NGI_Trust, the Next Generation Internet (NGI) project fostering the development of a human-centric internet through privacy and trust-enhancing technologies, announced the release of a new batch of six case studies, which showcase the impact of some of the most innovative among the 57 projects it supported.
The projects outlined by the case studies cover five of the twelve thematic areas in the NGI_Trust portfolio, namely Better Privacy, Safer browsing, Impact of AI, Effective Identity, Securing the Internet of Things.
This second round of releases follows from a first group of NGI_Trust case studies published in March 2021 – also featured on issue 36 of GÉANT’s CONNECT magazine – which included the projects PyGuard, Kelp.Digital (ex. Sensio), and CAP-A.
Across the case studies, all the projects highlighted that support by NGI_Trust and by the Next Generation Internet (NGI) was an essential part of the success of their initiative. Not just for the funding received, but also in terms of guidance, coaching, consulting, access to relevant events, training, webinars, connections, and much more.
Read the full case studies on the NGI_Trust website or discover more about each project below:
MidPrivacy – Identity Provenance as a first step towards personal data protection
When it comes to identity management and personal data protection, perhaps the most important part of the metadata is provenance information. That is why Evolveum’s open source identity management and governance platform MidPoint seems to be positioned at an ideal place in the personal data flows.
With support by NGI_Trust, Evolveum implemented a provenance prototype as a part of the midPrivacy initiative, a long-term effort to extend midPoint with a complete set of personal data protection features.
MedIAM - Open source pilot implementation of secure medical IoT devices
According to cybercrime magazine, “healthcare suffers 2-3X more cyberattacks than the average amount for other industries”, because the data has more value for hackers. Cyber regulations such as the EU cybersecurity act provide mandatory requirements to protect sensitive information and systems. However, it remains difficult to extend that line of requirements to connected devices people carry around as part of their treatments. If those medical devices aren’t properly secured, people may unknowingly be broadcasting their health status, as well as many other personal sensitive data, everywhere they go. Or even be directly harmed by hacked devices.
MedIAM provides an open source pilot implementation on how an equipment vendor should protect the functions and data of their medical IoT devices.
Better Internet Search - The ISIBUD Project
The ISIBUD project from Better Internet Search was run in collaboration with Edinburgh Napier University and it was completed in July 2020. This resulted in a demonstrator for a unique ad-free privacy-preserving search engine being tested with 100+ live users.
The success of this project has led to the search engine being publicly released as an MVP, which continues to be developed by the company partly supported by a second grant from NGI_Trust. A future release with blockchain - used to secure the token-based economy - is planned for summer 2021.
FAIR-AI: Designing human-centric AI to enable fairness assessments of texts
One of the pressing questions in contemporary AI, is how to make sure that its implementation is fair. But what is it that makes an act fair or unfair, and is it possible to program an AI to be able to detect and use ‘social responsibility’ as humans do?
Led by the University of Cambridge and based on early research carried out by Dr Ahmed Izzidien, the FAIR-AI project worked on the development of a ‘fairness vector’ allowing AI to read sentences and score their fairness.
Deep-Learning / SensifAI: Smart-enhancing videos and images on-device while fully preserving privacy
There are many image enhancement apps that improve the quality of images or edit them automatically through advanced artificial intelligence. These apps work based on deep-learning that is computationally heavy and requires strong GPU servers, and as such they require users to send their images to their cloud to process them. This increases the risk of getting hacked, exposed, or abused and potentially violates the privacy of millions of users.
SensifAI developed specific deep learning architectures for the new NPU chipsets of most major smartphone manufacturers, together with an on-device smart-enhance app, that allows users to enhance images and videos locally on their mobile phone, while guaranteeing control over their personal data.
CASPER 2.0 - An AI-based ghost protecting children from online threats
Privacy also means protection from threats that we are (still) unable to fight effectively. That’s why vulnerable groups of Internet users, including children and elderly people, need their privacy to be respected.
The main aim of the CASPER project was to develop an application-agnostic solution based on AI for filtering inappropriate content from online communications, to protect children and other vulnerable groups of users.
Read the complete case studies developed by NGI_Trust and its family of projects here: https://wiki.geant.org/display/NGITrust/Case+Studies
The NGI_Trust project team, NGI_Trust advisory board, representatives from the EC and members of the wider NGI family got together on the 26th February 2021 to hear the results of five of the projects funded by NGI_Trust and learn about their experiences within NGI. CAP-A, CCS Cozy Cloud's Shiffremir, Decentralized Messaging, CryRev and TrustedUX were funded during the 1st and 2nd funding calls for NGI_Trust and have now all completed their projects or are near to completion. These projects represented a diverse range of the thematic areas explored by NGI_Trust and provided an opportunity to reflect on the full range of topics that are needed to create a trusted human-centric internet. Presentations from the projects are available on the webinar homepage.
User control was a strong theme within the projects but there is a ongoing challenge regarding the motivation of users to engage and manage their own privacy versus the convenience of using a (trusted) third party. CAP-A has developed a web-portal and a mobile app to encourage user participation in privacy-related tasks via a dashboard and easy to read policy annotations. The project has a video that demonstrate their work and is planning on setting up a non-profit organisation to continue the developments.
CCS takes this paradigm further and categorically states that they consider the users devices as the only legitimate places for data access and encryption. The project wants to exempt the end-user from trusting any service provider back-end, including Cozy Cloud, and thus creating a truly Self Sovereign experience. The project has released its code as open-source and continues to seek new funding sources to focus on the complexities of the UX.
Decentralized Messaging has the objective to combine identity and messaging into a single data model and protocol. Their app "Context" aims to allow users to interact and send messages person-to-person without using a centralised messenger. The project has built an architecture and prototype but is now looking to focus on market analysis, business modelling, pricing and IPR.
CryRev looks at the challenges of trust and privacy from a very different angle by focusing on the hardware and has built an open Hardware Security Module (HSM). The HSM makes use of a variety of open and innovative approaches to security including DNSSEC, RPKI, TOR Consensus and the Let’s Encrypt CA to provide a competitive product with a focus on openness as well as trust. The CrypTech Alpha is their first complete version of the machine and NGI_Trust funding helped support a version 4 release with a focus on performance as well as security.
Our final presenters unveiled the results of the TrustedUX project whose focus was not on building a trust environment itself but on providing a tool to help developers measure trust. TrustedUX is an online survey tool that helps measure user trust at any point in a product lifecycle and provides research-based evidence and visualisations of results. The project website is available to use now.
All of the projects presenting in this webinar highlighted the complexity of trust relationships, what is important in establishing trust, and how it is possible to measure and evidence how trust within a given environment. The discussion posed the question as to whether it is truly possible to remove the "trusted third-party" role within our ecosystem to truly achieve the "self" in sovereign identity.
The next NGI_Trust results webinar will take place on 26th March 2021 and registration is open to interested parties.
The NGI_Trust consortium set ambitious objectives to contribute to resolving a series of issues or exploring solutions that enhance privacy and trust for the Next Generation Internet.
From 300 proposal received, 57 projects were selected for funding and awarded a total of just over €5.6m euro. The scope of the funded third-party projects was expected to involve the best Internet innovators in addressing technological opportunities arising from cross-links and advances in various research fields ranging from network infrastructures to platforms, from application domains to social innovation. NGI_Trust placed importance on projects that included validation and testing of solutions and services by involving users and market actors at an early stage. Ultimately, the projects results should influence Internet governance and related policies
In order to assess the existing and potential future impact of the portfolio of projects, the NGI_Trust consortium is inviting consultants with experience in evaluation of public policy combined with an understanding of the Human-Centric Internet and open source software policies to submit a tender to carry out an impact assessment.
The purpose of the assignment is to prepare an impact assessment (IA) of the 57 funded third-party projects drawing lessons from the implementation process and the results achieved to date (spring 2021) or foreseeable within the coming 18 months (end 2022). The evidence and learning from the evaluation should also feed into and contribute ideas to a ‘Future opportunities’ report on priorities for privacy and trust enhancement technologies report under Horizon Europe that will be produced by the NGI_Trust consortium in October 2021.
Interested parties should submit a tender by 19 March following the instructions set out in the tender specifications.
From February 2019 to May 2020, the NGI_Trust project ran three Open Calls to fund the development of a human-centric Internet through privacy and trust enhancing technologies. These calls attracted a significant number of applications and NGI_Trust was able to fund 56 projects focused on relevant innovations. Now that all of the funding has been allocated, it is time to focus in on the funded projects and showcase their ideas and developments. NGI_Trust has started a series of webinars to do just this - and also to help build a community of innovators among the projects through shared ideas and principles.
In November 2020, our first webinar focused on the most recently funded Call 3 projects. Each of the projects had the opportunity to give a 5 minute pitch to a virtual room of experts from the EC, the family of NGI Projects and from the NGI_Trust coaches and mentors. All of the pitches can be found on the webinar page and we will be working closely with these projects over the upcoming months to support them on their development path.
Our second webinar in December 2020 took us back to the beginning of NGI_Trust as we had a chance to celebrate some of the projects funded in Call 1 that have now finished their project deliverables. We were joined by 5 projects: DECTS, Deep Learning, Edge-TINC, ISIBUD and MyPCH to learn about their results and hear their plans for next steps in developments. Some of the highlights from these projects include:
- DECTS: the Deaf Emergency Chat and Training System supports consent management technology for sensitive data exchange, particularly during emergency chat scenarios. The service is now live in Austria and is building on additional funding from NGI DAPSI to support a Digital Immunization Passport.
- Deep Learning from Sensifai has created a privacy preserving video / image enhancement app that can be used completely offline.
- The Edge-TINC Project is focusing on supporting data for autonomous vehicles and has built a platform to allow the automotive industry to manage the roughly 4000 GB a data a day the average automated vehicle receives.
- ISIBUD from Better Internet Search has developed a human-centric privacy preserving search engine and is supporting the innovation of this platform via an Indiegogo campaign that has already exceeded its funding goals.
- MyPCH supports the standardised exchange of health data from smart devices - such as glucose monitors - to personal data stores and then on to appropriate clinical and research settings. The project has attracted a range of additional funding and Diabetes.Services has been recognised by MyData Operator Awards 2020.
Presentations from all the projects can be found on the webinar page.
NGI_Trust will be continuing webinars with our projects during 2021. You can also find out more about the projects via our twitter account and through the NGI blogposts.
Since January 2019, the NGI_Trust project ran three rounds of open calls, funding 56 projects in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technologies.
Now that the projects from the third and final open call have been selected, the NGI_Trust team grouped them into 12 thematic areas and published a comprehensive catalogue.
Discover all the projects here: https://wiki.geant.org/display/NGITrust/Funded+Projects
In the next period, the NGI_Trust consortium will continue to provide technical coaching, intellectual property and business mentoring support to the funded projects.
About NGI_Trust
The NGI_Trust project supports the development of a human-centric Internet by developing a stronger European ecosystem of researchers, innovators and technology developers in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technologies. Project partners include the European Future Innovation System (EFIS) Centre, the European Business & Innovation Centre Network (EBN), Kantara Initiative Europe, GÉANT, Fraunhofer IAO and Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation.
Follow NGI_Trust on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NgiTrust.
As part of our project activities, we provide business mentoring and IPR advice to third party projects.
Guidance on business mentoring is available at: Guidance for business mentoring
A set of slides presenting tips on business mentoring is also available for consultation :
Guidance on IPR is available at : NGI_Trust IPR Guidance
What is the maximum amount one organisation/individual can be granted?
Over the three calls (lifetime of the NGI_TRUST project), a single organisation/individual cannot be awarded more than €200,000 for one or more projects (for example, €50,000 for a type 1 project followed by €150,000 for a type 2).
Regarding eligible costs we understand that for Type 2, NGI_Trust would cover 66% of costs, while the consortium would need to cover the remaining 1/3 of those costs (up to a maximum of combined funding of 225K€ per project), right? (E.g. if consortium partners provide 50K€ of own funds, NGI_Trust would provide 100K€).
That is correct.
Should project participants be located in an EU country? And does this apply also to team members (EU nationals) and subcontractors?
Project participants should be registered (if a legal entity) or resident (if an individual) in one of the EU27 Member States or in one of the Horizon 2020 Associated Countries - see list here : http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/3cpart/h2020-hi-list-ac_en.pdf
There are no restrictions on the nationality of team members, but they should be employed by a participant organisation.
Similarly, there is no restriction on the nationality or location of subcontractors. Subcontracting needs to be explained in the application (why you use a subcontractor, input to the project, etc.).
For a type 2 or type 3 project, do you have any further details of what constitutes matched funding?
We are flexible concerning matching funding, which may come either from internal funds of the organisation or external funding. In the latter case you should indicate the source, e.g. national or regional public funding, external investor, bank loan, etc.
We are a start-up formed this year with no financial accounts to date. Reading the guide for applicants of the NGI_Trust Open Call, it states that you need to provide the “Statement of overall turnover for the last two financial years”. Because of this, we are not sure if a start-up is eligible for participation in this call. Are we eligible to apply?
Yes, we will be flexible in considering proposals from start-ups, we are seeking to support innovative ideas with potential. In the absence of annual accounts, we will consider other evidence (e.g. investments into the start-up, past record of the founders, etc.).
We are registered in an EU27 country. Two members of our team who will have a key role in the proposed project are from a non-EU28 country. Does this constitute any eligibility problem?
The key criterion is the place of registration of your company, not the nationality of staff.
Are large firms eligible beneficiaries of the NGI_Trust call?
There is no restriction on large companies per se. We are interested in funding use cases from a number of sectors/verticals where it may make sense to involve a larger firm.
Is an organisation from the UK eligible to apply for the NGI_Trust third open call?
"The Withdrawal Agreement, as agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom, entered into force on 1 February 2020. In overall terms, on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK-based legal entities will continue to be fully eligible to participate and receive funding in the current 2014-2020 EU programmes, including Horizon 2020, as if the UK were a member state until the closure of these programmes, unless security considerations apply. This means that UK beneficiaries can continue – without interruption – to receive grants awarded under the current and previous multiannual financial frameworks (MFFs) until their end dates, even if these are after 2020."
Can we participate in two different consortia with two different proposals? In this case, can we lead both consortia?
Yes, organisations and partnerships can make multiple applications. No restrictions to leadership of partnerships apply.
In the proposal template, section 1.3, it is requested to tick the Type of Project (viability, execution or transition to commercialisation). Is it correct to tick only one type? Meaning that the proposers are not allowed to choose a multi-type of project by gathering different activities even if they respect the 200k€ limit.
That is correct, you should select one type of project, however, you may carry out feasibility work part of a type 2 project (although this should not be the main activity).
For a two partner project, is all payment/justification handled via the lead partner?
Payments will be made to the lead partner. We might require financial reporting from the third-parties but you should keep appropriate documented evidence of your expenditure as a recipient of EU funding.
In your guide it says, "Financial support will be paid in instalments against the achievement of milestones ". What does this mean for the financial execution, i.e. - is payment (a posterior) following the completion of milestones? - do milestones/deliverables justify the payment or is a detailed declaration of expenditures needed?
We will provide an advance payment (after signature of the funding agreement by both parties), an interim payment (based on an agreed milestone) then a final payment (based on the acceptance of your final report).
We will not ask for a detailed declaration of expenditure, however, you should be able to prove expenditure in the event of an audit by the European Commission, so you will be expected to keep a proper set of supporting documents.
Does NGI_Trust pay overhead (e.g. 25% as in H2020 calls/programmes) for costs that cannot be identified and calculated by the beneficiary as being directly attributed to the project?
The funding is awarded as a lump sum (cash) contribution, we have no set rules for how organisations design their budget internally. The aim of the budget in the proposal is to convince the evaluators that that the requested funding is coherent with the effort invested in producing the outcome the project aims to achieve. It should give NGI_TRUST a ‘value for money’ perspective on your project.
Can travel expenses be requested for a publication of the project's results where the conference is after the project period has ended? (e.g., do you reimburse travel expenses individually or via a lump sum / similar?)
Travel expenses are an eligible cost but should be within the contractual period of the project funding awarded.
The aim of the call is to support the development of technologies that are rapidly applicable and hence, you will be provided with support on intellectual property management (e.g. to check whether you should protect the IP developed in advance of a publication or conference papers).
In Section 4.2 of the template, there is a table for personal "Person-Month". How do we fill this out in case of e.g. a Professor who will work on the project but not charge (name known) and e.g. a master student who will charge PMs on the project (but name may not be known at this point in time)?
The table is intended to provide an overall estimate of effort, if you need to recruit team members and do not know their names this is not a problem.
We were wondering about the possibility of attaching support letters from other Companies which are supporting our research. Is it possible?
You can attach letters of support in so far as they are relevant for the proposal.
The NGI_Trust open call text says that: “Projects will receive support in the form of technical coaching, business mentoring and IP advice from the project partners and other NGI projects” (p. 5). Does this mean that the budget will be provided to the applicants in the form of services offered by the NGI_Trust consortium, or are these services additional to the provided budget?
The funding from NGI_Trust is in ‘cash’. The support you mention here is provided by the consortium on top of the funding.
Are type 2 or type 3 projects preferred to type 1 projects?
We will fund the best ranked projects irrespective of type, up to the maximum budget available. However, where proposals are ranked in a similar score, the final decision may take into account topic coverage or balance of types in the overall portfolio of funded projects.
Are the official supporting documents for the Legal Entity Form supposed to necessarily be in English?
Not necessarily. Any EU official language is fine.
What is exactly the official documentation to attach to the Legal Entity form?
Here is the list of supporting documents needed for the legal entity forms (also written on each form):
- Natural person: Copy of the identity document (ID or Passport)
- Private companies: Copy of Official Register of companies, official gazette, VAT registration or Status -> one of those documents
- Public law body: Copy of Official Register of companies, official gazette, VAT registration or Status -> one of those documents
We need the legal entity form + supporting document for each partner.
These official supporting documents have to be in one of the EU official languages
NGI_Trust is aimed at funding projects that ensure the Internet remains a secure and resilient system, especially during crisis. NGI_Trust funding is already bearing fruit and hitting the headlines with our grantees DECIDE and CASPER. Both have been featured in NGI's publication 'THE PEOPLE BUILDING THE INTERNET OF TOMORROW'.
CASPER's main aim "is to identify and apply potentials of using artificial intelligence to protect young people on the internet. Different types of content are analysed, including text, images, video and audio, as well as the different types of online threats. The resulting system is meant to be modular, extensible, multi-platform, cloud-enabled, and compatible with already existing solutions. A special challenge is to support the collaborative use of results while preserving privacy“.
The DECIDE project aims at supporting "the actual diffusion of privacy enhancing technologies in the context of identity management that enable trusted interactions in the digital sphere". DECIDE's goal is to "gain a better understanding of users’ mental models and service providers’ requirements and work towards the actual integration of outcomes in the existing and future decentralized identity solutions".
The Horizon 2020 NGI_Trust project aims to support the development of a human-centric Internet in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technologies. Through its open calls it aims at engaging a variety of actors in order to explore important privacy and trust enhancing topics critical for building a human centric internet.
The 3rd call is currently open with the deadline to receive applications by 4 May 2020 at 18:00 CET. The call text, application form and detailed guidance for applicants are available here. A Webinar for interested applicants was organised on Friday 3rd April 2020 at 11:00 CET (you can watch it here). You may also want to have a look at the Power Point presentation we used.
We hope you will be interested in sending us your applications.
The NGI_Trust consortium organised on 4 November a first webinar for people interested in submitting a proposal under the current 2nd open call of the project.
The call is targeting researchers and innovators seeking funding of up to 200,000 euro for developing and testing (use cases) novel privacy and trust enhancing technologies for the next generation internet.
The webinar was recorded and can be viewed at the link below and the slides are downloadable below as well:
Further information and application forms can be downloaded from this Wiki or via https://www.ngi.eu/opencalls/ngi_trust-open-call/
NGI TRUST supports third-party projects working in the following areas:
- Better management of consent, to give more control to the user of their data when accessing and using services.
- Technical innovation in privacy enhancing technologies, such as cryptography, federated identity, security and privacy for IoT, privacy-enhancing data transports and data at rest.
- The application of artificial intelligence[1]/machine learning/neural networks to serve the user’s interests.
- Bootstrapping trust at the protocol level, to maintain a decentralised Internet Infrastructure.
An indicative list of pre-identified areas of concern/opportunities (specific topics) for our second open call (which will be launched on 1 October) is provided below:
- With a view to next generation certificates, how can European grid certificate authorities build up user-friendly mechanisms that promote a changed user experience and awareness and addresses forms of identity that comply with EU law and or meet specific European needs.
- DNS-based security of the Internet Infrastructure (DNSSEC, DOH approach), given the need to reinforce trust in a world of “deep fake”.
- Post-quantum technologies to avoid brute force attacks.
- Reinforcing reputation systems and thereby enhance the potential to measure the value of personal data and transparency while respecting GDPR principles.
- Pilot implementation of specifications, standards, acceptance criteria and measurement frameworks for new identifiers, for instance:
- Mobile Driving Licenses;
- Delegation in the context of ID;
- eID and authentication services to support, for instance student mobility and access to educational services, thin file individuals, disabled users, refugees, non-digital natives, lost identities due to natural disasters etc.
- Solutions that enable the user to more easily and uniformly set preferences or terms such as machine-readable privacy terms (IEEE - P7012) and technologies that help to reduce the risk that GDPR is misused to further exploit/ complicate the user experience.
- Services and technologies that enhance transparency, user intervenability, and accountability in data processing.
Proposers may use these as inspiration for developing their projects or may address additional specific topics for which they have identified a user need or market demand
[1] Proposals in the field of AI should take into consideration the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, taking account of keywords such as lawful (respecting applicable laws and regulations), ethical (respecting ethical principles and values) and robust (both from a technical perspective, while taking into account its social environment).
NGI_Trust supports the development of a human-centric Internet by developing a stronger European ecosystem of researchers, innovators and technology developers in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technologies. The NGI_Trust project put out its first call for proposals in February 2019 in order to support its objectives in terms of supporting developments in the field of privacy and trust enhancing technology, improving user trust and acceptance of emerging technologies and fostering the exploitation and commercialisation of trust and privacy projects.
As part of this call, NGI_Trust funded 18 projects which will develop their proposals over the next nine to twelve months. The projects funded in the first call broadly support the following ideas: beyond passwords, better privacy, safer browsing and user control.
- That we need to move beyond passwords, and find a better way for users to manage the complexity of shared secrets and technical trust. 4 projects will work in this area, with projects looking at how we can use our mobile devices more effectively as tokens instead of the need for passwords, how we can better protect data on our mobile devices, and how we can improve the way that cryptography is used on hardware and in the core of our internet infrastructure. For more information see these projects: Keyn, COP-MODE, CryRev, and TCN.
- That it is essential for us to provide better privacy, particularly in areas where data is more sensitive and in how we present privacy information to our users. 4 projects will look at how we can both protect and utilise health data, how we deal with managing large amounts of data in the cloud and how we can better support users in understanding the legal issues around consenting to use services. For more information see these projects: b-smart, Edge-TINC, CAP-A and MyPCH.
- That safer browsing is essential to an ecosystem of privacy and trust. 3 projects will look at providing better informed safety for children online that doesn't block access unnecessarily to useful information, how we can improve VPN technology to provide a better user experience and how we can support the users needs more effectively in internet search rather than being driven by the wants of advertisers. For more information see these projects: CASPER, D4S, and ISIBUD.
- To achieve a truly human-centric Internet, we need to have user control. The complexity and options when navigating a globally connected internet can be a daunting task. 6 projects will focus on user control to ease the decision making and customisation of settings to give the user a role in their internet. For more information see these projects: Cozy Cloud, EUACTIVE, DECIDE, Protect Yourself, INSTANT, and Decentralised Messaging.
For more information on the projects please visit: https://wiki.geant.org/display/NGITrust/Funded+Projects.
The evaluation of the proposals received in the framework the 1st open call has been concluded and the NGI_Trust Management Board met on 13 June to take a decision on the proposals to be funded.
A total of 109 proposals were received involving 177 Partners from 27 countries
Following the evaluation, 18 proposals were selected and seven proposals were added to a reserve list. Contract negotiations with the selected proposals will begin in the coming weeks.
Unsuccessful proposals will receive notification and feedback from the evaluation committee in the coming week.
The NGI Trust Management board would like to thank all proposers for the high quality of proposals that contributed to the fantastic response to this 1st call.
A second open call will be launched as planned on 1 October 2019 with a deadline of 30 November 2019 for submitting proposals.
Wow !
The 1st Open Call for NGI_Trust (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/219138/factsheet/en) has now closed (on 30 April) and we are 'overwhelmed' (in a good way) with the number of proposals received !
The evaluation process should be completed by mid-June !
The 2nd open call will be launched on 1 October
Last updated on 30 April 2019
What is the maximum amount one organisation/individual can be granted ?
Over the three calls (lifetime of the NGI TRUST project), a single organisation/individual cannot be awarded more than €200,000 for one or more projects (for example, €50,000 for a type 1 project followed by €150,000 for a type 2).
Regarding eligible costs we understand that for Type 2, NGI-Trust would cover 66% of costs, while the consortium would need to cover the remaining 1/3 of those costs (up to a maximum of combined funding of 180K€ per project), right? (E.g. if consortium partners provide 50K€ of own funds, NGI-Trust would provide 100K€).
That is correct.
Should project participants be located in an EU country ? And does this apply also to team members (EU nationals) and subcontractors ?
Project participants should be registered (if a legal entity) or resident (if an individual) in one of the EU28 Member States or in one of the Horizon 2020 Associated Countries - see list here : http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/3cpart/h2020-hi-list-ac_en.pdf
There are no restrictions on the nationality of team members but they should be employed by a participant organisation.
Similarly, there is no restriction on the nationality or location of subcontractors. Subcontracting needs to be explained in the application (why you use a subcontractor, input to the project, etc.).
For a type 2 or type 3 project, do you have any further details of what constitutes matched funding?
We are flexible concerning matching funding, which may come either from internal funds of the organisation or external funding. In the latter case you should indicate the source, e.g. national or regional public funding, external investor, bank loan, etc.
We are a start-up formed this year with no financial accounts to date. Reading the guide for applicants of the NGI_Trust Open Call, it states that you need to provide the “Statement of overall turnover for the last two financial years”. Because of this, we are not sure if a start-up is eligible for participation in this call. Are we eligible to apply?
Yes, we will be flexible in considering proposals from start-ups, we are seeking to support innovative ideas with potential. In the absence of annual accounts, we will consider other evidence (e.g. investments into the start-up, past record of the founders, etc.).
We are registered in an EU28 country. Two members of our team who will have a key role in the proposed project are from a non-EU28 country. Does this constitute any eligibility problem?
The key criterion is the place of registration of your company, not the nationality of staff.
Are large firms eligible beneficiaries of the NGI-Trust call?
There is no restriction on large companies per se. We are interested in funding use cases from a number of sectors/verticals where it may make sense to involve a larger firm.
UK partners have concerns about being eligible of not after March. Furthermore, there is an uncertainty regarding the funding situation depending on how the Brexit situation unfolds. Should we be concerned about that, or can UK companies apply without worry and be guaranteed of funding through this the open call?
For British applicants: Please note that until the UK leaves the EU, EU law continues to apply to and within the UK, when it comes to rights and obligations; this includes the eligibility of UK legal entities to fully participate and receive funding in Horizon 2020 actions. Please be aware however that the eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to be eligible to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 50 of the grant agreement
Can we participate in two different consortia with two different proposals? In this case, can we lead both consortia?
Yes, organisations and partnerships can make multiple applications. No restrictions to leadership of partnerships apply.
In the proposal template, section 1.3, it is requested to tick the Type of Project (viability, execution or transition). Is it correct to tick only one type? Meaning that the proposers are not allowed to choose a multi-type of project by gathering different activities even if they respect the 200k€ limit.
That is correct, you should select one type of project, however, you may carry out feasibility work part of a type 2 project (although this should not be the main activity).
Can you confirm that we can apply for a type 2 execution or a type 3 transition already for the first call or is the first call only for type 1 viability project.
The first call is open to proposals for all three types of projects.
For a two partner project, is all payment/justification handled via the lead partner?
Payments will be made to the lead partner. We do not require financial reporting from the third-parties but you should keep appropriate documented evidence of your expenditure as a recipient of EU funding.
In your guide it says "Financial support will be paid in instalments against achievement of milestones". What does this mean for the financial execution, i.e.
- - is payment (a posterior) following the completion of milestones?
- - do milestones/deliverables justify the payment or is a detailed declaration of expenditures needed?
We will provide an advance payment, plus an interim payment (based on an agreed milestone) then a final payment (based on your final report).
We will not ask for a detailed declaration of expenditure, however, you should be able to prove expenditure in the event of an audit by the European Commission, so you will be expected to keep a proper set of supporting documents.
Will it be possible to re-submit a project rejected on the first round?
Yes, if a proposal is not accepted, you will receive feedback and you are free to resubmit to the second or third round calls.
For a project fitting perfectly in the scope but already between the development and commercialisation stage, is it wiser to wait for October's call as the first round will include a "larger number of early-stage feasibility studies"?
There is no need to wait, we are accepting all three types of project proposals for the first call.
Does NGI_Trust pay overhead (e.g. 25% as in H2020 calls/programmes) for costs that cannot be identified and calculated by the beneficiary as being directly attributed to the project?
The funding is awarded as a lump sum (cash) contribution, we have no set rules for how organisations design their budget internally. The aim of the budget in the proposal is to convince the evaluators that that the requested funding is coherent with the effort invested in producing the outcome the project aims to achieve. It should give NGI TRUST a ‘value for money’ perspective on your project.
Can travel expenses be requested for a publication of the project's results where the conference is after the project period has ended? (e.g., do you reimburse travel expenses individually or via a lump sum / similar?)
Travel expenses are an eligible cost but should be within the contractual period of the project funding awarded.
The aim of the call is to support the development of technologies that are rapidly applicable and hence, you will be provided with support on intellectual property management (e.g. to check whether you should protect the IP developed in advance of a publication or conference papers).
In Section 4.2 of the template, there is a table for personal "Person-Month". How do we fill this out in case of e.g. a Professor who will work on the project but not charge (name known) and e.g. a master student who will charge PMs on the project (but name may not be known at this point in time)?
The table is intended to provide an overall estimate of effort, if you need to recruit team members and don’t know their names this is not a problem.
We were wondering about the possibility of attaching support letters from other Companies which are supporting our research. Is it possible?
You can attach letters of support in so far as they are relevant for the proposal.
The NGI Trust open call text says that: “Projects will receive support in the form of technical coaching, business mentoring and IP advice from the project partners and other NGI projects” (p.2 – Section 4). Does this mean that the budget will be provided to the applicants in the form of services offered by the NGI consortium, or are these services additional to the provided budget?
The funding is in ‘cash’ up to €100,000 for type 1 (there is no obligation to ask for maximum, you can ask for less). Support is provided by the consortium on top of the funding.