ICAERUS PUSH 1

1) Hello, where can I find more details on the Open Call? Any Guide for Applicants?

ICAERUS PUSH 1 Open Call Kit (with all relevant documents and instructions) can be found on the ICAERUS project website: https://icaerus.eu/open-calls/

2) Are organisations established in UK eligible for participating to the ICAERUS open call?

Participants established in the UK are eligible to apply to the ICAERUS open call. However, in order for open call participants who are established in the UK to sign the contract with the ICAERUS consortium and receive funds through the open call (if among winners), the UK should have first signed the association agreement and be considered as an associated country to Horizon Europe. If at the moment of the signature of the contract between the open call winner and the ICAERUS consortium, the UK is not yet an associated country, the open call winner who is established in the UK will not be eligible for receiving funds from ICAERUS open call.

3) Are consortia eligible to apply? Or this call is for single applicants only?

For the ICAERUS PUSH 1 Open Call, only single applicants are eligible to apply. Consortia are not eligible.

4) How many applications one entity can submit? And how many of them can be selected for funding?

According to Section 3.2 of our Applicants' Guide, only one proposal per applicant can be selected for funding. Applicants that receive funding within one Open Call are not eligible to apply for additional funding in other ICAERUS Open Calls. In case an applicant submits more than one proposal within the same call and both (all) of them are shortlisted for funding, only the one with the highest score can be selected.

However, if multiple versions of the same application are submitted, only the last version will be evaluated.

5) could you please clarify what does phase 3 market entail? It is the preparation of a business plan/strategy or it is a more direct attempt to place on the market what designed and developed in phases 1 and 2?

Phase 3 Market needs to focus on the detailed preparation of a business plan and strategy for paving the way to getting the actions of phases 1 and 2 ready to be commercialized. However, please keep in mind that those plans have to aim at actual market exploitation.

6) Is being a registered entity and having a VAT number mandatory to apply?

In order to apply and to be eligible for the ICAERUS Open Call, an entity has to be registered and have a valid VAT number (officially obtained which could be found in the business registry (or other institution) of a country).

7) Is co-funding by the applicant required or is the budget full covered? thank you

The whole requested budget (within limits set in the ICAERUS Open Call Kit) is fully covered by the ICAERUS Open Call, so there is no need for co-funding. However, the additional commitment of own funds (or other funds, public or private) is a positive signal of the commitment of the applicant towards the sustainability of project results and it will be assessed by evaluators. 

8) Is there a minimum TRL level required at the beginning and at the end of the project?

There is no minimum TRL expected at the application stage. However, please keep in mind that, according to the ICAERUS PUSH Applicants' guide, Section 3.5.3 Key points for evaluation, the first two criteria (Concept and feasibility and Technology readiness and innovation development) are participating with 60% of the total final evaluation results (30% each of them). This means that applications with more developed solutions and higher TRL (closer to market) might have better chances to be selected for funding.

9) During the interim reports/evaluations, will we need to present timesheets for the personnel?

In ICAERUS, we follow lump-sum approach, payments are released with the acceptance of deliverables, however, all sub-grantees are strongly advised to keep detailed financial records for at least 5 years after the completion of ICAERUS project, in case of audits by competent EC authorities. 

10) Do the cover and table of contents count in the total of 10 pages limit for the proposal?

The cover page and table of content are within the 10 pages limit. The information included in the table of content needs to remain, however the applicants may find ways to reduce the space needed for this information (while maintaining generic format requirements, in terms of fonts, margins etc) in order to elaborate more within the 10 pages limit.

11) To be able to do a pilot, do we need to include the place in our proposal or can we pilot it in one of ICAEURUS use cases?

ICAERUS Open Calls are for single applicants, so consortia are not eligible. However, in case you provide the information (Letter of Intent, for example) that you will have a pilot spot, this could be better perceived by the external evaluators.

ICAREUS use cases have been established with technologies already embedded to them so unfortunately they cannot host additional pilots in the course of ICAERUS resources. However this does not rule out the possibility that existing ICAERUS use cases might want to test technologies from successful applicants in the future. 

12) Hi, This is a question regarding the user profile in opencallhub.eu platform. The field 'VAT number', is related to the company represented by the user or is it meant to be the user's personal ID/VAT number? Thanks! (Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I found no contact email for the platform itself).

Field VAT number is related to the legal entity applying to the Open Call (start-up, SME, research institute, etc.).

13) Due to the limited number of document uploads allowed in the application (only three documents, including My Proposal, Declaration of Honour signed by Legal Representative, and Declaration of Conducting Business signed by Legal Representative), should the "Bank Account Information PDF" document not be uploaded?

Bank Account Information document is needed only for the applicants that are selected for funding, during the contracting phase (along with other relevant documents).

14) After the submission, should we receive a relevant mail?

There is no confirmation email after the submission of the application. Once you submit your application, it becomes visible under "Submitted Open Call events" and there you can see the status (currently all submitted applications have status "Pending").