PLATOON: Up to 150.000€ equity-free funding for SMEs to digitise the energy sector
The H2020 PLATOON project launched its first Open Call to select 6 SMEs that will develop new building blocks and analytics tools, offering up to 150.000€ equity-free funding per project, including business and technical support during a customised 9-month Support Programme.
This article provides information regarding the PLATOON project, its first Open Call for SMEs digitalising the energy sector, the requirements as per the profile of the applicants, the challenges being funded, the timeline and the eligibility of applicants as well as the next steps for the submission of the applications by interested stakeholders. Moreover useful links and guidelines are provided, ensuring thus that interested applicants can access all necessary information and instructions, enabling the successful submission of applications.
About PLATOON
The H2020 EU-funded PLATOON project provides new approaches and analytics tools for Energy Big Data, thus supporting the zero-carbon transition and developing new services in the energy domain. In an increasingly complex and heterogeneous environment, PLATOON enables the evolution from a classical centralised energy sector to a more distributed one, with intermittent renewable energy sources and new extended digital capabilities. While contributing to artificial intelligence, interoperability, data privacy and security, PLATOON adheres to the standards of the International Data Spaces Association (IDSA), aiming thus to realise the first IDS-compliant Data Marketplace for the Energy sector.
The project will be validated in 7 pilots in 5 countries (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Serbia), addressing real Energy Big Data cases. PLATOON’s pilots cover the whole range of energy services along the energy supply chain, such as energy efficiency, electricity balance and predictive maintenance of wind farms, smart cities, buildings and office hubs, with the objective to increase operation performance with physical models and AI algorithms. Moreover, PLATOON’s pilots focus on electricity grid stability, connectivity and life extension, advanced energy management systems and energy management of microgrids. PLATOON facilitates the technology transfer to the market by its well-established tendering process via open calls.
First Open Call for SMEs digitalising the energy sector
PLATOON’s 1st Open Call for bottom-up projects is calling all SMEs working with a tech solution that can be used to digitise the energy sector (interoperability layer, data governance and security framework, data analytics tools etc.) to apply to this funding opportunity. The Open Call will be open until the 4th of March 2021, at 17:00 (CET, Brussels local time).
The open call beneficiaries will contribute towards the success of PLATOON’s goal: that is to increase renewable energy consumption, smart grid management, increased energy efficiency and optimised energy asset management.
The 6 selected SMEs will receive a maximum of €150,000 in equity-free funding each and they will access PLATOON's 9-month Support Programme receiving mentoring from PLATOON’s core partners.
Who are we looking for?
PLATOON is looking for SMEs with experience in at least one of the below experimentation areas:
- Digital Interoperability (APIs and Data models)
- Data governance, security, privacy and sovereignty
- Data Analytics applications in energy (such as Energy usage optimisation, Predictive maintenance, Demand forecast, etc.)
- Edge computing (SW/HW)
Which challenges are being funded?
SMEs will need to develop and/or extend different components of the PLATOON reference architecture to be implemented and validated in PLATOON’s large-scale pilots. Through the application process, candidates will be able to propose their own challenge or to choose one of the ‘ready-made’ challenges pre-defined by the consortium. There are two types of challenges being funded by this call, namely our Ready-Made Challenges and the Free-Choice Challenge.
Ready-Made Challenges:
- Open source IDS Connectors on Edge;
- Tool for automatic deployment of containerized applications in a Cloud or on premise environment;
- Secure Multi party computation;
- PLATOON compliant data management and interoperability solution;
- PLATOON Photovoltaic forecasters;
- Tool for scanning maintenance logs.
Free-Choice Challenge:
Participants are free to propose their own challenge and solve it based on the project information provided in the applicant guide regarding project objective, reference architecture, components we are already developing and the available pilots. In this sense, transversal solutions applicable to more than one pilot are preferred.
What is the timeline?
The 1st PLATOON Open Call will select 6 SMEs during the period from April 2021 to June 2021, that once selected will enter into a 9-month support framework programme, across different stages that will be tailored to the beneficiaries needs.
Eligibility of applicants
In order to be eligible for this call, candidates must have experience in at least one of the following areas:
- Digital Interoperability (APIs and Data models)
- Data governance, security, privacy and sovereignty
- Data Analytics applications in energy (such as Energy usage optimisation, Predictive maintenance, Demand forecast, etc.)
- Edge computing (S/H)
Next steps
SMEs from EU member states and H2020 Associated Countries are expected to APPLY for the 1st Open Call before March 4th, 2021 at 17:00 CET (Brussels local time).
Please make sure to read the updated Guide for Applicants and our FAQ before applying, in order to fully understand this call and make the most out of your application.
Please join us at the Helpdesk space of our Online Community, our Support Space on the Open Calls, or send us a message at platoonhelpdesk@fundingbox.com to ask our questions and solve your doubts!
Wrap up
The H2020 project PLATOON has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 780495. The project started in 2020 and has a duration of three years. The project will reinforce the European efforts for the modernisation of the European electricity grid and offer access to cheaper and sustainable energy for consumers while maximising social welfare. Together with ENGIE, the following institutions and companies also participate in the project: TECNALIA Research and Innovation, University of Bonn, Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS), Engineering, University of Brussels (VUB) with its OWI-Lab, Institute Mihajlo Pupin, Giroa as member of VEOLIA Group, SISTEPLANT, SAMPOL Ingeniería y Obras S.A., Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology, University Library (TIB), Politecnico di Milano, the Municipality of Rome, Poste Italiane, Mandat International, FundingBox Accelerator (FBA), Minsait (an Indra company), ComSensus, the Basque Energy Cluster (CEPV) and UDG Alliance.
PLATOON has an undoubtable potential towards enabling the modernization of the European energy grids through the introduction of innovative solutions. By introducing new implementations of distributed/edge processing and data analytics, PLATOON seeks to build upon data as a resource for the maximisation of energy efficiency. Given that PLATOON’s approach seeks to address all elements of the value chain, the protection of the interests of the end-users and the generation of trust is a key requirement to ensure that this project has a positive impact and its results can be adopted by the EU energy sector.
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