FTTE faqs

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Frequent Asks and Questions

What is FTTE about?

The Focused Technology Transfer Experiments (FTTE) funding instrument, focusing on one of the four defined verticals (Digitized Transport, Digitized Agriculture, Digitized Environment and Digitized Anything), will give the opportunity to form synergies, accelerate product orient projects and offer guidance towards successful commercialisation. It will be of short-term duration (9 months) and will consist of cross-border Pathfinder Application Experiments (PAEs) between two different entities from two different eligible countries (as per the eligibility criteria stated in section 3 of the Guide for Applicants). Within these types of experiments, one party transfers to the receiving partner a specific Hardware (HW) or Software (SW) technology in order to enable improved product or processes.

Who can apply to the FTTE Open Call?

The SMART4ALL cross border Experiments have to be proposed by a Consortium including the following type of applicants:

• Universities and other Academic Institutions.
• SME and Slightly Bigger Companies, as defined in the EU recommendation 2003/361. Slightly Bigger Companies are defined respectively as organisations with a staff headcount below 500 employees and a turnover below EUR 100M.
• System Integrators and/or Technology Providers, i.e. any type of organisation specialised in technology transfer or system integration, serving the needs of end-users, provided they can be categorised in one of the two previous types of beneficiaries.

Proposals can be submitted by any of the aforementioned type of entities, but the participation of, at least, one SME/Slightly Bigger Company is compulsory and should be the lead of the cross-border Pathfinder Application Experiments (PAEs).

The PAEs must be cross‐border, involving at least two independent entities from two different eligible countries.

The applicants involved in the consortia can NOT include any SMART4ALL partners.

Can two academic entities apply to FTTE Open Call?

No, a Technology Provider and Technology Receiver shall apply together as a consortium through a simple application form. The consortium composition can be as follows:

Can the consortium be formed by participants from 3 countries?

Yes. The consortium must be formed by partners from at least two countries. More countries are also possible.

Can the Productizer 'productize' the product so that the Technology Receiver used it in the market?

Yes, the productization partner can be also undertaken the role of system integrator or platform provider.

Is Switzerland eligible country as partner, or project lead?

All members of HORIZON are eligible. So, the Switzerland is eligible.

Can an SME assume the role of two types of consortium member: 1) Industrial and 2) Technology Provider?

Yes. An SME partner can take all three possible roles: 1. Technology provider, 2. Technology receiver, and 3. Productizer.

Does CTTE have a detailed definition of the Customized Low Energy Computing concept?

A definition of the term “customized and low power computing” can found here: https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/id/H2020_ICT-05-2017 (previous call from EU).

Can an SME who is a Technology/Service Provider be an industrial Partner?

Yes, an SME can act as Technology/Service Provider.

Does it matter if the final product's target market is Central/Southern Europe?

No, it doesn’t matter from the scope of final product’s target market.

Can the productization Partner come from Northern Europe?

Yes.

Does the transfer partner have to be from academia?

No. It can be an SME.

Does the application have to include some Customized Low Energy Computing technology and not just be a general Cyber-Physical System?

Yes.

Is there any conflict of interest if a proposal partner is already a member of the SMART4ALL project?

Yes. There is a conflict of interest according to the rules of European Commission about cascade funding.

Why is Cyprus not included in the SEE countries?

Cyprus typically is not a member of countries which belong to SEE region, this is something that can be changed to next calls.

Is it possible for the productizer and the academia/technology provider to cooperate to deliver the product?

Yes. In this case, it would be helpful to provide the basic principles of the envisioned IPR plan.

Does the Pilot need to include user testing or is thorough lab experiment with documented metrics also OK?

The starting point must be TRL5 or higher. So, according to the definition of TRL, specific validation activities must be performed in the field (even under specific assumptions). The definition of TRL levels is available at here

The ban on submission by a different laboratory of the same university concerns the participation in the FTTΕ or and in the KTE; or for both?

The conflict of interest refers to any SMART4ALL open call for all type of proposals i.e., KTEs, FTTEs & CTTEs.

What is the link of SMART4ALL YouTube channel?

The link of SMART4ALL YouTube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwmSl9LCl2vNBO-3k75dvJA

When it comes to VC funded companies or those that are negotiating with VC, why is this important for the application? Should it be stated somewhere how much money is raised and why?

This is not mandatory, but if you can provide this information, the evaluators can better understand your strategic position related to the submitted PAE.

The revenue model should be present for the productization partner only or also for the industrial technology transfer partner?

The PAE must include a go-to-market strategy (thus, a corresponding revenue model must be sketched). Of course, this is applicable only to the productization partner. The other partners must describe the added value gained from the PAE.

How to prove that partner and our company have experience?

There are no golden rules for this. The implementation part of the proposal must contain adequate information about what should be implemented and why the consortium contains the right mix of partners to achieve the technical objectives of the project.

Can the Productizer perform a productization for the Technology Receiver who will own the results and will actually use them on the market?

Yes. However, a clear go-to-market strategy (associated with an IPR plan) must be provided.

Can the technology Receiver be the only one bringing the product to the market?

Yes, this is possible.

Is it recommendable to connect with companies/academia via matchmaking or it doesn’t matter (any eligible SME or academia is equally fine for application)?

Concerning the use of matchmaking service, it is not mandatory to use it and is not related to the evaluation of a proposal. The matchmaking service is there just to help you.