informed you on Open Call for Industrial Challenges in our Newsletter Edition October 2020, this Call was closed on 20th January 2021 and agROBOfood has received 66 applications in total. High number of applications proves the interest and need for this type of funding for SMEs and CEMA is happy to contribute in supporting the SMEs through the agROBOfood project that are operating in the agri-food robotics domain, driving innovation and solving global challenges. The highest number of applications came from SMEs in Spain (15) and Italy (12), the Netherlands follows with 4, France and Greece with 3 each, and many SMEs from other countries applied, such as Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Israel, Switzerland, UK, Serbia and others. In terms of the challenges, the highest number of applications came in for the First Industrial Challenge, related to robots for spot spraying, where we received 34 submissions and for the Second Industrial Challenge related to robots for logistics - picking, packing and palletizing, where we received 12 applications.

We are entering into the evaluation process, each project will be assessed by 3 independent evaluators with expertise in robotics, agriculture and business development, while the members of our Industrial Advisory Board will be involved in the second phase of evaluation, where the applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts. We expect the final results to be announced by the end of March 2021.

 EU flag

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 825395