Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry & Space) is one of the largest clusters under Pillar two of Horizon Europe with an overall budget in excess of €15 billion. Irish participants have been doing very well in this area with over €80M in signed grant agreements to date. This equates to approximately 2.1% of the available budget. Cluster 4 activities on “Digital” are primarily focused around three Destinations:
• Destination 3: World leading data and computing technologies
• Destination 4: Digital and emerging technologies for competitiveness and fit for the green deal
• Destination 6: A human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies
The next calls for proposals for these destinations will open on the 15 November with a deadline on 19 March 2024. There are 18 topics across the 3 digital destinations with combined funding of €370.5M. Note there will also be topics under the Industry and Space Destinations.
• Destination 3: 3 topics, budget €85M
• Destination 4: 11 topics, budget €224.5M*
• Destination 6: 4 topics, budget €61M**
*Please note in relation to Destination 4, the Commission is planning on introducing a new topic on Quantum Gravimetry that will be called for later in 2024 (deadline in September 2024).
**Please note in relation to Destination 6, we have been informed by the Commission that they plan to cancel two AI related topics (“HORIZON-CL4-2024-HUMAN-01-06 Explainable and Robust AI” and “HORIZON-CL4-2024-HUMAN-01-07 Collaborative intelligence – combining the best of machine and human”) and replace them with one larger topic (Advancing Large AI Models: Integration of New Data Modalities and Expansion of Capabilities) that will be called for later in 2024 (deadline in September 2024). At the time of writing, the two original topics still appear on the funding and tenders portal but we expect them to be cancelled soon.
In preparation for the upcoming Cluster 4 Calls, the Commission is organizing on-line Info Days on 11 and 12 October. This event aims to inform potential applicants about the funding opportunities of the 2024 calls of Horizon Europe Cluster 4 'Digital, Industry and Space' Work Programme 2023-2024.
During this 2-day event, speakers from the European Commission will present the call topics, the evaluation and the award process. Potential applicants will have an opportunity to ask questions. Further information can be found here.
Other upcoming events that may be of interest:
• European Big Data Value Forum, 25-27 October, Valencia, Spain
• AI, Data & Robotics Forum, 8-9 November, Versailles, France
• NGI Forum, 15-16 November, Brussels, Belgium
Update on the EU Chips Act
Originally proposed back in February of 2022, the EU Chips Act came into force on 21 September 2023. The Act comprises a set of measures to strengthen research, development and manufacturing capacities in the European semiconductor ecosystem. This includes a "Chips for Europe" initiative, which will account for a large part of the funding allocated to the Chips Act and whose implementation will be carried out in the context of Horizon Europe as well as the Digital Europe programme.
Under the EU Chips Act the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking (KDT-JU) will become the Chips Joint undertaking with an increased budget (EU contribution increases from €1.8B to €4.175B) and an expanded range of activities. While the collaborative R&D opportunities carried out under KDT will continue under the Chips JU, new activities will focus on pilot lines, design infrastructures, competence centres and other capacity-building activities.
A Chips JU launch event is planned for 30 November – 1 December in Brussels.
Further information on the EU Chips Act is available here.