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International Cooperation

Key Digital Technologies (KDT)

The KDT Partnership follows-up the previous ECSEL JTI nin the area of electronic components and systems, bringing together the European Commission, participating States and three private associations: AENEAS, Inside and EPoSS. This is one of nine Horizon Europe institutionalised partnerships, implemented under article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, governed by Regulation 2021/2085 of the EU Council of 19 November. The Partnership is implemented through the KDT Joint Undertaking (KDT JU).

Destaques

  • The 2022 calls of KDT have a deadline for submission of proposals set on 21 September 2022 (17:00:00, Brussels local time). The conditions for national co-funding, of up to 2M€ for the two calls, are indicated in the annex 4/Portugal of the 2022 work programme and down below in this page.
  • Survey by the European Commission on barriers to the participation in KDT calls for proposals: The objective of this survey consists in determining the main obstacles and difficulties encountered by potential participants in KDT calls for proposals. It is targetted to the research and innovation communities of the Partnership's participating States. The collected inputs will help in improving the attractiveness of the KDT calls for proposals. The survey can be filled-in through this link until 2 September 2022.
  • Annual networking event of the ECS community: EFECS 2022 organised by the three associations AENEAS, EPoSS and Inside, it is scheduled to take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 24-25 November de 2022.

CALL DOCUMENTS:

RELEVANT HYPERLINKS:

Private members, represented through the three private associations mentioned above contribute to the Partnership, mainly through the definition of the ECS SRIA (electronic components and systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda), which constitutes a basis for the definition of the KDT annual work programmes:

ECS SRIA (electronic componentes and systems Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda)

ECSEL followed what was in essence a “bottom-up” approach, which had a very positive impact for Europe in several strategic areas, such as power electronics, industrial systems, and electronic components in the biomedical sector, the automotive sector, and others. While KDT continues to follow that bottom-up approach based on the ECS SRIA, the corresponding work programmes will also include “focus topics” to address the urgency of bridging weak links in Europe's innovation value chains.

KDT's calls for proposals should also be seen in conjunction with funding opportunities made available through the Eureka Xecs Cluster, in support to the European ECS community, whose programmatic content is also associated with the ECS SRIA.

The KDT Partnership should align itself in a synergetic way with Horizon Europe “Cluster 4 – Digital”, with the Cluster 4 – Digital do Horizonte Europa, com a EuroHPC Partnership in the area of high-performance computing and also with other European Commission partnerships and initiatives, such as Industrial Alliance for Processors and Semiconductor Technologies.

European Chips Act

According to the communication of the European Commission of 8 February 2022 dedicated to the European Chips Act, the KDT Joint Undertaking may be expanded into the “Chips JU”, thus becoming instrumental in the Implementation of measures to strengthen Europe’s leadership in terms of R&I resulting in integrated circuits that are smaller and faster; to reinforce the design, production and packaging capabilities of advanced chips (including pilot lines and design facilities); and to build the necessary technical skills as well as training and retaining talent in the domain of microelectronics. There is an ongoing negotiation at the level of the EU Council on the amendment of the KDT JU Regulation needed to transform it into the Chips JU, in line with the European Chips Act. For further details about the European Chips Act, namely at technical level, it is recommended that you read the respetivo respective “staff working document" of the European Commission.

Portuguese Delegation

To ensure alignment with the various components of Horizon Europe, including other Horizon Europe Partnerships, as well as with EU programmes and initiatives in the area of digital technologies, the Portuguese delegation is composed of the following elements of FCT and the National Innovation Agency (ANI):

 

KDT JU CALLS

The KDT Partnership calls for proposals are defined in the work programmes approved by the respective “Governing Board”, in which the participating States (including Portugal) and private members (represented by the three associations) have a seat.

The private members of KDT provide the ECS Collaboration Tool to facilitate formation of consortia through partner search and through the participation in brokerage and networking events organised by the private associations.

KDT JU calls:

Information regarding the 2020 calls of the ECSEL Partnership under Horizon 2020 (the Partnership the preceded KDT) is available here.

2022 Calls for proposals of KDT JU

On 3 May 2022 KDT launched two calls for proposals, having the respective call texts been published in the “Funding and tender opportunities” portal of the EU:

Call Horizon-KDT 2022-1 IA (Innovation Actions) including the following topics:

  • Bottom-up topic according to ECS SRIA 2022 (IA)
  • Focus topic: Industrial supply chain for silicon photonics
  • Focus topic: Design of Customisable and Domain Specific Open-source RISC-V Processors

Call Horizon-KDT 2022-2 RIA (Research Innovation Action) including the following topics:

  • Bottom-up topic according to ECS SRIA 2022 (RIA)
  • Focus topic: Ecodesigned smart electronic systems supporting the Green Deal objectives

How to apply

  • Proposals must be submitted electronically, through the EU proposal submission platform – “Funding and tender opportunities” (you may refer to links indicated above).
  • The submitted proposals are subject to two levels of eligibility validation: at international level, according to the Horizon Europe’s criteria published on the EU proposal submission platform; and at national level, in accordance with the national eligibility rules indicated in annex 4 of the2022 work programme.
  • National applicants may contact the Portuguese delegation, as soon as possible once their application to form or a join a consortium is being prepared, providing information containing at least the following elements that constitute the national budget table: designation of the call; topic; aproposal acronym; participant; reimbursement rate/%; and maximum grant/€ corresponding to the reimbursement rate. Based on this information the Portuguese delegation may provide timely feedback to ease the validation of the national co-funding conditions and thereby avoid changes to the established consortia after the submission of proposals and during the formal validation of the eligibility conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph. This information should be sent to kdt@fct.pt.
  • Please note that to take part in KDT calls for proposals it is not necessary to be a member of one of the AENEAS, Inside or EPoSS associations.

FCT financial commitment and financing conditions

Call eligibility rules are published in annex 4/Portugal of the 2022 Work Programme (under “Country specific eligibility rules”):

  • FCT will provide for the two calls indicated about 2 million Euros from national funds through the FCT budget.
  • The total national co-funding for each national beneficiary entity is limited to 250 thousand Euros per entity, per proposal (i.e. several entities involved in the same proposal may request up to 250 thousand Euros each).
  • All proposals with national applicants must include at least one Portuguese company. Applications that include only non-entrepreneurial entities of the national research and innovation system (ENESII), also referred to as RTOs, will not be considered eligible for funding.
  • The applicable Regulation will be the Horizon Europe Regulation, according to which national beneficiaries must report project execution (including financial execution) to KDT JU, in accordance with the conditions defined in the Model Grant Agreement to be signed between the beneficiaries and KDT JU.
  • National participants in proposals selected for funding must also sign a national grant agreement (“Termos de Aceitação”), in which the conditions for national funding will be established, to be made available by FCT once the results of call selection are known. The national grant agreement contains the conditions for the financial execution of the national co-funding through FCT.

National funding rates

Thenational co-funding rates adopted will be as follows, in accordance to the 2022 work programme:

Type of action Large companies SMEs ENESII
Innovation Actions 30% 25% 65%
Research and Innovation Actions 25% 30% 65%

Note: Regardless of the information contained on this webpage, you should refer to the 2022 work programme for a detailed description of the programmatic content of the calls for proposals, the types of action supported and the respective maximum public co-funding rates.

Information contained on this webpage does not replace or supersede what is defined in the Regulation of Horizon Europe Institutionalised Partnerships, in the Horizon Europe Regulation and in the call texts (published in the “Funding and tender opportunities” platform).

Concursos de 2021 da KDT JU

On 16 December 2021, KDT launched three calls for proposals, having the respective calls texts been published in the “Funding and tender opportunities” platform of the EU:

 

How to apply

  • Proposals must be submitted electronically, through the EU proposal submission platform – “Funding and tender opportunities” (as of 18 January 2022 — the date scheduled for the opening of the calls).
  • The submitted proposals are subject to two levels of eligibility validation: at international level, according to the Horizon Europe’s criteria published on the EU proposal submission platform; and at national level, in accordance with the national eligibility rules indicated in annex 3 of the 2021 Work Programme.
  • Please note that, in order to take part in KDT calls for proposals, it is not necessary to be a member of one of the AENEAS, Inside or EPoSS associations.

  • FCT financial commitment and financing conditions

    Call eligibility rules are published in Annex 3 of the 2021 Work Programme (under “Country specific eligibility rules”):

    • FCT will provide for the three calls €2.000.000 from national funds through the FCT budget.
    • The total national co-funding for each national beneficiary entity is limited to €250.000 per entity, per proposal (i.e. several entities involved in the same proposal may request up to €250.000 each).
    • All proposals with national applicants must include at least one Portuguese company. Applications that include only non-entrepreneurial entities of the national research and innovation system (ENESII) will not be considered eligible for funding.
    • The applicable Regulation will be the Horizon Europe Regulation, according to which national beneficiaries must report project execution (including financial execution) to KDT JU, in accordance with the conditions defined in the Model Grant Agreement to be signed between the beneficiaries and KDT JU.
    • National participants in proposals selected for funding must also sign a national grant agreement (“Termos de Aceitação”), in which the conditions for national funding will be established, to be made available by FCT once the results of call selection are known. The national grant agreement must be signed by the participants and returned within 30 days from the date of communication of the results of the selection of proposals for the corresponding call. The national grant agreement contains the conditions for the financial execution of the national co-funding through FCT, and foresees the submission of declarations proving the non-existence of outstanding payments to the national fiscal and social security system.

    Funding rates

    The co-funding rates adopted will be as follows, according to the 2021 Work Programme:

    Funding Rates

    * Focus Topic 1 (IA) Development of open-source RISC-V building blocks, will be co-funded as a RIA.

    Note: Regardless of the information contained on this webpage, you should refer to the 2021 Work Programme for a detailed description of the programmatic content of the calls for proposals, the types of action supported and the respective maximum public co-funding rates.

    Information contained on this webpage does not replace or supersede what is defined in the Regulation of Horizon Europe Institutionalised Partnerships, in the Horizon Europe Regulation and in the call texts (published in the “Funding and tender opportunities” platform).

     

    Contact

    kdt@fct.pt
    Tel: (+351) 213 924 450