European Funding Opportunities

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• The European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) is widely used by European cultural heritage professionals and researchers^[1] for creating, enriching and refining annotated bibliographies linked to digital cultural heritage objects^[2].
• The ECCCH is widely used by European cultural heritage professionals and researchers for documenting the results of fieldwork such as archaeological or paleontological excavations and studies.
• European cultural heritage professionals and researchers are provided with clear information as well as targeted training modules on the innovative tools and methods developed.

This topic aims at developing and implementing a set of innovative tools and methods on the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH) for documenting, interlinking and organising data. Concrete applications of these tools and methods should be provided for at least the following uses:

• Creating, enriching and refining annotated bibliographies
• Documenting the results of fieldwork such as archaeological or paleontological excavations or other collection processes and studies

Creating, enriching and refining annotated bibliographies

A crucial task in both education and professional duties within cultural heritage is compiling bibliographies. This time-consuming activity entails gathering relevant literature on a cultural heritage object, entering bibliographic references in a list, assessing each document, and producing notes that are subsequently saved in the bibliography. This work has a value of its own, not only as part of the papers or reports created. Bibliographies therefore ought to be kept on the ECCCH, made accessible, and further enriched, refined and extended by collaborative and supervised efforts.

For this use, projects funded under this topic should make sure that the ECCCH offers tools that automate much of the tedious tasks, and support cooperative work and re-use. Existing tools and bibliographic frameworks should be evaluated and when appropriate built upon. The tools to be developed should offer significant added value to its users beyond what is currently available, and should be developed based on the data model of the ECCCH, gathering data from and incorporating data in the ECCCH. These tools may, to the extent feasible, include functionality to parse and enrich data from for instance retrodigitised sources not readily machine readable. Given a topic or a specific heritage object and/or a small initial set of papers selected by the user, enhanced AI technologies working on text or/and on images should be able to retrieve related works, evaluate the fit of a given paper with the subject of the research, and produce a preliminary bibliography. The authoring system should support the creation, editing, and annotation of bibliographies. It should be possible to define with whom the results are shared (e.g. with a restricted group of professionals or with all users).

Documenting the results of fieldwork such as archaeological or paleontological excavations or other collection processes and studies

Fieldwork such as archaeological or paleontological exploration and research typically produce large amounts of different kinds of data, such as survey documentation and documents presenting, narrating and interpreting the findings, photographic data, 3D models, drawings, maps and geographic information system data. At a later stage, most of the findings become assets for cultural heritage institutions such as museums. Such activities (excavation, study, etc.), thus, are a crucial phase of the musealisation process. Moreover, most countries enforce legal obligations regarding the archiving of data produced by excavations, as well as periodic reports.

For this use, projects funded under this topic should offer a set of tools that makes the ECCCH a valuable resource for the community involved in such excavations and studies, using an extensible data model based on semantic technology, as well as a repository for the produced data, together with appropriate data visualisation and analysis instruments. Regulated reporting and archiving obligations in different countries should be analysed, and to the extent possible semi-automatised.

Ontologies and vocabularies should be extended as needed to define the data structures and relationships between different data, in view of achieving interoperability. Repositories from different institutions and countries should be inter-operable and inter-connected. The semantic information layer should make it possible for AI technologies to access and "learn" from the archive. An extension to the ECCCH 3D browser should provide an interactive and visual interface to excavation data, and to the related findings.

Also, citation capabilities should be integrated, to facilitate publication, sharing and reuse of data. Authoring tools should provide a way for the user to build "narratives"^[3] starting from the archival data.

With a view to use resources efficiently and go beyond the state of the art, projects funded under this topic should, where appropriate, build on previous existing research, methods and solutions. Proposals should therefore ensure that existing tools and methods and their potential (re-)use are properly examined.

In particular, in order to exploit potential synergies, proposals may consider, where appropriate, to build on the work of the projects funded under the topics HORIZON-INFRA-2021-EOSC-01-04 and HORIZON-INFRA-2023-EOSC-01-03, especially concerning Science Knowledge Graphs (SKGs) as flexible tools to monitor and track events of science linked to provenance, publishing, citation, data processing, data and software usage, as well as service consumption.^[4]

Ease of use for the target users is of paramount importance. Therefore, tools and methods should be developed in close collaboration with actively involved representative target users. Furthermore, tools and methods should be thoroughly tested and verified with a significant number of users before the end of the project. Financial support to third parties may be used to facilitate the engagement with users. The financial support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants.

In order to facilitate the access for less well-equipped users, the developed software tools should to the extent possible be accessible online without requiring installation nor special or particularly powerful equipment. Also, the developed software tools should to the extent appropriate be designed to allow use and avoid loss of work in situations with unstable or limited connectivity.

Projects funded under this topic should demonstrate the potential of the developed tools and methods through representative case studies, conducted in collaboration with relevant users. These case studies should cover a significant share of the range of cultural heritage objects, materials and issues that the tools and methods intend to address. The results of these case studies should produce information that can serve as models for promoting the re-use of the tools and methods in other contexts and by other users within, and where appropriate beyond, the ECCCH.

Proposals should, furthermore, foresee appropriate resources to provide clear information and elaborate targeted training modules for users of the developed tools and methods.

The tools to be developed should be implemented using the low-level libraries established by the project funded under topic HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01. The tools developed should be compliant with the design of the ECCCH, and should be integrated with the ECCCH before the end of the project, together with proper documentation. All software and other related deliverables should be compliant with the data model and the software development guidelines elaborated by the project funded under topic HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01. If appropriate these tools should be developed with a view to a wider deployment, including in the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage, as well as, when appropriate, for reuse via the European Open Science Cloud. Furthermore, content produced by these tools for the ECCCH should be interoperable for sharing, when appropriate, via the Common European Data Space for Cultural Heritage and/or the European Open Science Cloud.

Proposals should furthermore make provisions to actively participate in the common activities of the ECCCH initiative. In particular, projects funded under this topic should coordinate technical work with projects funded under other call topics of the ECCCH initiative, and contribute to the activities and objectives of the project funded under the topic HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01. Proposals should include a budget for the attendance to regular joint coordination meetings, and may consider covering the costs of any other joint activities without the prerequisite to detail concrete joint activities at this stage.

Projects funded under this topic should moreover set up their project website s under the common ECCCH website , managed by the project funded under topic HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-ECCCH-01-01.

Furthermore, the Commission expects projects funded under this topic to establish regular coordination mechanisms in order to ensure synchronised planning as well as synergy and/or complementarity of deliverables and outcomes.

The Commission recommends considering reporting periods of 12 months when elaborating proposals.

Please also refer to the Destination introduction text to consider some key characteristics of the vision for the ECCCH.

[1]‘Cultural heritage professionals and researchers’ should in the context of the ECCCH be interpreted as including all different professions and disciplines involved in the cultural heritage field, such as curators, conservators, researchers, art managers, educators, etc., that may develop their activities for instance at cultural heritage institutions, research organisations, higher education establishments or in the cultural and creative industries.

[2]‘Cultural heritage objects’ should in the context of the ECCCH be interpreted as including any form of cultural heritage that can be represented in a digital format: tangible, intangible, born digital; movable objects, buildings, documents, inscriptions, etc.

[3]"Narratives" in this context means all documents that use, as their building blocks, the data entities contained in the archive, such as periodic reports, formulation of new interpretations or confutation/discussion of the already existing ones, preparation of scientific papers and publications, set-up of teaching/didactic material, schemes and graphs.

[4]This by no means imply that partners from such projects need to be part of the consortium.

Deliverables

• Production of a continuous flow of fact-checks which will also be stored in the EDMO’s repositories.
• Deliver analytical reports on specific disinformation campaigns and/or studies or investigations linked to relevant disinformation phenomena.
• Deliver media literacy events and/or campaigns at national/multi-national level to increase citizens’ awareness and societal resilience.
• Supporting the monitoring of online platforms’ policies and in particular of the implementation of the Code of Practice on Disinformation in the geographical area covered by the hub by targeted inputs and analysis and delivering overviews and reports providing insight about the (dis)information landscape of the geographical/linguistic area covered.
• Implementing a communication strategy building on the targeted use of various channels (e.g. traditional and online media outlets, podcasts, social media etc.) aiming to reach a broad audience (both professional audience and the general public).
• Delivering an annual report on the activities of the hub.

Objective

The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) has been created with the aim of supporting an independent multidisciplinary community to tackle the phenomenon of disinformation. EDMO is composed of the regional hubs and a central platform and governance structure which supports and coordinates them.

The objective of this topic is to finance the work of independent regional hubs for analysis of digital media ecosystems in order to ensure the coverage of geographical areas covered by the EDMO hubs for which the funding is ending at the end of 2024 and in 2025.

A hub involves organisations active in one or several Member State(s), that will provide specific knowledge of local information environments so as to strengthen the detection and analysis of disinformation campaigns, improve public awareness, and design effective responses relevant for national audiences. The activities of the hubs are carried out in full independence from third-party entities including public authorities.

Hubs will cover more than one Member State with similar media ecosystems within an EU region.

Scope

Building on previous work done by the existing hubs, in order to comply with these objectives, the EDMO hubs will:

• Actively participate in the governance of EDMO and the reinforcement of the EDMO network as well as contribute to the joint across-hubs projects.
• Detect, fact-check and disclose harmful disinformation campaigns, as well as conduct research on the impact of disinformation campaigns and tailor-made media literacy campaigns within their territory and/or linguistic area.
• Support the monitoring of online platforms’ policies and implementation of the Code of Practice on Disinformation in their territory and/or linguistic area and provide insight about the (dis)information landscape of the territory/linguistic area covered.
• Support researchers’ endeavours regarding obtaining more access to platforms’ data and carry out research applying data-science methods.
• Pull together and foster the growth of a regional multidisciplinary independent community detecting and analysing disinformation campaigns.
• Communicate through various channels (e.g. traditional and online media outlets, podcasts, social media etc.) and carry out communication campaigns.

This call for proposals aims to:

1. Develop the most environmentally friendly, comprehensive and efficient technologies and methods for the removal, disposal and/or neutralisation of munitions dumped at sea including by developing new technologies and methods and/or improving existing ones, such as those developed under other EU-funded projects.
2. Test the new and/or improved technologies and methods in real (non-wartime) conditions, with a focus on the areas of the Baltic Sea that have been identified as priority areas for action, taking into account the results of prioritisation exercises carried out by other projects and initiatives.
3. Support increased and timely access by stakeholders to the most appropriate technologies, methods, and personnel for clean-up of submerged munitions in sea basins around the EU.
4. Support the transfer of technologies and methods to other sea basins around the EU, including the Black Sea and Azov Sea.

This call for proposals aims to optimise technologies and methods to tackle submerged munitions in the Baltic Sea and other European sea basins by building on and complementing existing successful projects, and cooperating with ongoing initiatives.

It focuses on improving existing technologies and methodologies used to remove/neutralise/dispose of submerged munitions. Improvements should relate to their efficiency, effectiveness, safety and environmental impact.

It further covers improvements to the availability and accessibility of technologies, methods, support and personnel for carrying out actions on submerged munitions.

In addition, it prioritises concrete action to test and demonstrate technologies and methods in identified munitions hotspots in the Baltic Sea.

A further priority is the transfer of the solutions developed to other European sea basins, and particularly to address the consequences of Russian aggression in the Black Sea and Azov Sea.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

1. Safe scaling up of the deployment of CCAM systems for all levels of automation, including systems that for part of the driving phases rely on human-machine interaction.
2. Assurance of vehicle safety despite system changes, e.g., due to software updates and data exchanges between vehicles and the infrastructure.
3. Facilitating the introduction of fast developing technological innovations in the CCAM system’s functionality, such as AI.

To ensure the safety of CCAM, it is essential that vehicles are not only safe during the (first) type approval, but also during their complete lifetime in a fast-changing road transport system. Changes can result from the evolution of the CCAM system itself, for example, as a result of increasing connectivity using V2X communication, the use of AI-based systems, and OTA (over-the-air) software updates. The traffic system, in which CCAM systems are being deployed, is changing at a rapid pace as well, with an increased market share of vehicles with higher levels of automation, new (personal) mobility devices and autonomous mobility robots (e.g., for package delivery).

At the same time, the way CCAM systems interact with humans in traffic is changing. Until full automation in transport is reached, the human driver will keep on playing an essential role. Also, the interaction with other road users will change, supported by technologies that allow a CCAM system to communicate its intentions to other road users.

As a consequence of these innovations and developments, the safe deployment of CCAM systems needs an extension of the safety validation procedures and certification schemes, taking advanced human-machine interaction and a continuous in-service monitoring approach into account. Due to the many different scenarios and variations that can occur realistically and that consequently need to be tested, it should be possible that a large part of the assessment is performed in a virtual simulation environment.

The proposed actions are expected to address all of the following aspects:

1. Developing a validation methodology for scenario-based safety assurance of AI-based CCAM functions. Trustworthiness of the AI-algorithms depends on how well the system responds to scenarios in its Operational Design Domain (ODD) – specificity and how it responds in case it ends-up outside its ODD – robustness. Consequently, methods need to be developed on the use of scenarios to describe the ODD of AI-based systems.
2. Connectivity. Developing validation procedures for CCAM systems that rely on V2X for safety-critical functions i.e., the inclusion of the connectivity context. Ensuring aspects of reliability, trustworthiness and cyber-security with respect to V2X is essential. The approach to V2X connectivity is technology neutral.
3. Continuous Safety Assurance approach. Developing an approach for a continuous safety validation methodology, to monitor the safety state of deployed CCAM systems in operation (real traffic) during its service life, following type approval. Performance metrics for the reliability of the monitored data, including cyber-security aspects, and indicators for the safety state should be proposed. Also needed is the development of requirements for the monitoring system for use in future standardisation, regarding the exchange of data and safety performance indicators with service organisations and authorities.
4. Validating the virtual approach. Developing tools that ensure the relevant degree of detail and the appropriate representation of other road users’ behaviour (incl. Vulnerable Road Users such as pedestrians and/or bicyclists) in virtual scenario-based testing. This includes methods to deal with perception, localisation, and world modelling errors in the validation procedures.
5. Human Machine Interaction. Developing a safety assurance methodology that incorporates the assessment of Human Machine Interaction (both driver-vehicle and vehicle-road user) concepts for higher levels of automation (conformity checks as well as test set-ups with suitable metrics) ensuring safe communication between driver and vehicle and between vehicle and other road users, making Human Machine Interaction inclusive (i.e. in terms of age, mental and physical ability, cultural aspects, etc.).

Proposed actions are expected to develop recommendations for harmonisation and standardisation and to feed into on-going discussions regarding EU type vehicle approval rules as well as in the framework of the UNECE.

Actions should be based on the outcomes of previous methodologies developed in HEADSTART^[1], as well as research funded under HORIZON-CL5-2021-D6-01-02^[2].

Upcoming CCAM projects, in particular in the area of large-scale demonstrations, validation, digital infrastructure and key enabling technologies should be taken into account to ensure compatibility.

Links should be established with the Mobility Data Space initiatives from Digital Europe, federated data infrastructure projects (Gaia-X, International Data Spaces, Big Data Value - BDV).

In order to achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is encouraged, in particular with Japan and the United States but also with other relevant strategic partners in third countries.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility’ (CCAM). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on results to the European Partnership ‘Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility’ (CCAM) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

[1]https://www.headstart-project.eu/

[2] “Common approaches for the safety validation of CCAM systems”

The objective of the European slate development support is to foster the competitiveness of European independent production companies and to increase their economic weight on the market. The aim is also to increase the capacity of audiovisual producers to develop projects with the potential to circulate throughout Europe and beyond, and to facilitate European and international coproduction.

The support will also provide an entry point for emerging talent, giving them the opportunity to direct a short film supported by the strong foundation provided by experienced companies.

Expected results

• A stronger position on European and international markets for companies selected under European slate development.
• Increased quality, feasibility, cross-border potential and market value of European works supported.

Description of the activities to be funded

Support will be given to independent European production companies able to develop a slate of 3 to 5 audiovisual works (fiction, animation, creative documentary). This should allow production companies to reduce risks and increase their capacity to attract and retain talents.

The European slate development shall provide support to the development of minimum 3 and maximum 5 works for commercial exploitation intended for cinema release, television broadcasting or commercial exploitation on digital platforms or a multi-platform environment in the following categories: animation, creative documentary or fiction. Applicants may add a short film by emerging talent to their slate (optional).

The aim is to provide funds to audiovisual production companies to develop work with high creative value and cultural diversity and wide cross-border exploitation potential. Companies are encouraged to develop strategies for marketing and distribution from the outset of the development phase thus improving the potential to reach audiences at a European and international level.

Greater cooperation, including co-development, between operators from different countries participating in the MEDIA Strand is also pursued as well as strengthening the competitiveness of European audiovisual production companies by consolidating their capacity for investment in the development phase and expanding companies’ activities and their innovation capacity to explore new fields and markets.

Special attention will be given to applications presenting adequate strategies to ensure a more sustainable and more environmentally-respectful industry and to ensure gender balance, inclusion, diversity and representativeness.

Provision of security services for DEL TURKIYE

The JRC and the European Commission's Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (CC-DEMOS) have built a specific training offer on citizen engagement processes based on co-creation and deliberation for public administrations at local, regional and national level across the EU. The training offer targets three levels of competence (basic, advanced and train-of-trainers) and is available in EN, DA, PL. It includes a full package of resources: for each competence level, it provides a course-book, annotated PowerPoint presentations, roll-out of the course, agenda of the course, self-assessment questionnaire, in-class exercises, and case collection. In the perspective of upscaling the use of this training package and reaching out to a large number of administrations, JRC is collaborating with the EU Academy to make the offer available on-line and in the three languages. The development of the training offer through pilots in Denmark and Poland has revealed that it is paramount to have moderators with a high level of experience with and expertise on citizen engagement in order to deliver successful training and accommodate specific participants' requests for knowledge and competence. Moreover, experienced practitioners and moderators would ensure that more case studies and examples are brought in that meet the interest of participants and improve the overall quality of the training. Thus, JRC and CC-DEMOS are seeking to procure online moderation of the training on citizen engagement which will consist in combining asynchronous and synchronous sessions and ensure the creation of a community of learners from public administrations and future trainers.

Investigation of the existing and potential market for offsite construction, to accelerate supply of new and renovated housing. Desk research and consultation with stakeholders to understand the available technology, market, customer acceptance, regulatory impediments and possibilities, differences between Member States.