The first IoT4Industry call is now open. It expects innovative, cross sectorial and transnational collaborative projects (feasibility, prototyping, demonstration) invloving IoT and industrial actors for the modernisation of machines, tools, industrial processes and factories in Europe. SMEs participating in these projects can receive up to 60 000 euros funding.

The general objective of this call is to enhance the productivity, profitability and innovation capacities of European manufacturing SMEs by enabling their access to IoT technologies.

It also seeks to accelerate the access to the market to new products and services provided by technology SMEs, strengthening innovation and growth in Europe.

This is the first of two calls foreseen by IoT4Industry project and will open on September 20^th and close on December 20^th at 17 CET. A second call will open on March 10^th , 2019 with a Deadline on June 10^th 2019 at 17 CET.

The call is focused on the application of IoT technologies in the manufacturing environment. It will finance small and market-oriented projects involving SMEs, consisting of the integration and the use of IoT technologies (including Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Security) into machines, robots, manufacturing tools, industrial processes, and factories environments.

Projects shall gather at least one entity representing the “IoT” side (technology offer) AND another entity representing the industry side (demand) which could be a machine or tool manufacturer or a factory, as shown in the figure below. At least one of these entities shall be a European SME (see 1.5. Eligibility Conditions of the Guide for Applicants for more details).

This call shall provide support to three types of actions, namely:

• Feasibility studies will target companies having an idea of the intended project a purpose but with needs for further analysing the technical aspects, the intellectual property issues, the design study, etc. Actions of this type target Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4–5 . For this instrument the maximum financial contribution per beneficiary (SME) is EUR 25,000 and EUR 50,000 per project.
• Prototyping instrument will target companies having already carried out a feasibility study, and having the need to develop a prototype, spend efforts in miniaturisation, testing, etc. (TRL 6). The maximum financial contribution per beneficiary (SME) is EUR 45,000 and EUR 90,000 per project.
• Demonstration/pilot instrument will target companies having already developed and tested a prototype, with the need to demonstrate its efficiency on a larger scale (TRL 7–8). The maximum financial contribution per beneficiary (SME) is EUR 60,000 and EUR 120,000 per project.

Please find more on the eligibility criteria, the Guide for Applicants and other details here.