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You can find more information about agROBOFOOD in the FAQ section bellow!
General Project Questions
Many end users in agri-food are not aware of the opportunities robotics can offer to their company. Perhaps they have even never thought about it. The agROBOfood network will raise awareness by organising events, showcasing demonstrators and reaching out to these end users through the DIHs. When end users become aware of what is possible, they often do not know where to find the right support. One of the goals of agROBOfood is to change this. We will actively promote the one-stop shop principle so that everyone who wants to use robotics knows where to go to find the help that they need.
agROBOfood aims to create an open, expanding, and sustainable ecosystem of a wide range of stakeholders (DIHs and CCs, SMEs, farmers and agribusiness suppliers, traders and technology providers, Research, Government, Investors, the Public) combining various competences and addressing multiple dimensions (technical, human, financial) towards a common vision for the uptake and integration of robotic technologies in the agri-food sector. The agROBOfood network includes 7 Regional Clusters covering the whole of Europe with representative organizations as leaders, each coordinating DIHs in their own region.
The agROBOfood network connects five basic components: (i) Competence Centers*, (ii) DIHs^, (iii) the Innovation Services Maturity Model, (iv) the Catalogue, and (v) the digital portal. This network reaches out to both end users and technology developers in Innovation Experiments and Industrial Challenges with the goal of increasing the penetration of robotic technologies into the agri-food industry at all levels.
Digital Innovation Hubs are one-stop-shops that help companies to become more competitive with regard to their business/production processes, products or services using digital technologies. They are based upon technology infrastructure (competence centre) and provide access to the latest knowledge, expertise and technology to support their customers with piloting, testing and experimenting with digital innovations. DIHs also provide business and financing support to implement these innovations, if needed across the value chain. As proximity is considered crucial, they act as a first regional point of contact, a doorway, and strengthen the innovation ecosystem. A DIH is a regional multi-partner cooperation (including organizations like RTOs, universities, industry associations, chambers of commerce, incubator/accelerators, regional development agencies and even governments) and can also have strong linkages with service providers outside of their region supporting companies with access to their services.
General Open Calls Questions
Robotics is not defined with exact borders. In general, we expect that robotics have to do with automated processes and that besides sensing and intelligence there is also an actuator involved. If robots are only used for monitoring the actuator part is not present, but then the robot has to find its way or navigate in a more complex environment.
Two Open Calls for Innovation Experiments (IEs) and one Open Call for Industrial Challenge are planned.
Two Open Calls for Innovation Experiments (IEs) are planned, one to open in early spring 2020 and the other in winter 2021.
The official template will be provided on agROBOfood website.
All SMEs that have a valid VAT number and comply with the SME guidelines are eligible.
Documents can be signed electronically with the verified electronic signature.
Double funding is when an applicant receives funding twice for the same activity. As a first step the applicant should design both projects upfront in such a way that they are not proposing the same activity. It is possible to later request changes in the plan of the proposed activity, but there is no prior agreement or prior guarantee that the request for change will be accepted. All projects need to secure that they will be implemented according to the European and national legislation and avoid double funding.
The agreement on this point was reached at RODIN and EC level, and the official position is the following: 300k Euros limit per third party – An organisation can receive up to 300k Euros from each Innovation Action provided it does not receive funding from more than one Innovation Action/multiple funding for the same proposal.
Example: an organisation can receive 200k Euros from RIMA, 300k Euros from DIH², and 200k Euros from TRINITY, provided these represent distinct pieces of work that are separately accountable.
SMEs are encouraged to apply to all 3 agROBOfood Open Calls. However, only one proposal per beneficiary can be selected for funding. SMEs that receive funding within one Open Call, either as consortium leaders or as partners are not eligible to apply for additional funding in other agROBOfood Open Calls.
Deliverables will be approved by reviewers from the agROBOfood consortium.
The sum you receive from the agROBOfood consortium is a lump sum and you do not need to submit any receipts nor reports on personnel costs. However, all third-party beneficiaries are obliged to follow the same standards as any Horizon2020 project as defined in H2020 AMGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement. For further details you can check chapter 4.2 of the agROBOfood Guide for Applicants.
Unfortunately, this cannot be changed. It is fixed that the budget will be dispersed in the order set 30%-40%-30%.
You should calculate personnel costs according to the rules and regulations of your country and real labour market data regarding the relevant positions. For the proposal template, only the final amount allocated to personnel costs is necessary.
Such goods and services include, for instance, consumables and supplies, dissemination (including open access), protection of results, certificates on the financial statements (if they are required by the Agreement), certificates on the methodology, translations and publications.
There is no upper of lower limit for the costs related to communication. Evaluators will evaluate the scope and the value-for-money aspect of each cost category and their assessment will be incorporated in the overall score of the proposal.
Subcontracting is allowed to the DIHs and CCs provided that they are not part of the core agROBOfood consortium. Subcontracting should be clearly justified. Costs must be reasonable and comply with the principle of sound financial management. The evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal.
Subcontracting is allowed for up to maximum of 25% of the proposed budget when properly justified. Any kind of organization (DIHs, CCs, Large Companies, Midcaps etc.) could be subcontracted, provided that they are not part of the core agROBOfood consortium. The evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal. Costs must be reasonable and comply with the principle of sound financial management. Coordination tasks cannot be subcontracted. You should ensure that there are sufficient details for: the action tasks, the estimated budget, the procedure that will be followed to ensure best value-for-money.
The Bank Account Information document is optional at the stage of proposal submission and it can be uploaded within the section for additional documents.
Yes, both the Sub-Grant Agreement template and General Conditions are available below and in the respective pages of the calls:
Adjustments in the budget depend on special approvals once the project starts.
Procurement should be done according to the national and European regulation that is applied to your institution.
No, only depreciation costs are eligible.
Open Call for Innovation Experiments Questions
The Open Calls for Innovation Experiments aim to:
Small consortia (2-5 partners) including at least one SME as end-user and at least one SME as technology provider:
An SME will be considered as such if complying with the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME user guide. As a summary, the criteria which define an SME are:
Slightly larger SMEs with a headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) less than 500 and an annular turnover less or equal to €100 million are also eligible for this Open Call.
Open Call for Innovation Experiments is targeting small and medium sized enterprizes that comply with the eligibility criteria described in the Guide for Applicants. Subcontracting can be done following the guidelines set in the Horizon2020 Annotated Model Grant Agreement (AMGA). Evaluators will evaluate the scope and the value-for-money aspect of subcontracting and their assessment will be incorporate din the overall score of the proposal.
Yes, slightly bigger SMEs fulfilling the criteria defined by RODIN are also eligible for this Open Call. As a summary, the criteria which define an SME are:
Open Call for Innovation Experiments Questions
Having the same managerial structure (same owner) poses a challenge to the independence of each of the companies participating in the consortium and is therefore not possible. It is however possible for each of the two companies to participate in different consortia.
It is enough that you state in the email to your regional contact person that you will be applying and I will you will be added to the internal list that will later be used for eligibility check.
This means that Regional Cluster Leaders as well as other partners possessing necessary competence involved in the project will coordinate the "Design" phase together with the selected applicants. This is an internal activity of the agROBOfood consortium and not a service that should be budgeted by the applicants.
Yes, drones are accepted as robotic technologies for this Open Call.
Yes, agroforestry is a field that is applicable.
There is no specific TRL level requirement for the Open Calls, but preference is given to projects with a starting TRL of 6, and targeting TRL 8-9.
None of the consortium members need to have PIC numbers, only VAT numbers.
This depends on their legal status. If they are SMEs according to the standards set in the Guide for Applicants, then they can be members of the consortium. If not, then there is the option of subcontracting according to the previously described rules.
Any kind of organization (DIHs, CCs, Large Companies, Midcaps etc.) could be subcontracted, but evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal.
Evaluators will assess whether they find the proposed solution investable. The proposal should show proof of any previous investments, grants, funding received if applicable.
Technical development activities are eligible. What is meant by not including research and development is that the goal of selected experiments will be to develop market ready solutions, not research results.
When submitting the proposal for agROBOfood Open Call 1, applicants should only write the total amount for subcontracting. Selected consortia should follow the standards for subcontracting set by the European Commission, ensuring best value for money.
According to AMGA only limited actions within a proposal can be subcontracted. Specifically: "Coordination tasks of the coordinator (e.g. distribution of funds, review of reports and other tasks listed under Article 41.2(b)) — Can NOT be subcontracted. Other activities of the coordinator may in principle be subcontracted."
Yes, the cross-border and/or cross-sectoral criteria is mandatory. If a consortium is cross-border, they don’t have to be cross-sectoral, and if someone is cross-sectoral, they don’t have to be cross-border. But if someone manages both, that is also positive.
No, only cross-border consortia that engage countries that are not already agROBOfood partners (as seen in the list below) will receive additional points.
EU countries: Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden
The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT): Anguilla, Aruba, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Greenland, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten), New Caledonia and Dependencies, Pitcairn, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands,Wallis and Futuna Islands
Associated countries: Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine, Tunisia, Georgia and Armenia.
Every application with stakeholders/partners in a country not already part of agROBOfood consortium receives points. The objective of this criterion is to extend the coverage of the agROBOfood experiments geographically, within the EU and/or associated countries.
What is meant by this is that out of all the members of the applying consortium at least on needs to be the technology provider (e.g. an SME or startup developing robotic technology) and at least one (e.g. a farm or food processing unit where the solution will be tested) an end user.
No – this particular DIH cannot be a beneficiary in an Open Call consortium. The DIH is not an SME and not a ‘for-profit’ organisation. However, SMEs in the Open Call consortium may purchase services from the DIH, e.g. access to test facilities at the DIH, and these costs could be included on the budget for the participating SMEs application to the Open Call.
During the contracting phase, selected Innovation Experiments and Industrial Challenges commit to delivering the results. In case of deviations, each specific case would be discussed with EC.
The figures "Total amount per project" and "Budget per partner" are considered maximum project figures. It is perfectly fine if an interesting experiment can be executed for less money than the indicative project figures. Evaluators consider total value for money when considering the project applications. The minimum limit of €50k per partner is indicative and should be respected. However, in pursuing best value for money and reasonable distribution per partners based on their actual needed contributions, you may explain this exceptional situation of the partner needing less than €50k in your proposal and provide clear substantiation for their role and their estimated costs. If the project is approved for funding this will be a topic for a further discussion in the contracting phase.
In the proposal template, in the budget table, there is a section for other goods and services.
Additional information can be supplied through documents uploaded in the section additional documents. However, bear in mind that evaluators will look primarily at the proposal template and might not pay attention to additional documents.
Yes, the coordinator is responsible for distribution the financial support to members of the consortium.
Personnel costs are considered direct costs.
There is a pool of evaluators covering robotics, business and agriculture. Depending on the number of proposals received, the countries the proposals come from (evaluators can't evaluate proposals coming from their own country) and availability of evaluators, an invitation is extended and the ones that are the best fit at that moment, according to a set of criteria, are engaged. Some of them evaluated the proposals in the previous rounds, some of them are new. They don't have access to the previous evaluation results, and they base their evaluation on the proposal itself. The applicants can of course use their experience in the previous round to improve on their proposal.
Open Call for Industrial Challenges Questions
Open call for Industrial Challenges will be launched in the end of summer/early autumn 2020.
The amounts that will be given are lump sums which means that no receipts will be asked, and the amount agreed upon in the contract will be paid according to the schedule. However, all third-party beneficiaries are obliged to follow the same standards as any Horizon2020 project as defined in H2020 AMGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement. For further details you can check chapter 4.2 of the agROBOfood Guide for Applicants.
Any kind of organization (DIHs, CCs, Large Companies, Midcaps etc.) could be subcontracted, but evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal.
This depends on their legal status. If they are SMEs according to the standards set in the Guide for Applicants, then they can be members of the consortium. If not, then there is the option of subcontracting according to the previously described rules.
Evaluators will assess whether they find the proposed solution investable. The proposal should show proof of any previous investments, grants, funding received if applicable.
Any kind of organization (DIHs, CCs, Large Companies, Midcaps etc.) could be subcontracted, but evaluators will assess the scope and value-for-money aspects of subcontracting and their assessment will be reflected in the score of each proposal.
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AGRIFOOD ROBOTICS
agROBOfood builds the European ecosystem for the effective adoption of robotics technologies in the European agri-food sector and accelerates the digital transformation to make the European agri-food sector more efficient and competitive.
ABOUT PROJECT
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 825395.
CONTACT US
Do you have questions about agROBOfood? Get in touch with us!
Send us an email at info@agrobofood.eu
You can find more information about agROBOFOOD in the FAQ page!
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