OPEN CALL 2 IS CLOSED!

SNS JU – Stream B Enablers

CALL INFORMATION

Project full name: 6G eXperimental Research infrastructure to enable next-generation XR services 
Project Grant Agreement number: 101096838 
Call identifier: 6G-XR-OC2
Call title: 2nd 6G-XR Open Call – Stream B Enablers
Expected opening date: 22 March 2024
Feasibility check deadline: NEW DEADLINE! 29 April 2024 @ 17:00 CET 22 April 2024 @ 17:00 CET
Final submission deadline: 22 May 2024 @ 17:00 CET
Information Webinar on Open Call 2: 27 March 2024 @ 12:30 PM CET
Notification of the results: End June 2024
Signature: July-August 2024
Start of the Experiment: September 2024

CALL DOCUMENTS

The purpose of the second Open Call is to validate, test, and/or incorporate enablers coming out of Horizon Europe SNS JU Stream B thematises. Out of these thematises, in particular proposals on the topics and subtopics in the following AREAS (and 6G-XR Infrastructures) are requested: Reflective intelligent surfaces, Deterministic communications, Energy measurement, AI/ML for slicing, Load balancing, Security and trust mechanisms, Increased capacity, Other Stream B thematises. A more detailed description of the topics can be found in the 6G-XR Open Call 2 Information Document.

The 6G-XR 2nd Open Call Information Webinar slides can be downloaded here.

Download the 6G-XR OC2 info webinar slides

AVAILABLE FUNDING

Open Call Project durationMax funding (€)No of projectsTotal funding (€)
6G-XR-OC26 months60.00010  600.000 € 

For the implementation of the third party project, a total lump sum of the awarded amount will be paid upon the completion of the project. No advance payments will be made. Budget categories that are accepted include: Personnel costs; Travel costs; Overhead (indirect) costs – 25% of total direct costs. 

The payment of the total amount will be made once the project activities have been performed completely, the deliverables and final report have been reviewed and accepted by the 6G-XR project and a final decision on the approval of the third party project and deliverables has been issued.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

  • The proposal is submitted by a legal entity established and based in one of the EU Member States or a Horizon Europe Associated country. The targeted organisations in this Call are (i) SMEs; (ii) Industry; (iii) Research/scientific organisation; (iv) Academia.
  • The proposal is submitted by a single party. The submission of proposals by consortia is not eligible.
  • The proposer CANNOT BE AFFILIATED TO ANY OF THE CONSORTIUM PARTNERS OF THE 6G-XR PROJECT.
  • The proposal complies with the type of activity qualified for financial support: (i) Personnel costs; (ii) Travel costs; (iii) Indirect costs (25% of the direct costs). No other cost categories are eligible. 
  • The proposal is submitted in English. 
  • The proposal is submitted through the official Open Call Submission Tool on the 6G-XR website providing all the required documents (completed proposal template and declaration of honour). 
  • Proposals need to come from the European Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) Stream B thematises. Proposals are required to justify their linkage to Stream B thematises, and proposals coming directly from Stream B projects are required to ensure the proposed work is not already covered by the existing Stream B project, but it is in fact novel. If the proposal is based on Stream B action, there needs to be a clear justification how the proposal goes beyond the project’s description of action, or what is the difference between the respective description of action and this proposal. 6G-XR reserves the right to terminate a funded Open Call project during execution if these conditions are found not to be respected.
  • Feasibility check is mandatory and the proposals must to be submitted for feasibility evaluation before the Feasibility check deadline. Proposals failing submission for feasibility will not be evaluated.
  • The proposal has been submitted within the deadline set in this document. Late proposals will not be admitted.
  • The proposal complies with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) regarding all personal data that might be included in the proposal.

FEASIBILITY CHECK

The Open Call 2 is looking for proposals in the European Smart Networks and Services (SNS) – Stream B domain. In particular, enablers suited for the development of holographic communications, digital twinning, and network energy sustainability are being sought after. 

The feasibility check will be carried out by the 6G-XR consortium partners acting as Mentor organisations with the support of other partners as needed. Initial feedback will be provided for the proposed planned activities. In order to be eligible and receive feedback, a description of planned experiment (sections A, B, C and J of the proposal template) must be submitted by the designated deadline (Monday, 29 April 2024 at 17:00 CET 22 April 2024 at 17:00 CET). 

Under the tab ‘Stage’, please select the option ‘Feasibility Check’ in order to submit your proposal for a feasibility check. Please note that in order to make a final submission, you have to select ‘Final Submission’ under the tab ‘Stage’. If you have submitted your proposal under the ‘Feasibility Check’ option, it will not be considered as a final submission and will not be evaluated. 

Actual feasibility check of the proposal will be conducted after the submission deadline.

SUBMISSION

Proposers must apply ONLY through the 6G-XR Open Call Submission Tool available here below. In order to submit your proposal, please complete the online form and attach the required documents (Proposal Template and Declaration of Honour).

CONTACT INFORMATION

Important information is already included in the available Open Call 2 documents (Information Document, Proposal Template, Declaration of Honour, Draft Third Party Agreement). Please review thoroughly these documents as well as the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Open Call 2 page.  

If the answer to your question cannot be found in the documentation, you can send your question to the following email address: [email protected]. In case your question refers to technical details of the offered research infrastructure, you can send your question to the same email address [email protected], clearly mentioning which infrastructure the question relates to. 

Questions can be sent at the latest 7 calendar days before the submission deadline.

Mar 22nd

Application process starts

Mar 27th

Information Webinar OC2

Apr 29th

New feasibility check deadline

May 22nd

Final Submission deadline

Jun 2024

Results notification

Sept 2024

Start of the experiment

F.A.Q. – Frequently Asked Questions

The 6G-XR Open Call 2 is open to all legal entities established and based in one of the EU Member States or a Horizon Europe Associated country. The targeted organisations in this Call are (i) SMEs; (ii) Industry; (iii) Research/scientific organisation; (iv) Academia.

The maximum amount that can be requested per project is EUR 60 000. A breakdown of costs is required in the proposal template, where you should list the allocation of budget among the available budget categories: personnel, travel and indirect costs. A total lump sum of the awarded amount will be paid upon the completion of the project.

The proposer should apply through the online submission tool available on the Open Call webpage by filling in the online form and uploading 1) the completed proposal template and 2) the signed declaration of honour. Please follow the guidelines provided in the proposal template on how to fill in each section.

Please note that in the draft proposal that will be submitted for the feasibility check, at least sections A, B, C and J of the proposal template should be fully completed.

No, only single entities are entitled to apply.

6G-XR foresees the selection of around ten projects for the 2nd Open Call.

The proposer should use the proposal template and fill in at least sections A, B, C and J. The proposal should be submitted through the online submission tool (please select ‘Feasibility Check’ under the tab ‘Stage’). The 6G-XR partners will review the feasibility of the proposed project idea and provide feedback on whether it is possible to implement the proposed project considering the available 6G-XR research infrastructures. The proposer should include the observations received during the feasibility check in section E of the proposal template.

Please note that in order to make a final submission, you have to select ‘Final Submission’ under the tab ‘Stage’. If you have submitted your proposal under the ‘Feasibility Check’ option, it will not be considered as a final submission and will not be evaluated. 

Please be aware that the partner responsible for the feasibility check will NOT review draft proposals or propose any changes to the proposal. The partner will only give feedback on the feasibility of the proposed project idea. The feasibility check does not provide a commitment that the proposal will be selected.

Based on the current planning, you can start your project as soon as the evaluation and third party agreement signature procedure are completed (tentative: September 2024). The project should be finished by February 2025.

Please, see section 13 of the Third Party Project Agreement template. As the 6G-XR Project has defined the terms of the Third Party Project Agreement template, the wording of the Agreement must be strictly followed.

Agreement: “The Background is the property of the Party that provides the material or information.” Comment: This means that the Third Parties remain the owners of their own Background.

Agreement: “Results shall be owned by the Party whose employee(s) generated such Results, or on whose behalf such Results have been generated”.
Comment: This means that the Third Parties shall own the results they produce.

Agreement: “Notwithstanding any ownership or Intellectual Property Rights in the Results/Deliverables of the Third Party(ies), the Third Party(ies) agree to grant a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable and unlimited right of use with the right to modify and for sub-licensing to Consortium Partners and their Affiliates for the implementation of the 6G-XR Project with regard to all Results achieved by the Third Party in the course of the work according to this Agreement and to the Background of the Third Party(ies) related to these Results”.
Comment: This covers the implementation of the 6G-XR Project.

Agreement: “If Consortium Partner(s) or their Affiliates need to use the Results and/or the related Background of a Third Party for use or commercial exploitation of their own Results of the 6G-XR Project , each Third Party shall grant a non-exclusive, transferable right of use with regard to Third Party Results and related Background royalty-free conditions.”
Comment: for the Background, this covers “related Background”. In addition, this covers only those limited situations where the consortium partners need to use the related Background for use or commercial exploitation of their own Results of the 6G-XR Project.

Agreement: “The Third Party(ies) acknowledge and agree that the Results/ Deliverables will be integrated by the Consortium Partners (or by the Third Party itself, if specifically agreed between the respective Parties) into the test networks of the Consortium Partners. The Results that will be achieved with this kind of integration shall belong to the Consortium Partner creating/ generating the Result.”

There is no network that needs to be joined. The eligibility criteria means the proposal needs to align with some SNS JU Stream B phase 1 or phase 2 topic, e.g. System Architecture (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-B-01-01), Wireless Communication Technologies and Signal Processing (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM- B-01-02), Communication Infrastructure Technologies and Devices (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-B-01- 03), Secure Service development and Smart Security (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-B-01-04), 6G Holistic System (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-B-01-05), etc.

The proposal does need to come out of any funded project within the Stream B portfolio, but any novel proposal on a thematic is possible.

The project can propose what resources can be adjusted. Mainly, the resources that can be adjusted are in the radio interface, such as transmit power or data transmission resources that are split between different slices. We are using the n77 and n78 bands and they are both TDD bands.

The parameters depend on the resources that are being adapted. Please see the answer to the first question above.

No, you do not need to duplicate resources, but we will provide you with access to 5GTN, both remotely and locally. We recommend that you budget for travel to Oulu for local access to 5GTN.

The algorithm can cover either Core or RAN or both, depending on the resources to be adapted.

The project can use either commercial or open source cores. It is not required to cover both.

The DoH is not required for feasibility checks. Instead, it must be included in the final submission in order for your proposal to be eligible for evaluation.

As indicated in the OC Info Document (Sec 1.3.1 Requirements related to the proposer): multiple submissions to the same or to different topics can be made and the proposer may be given the opportunity to choose the one to be retained for funding, however only one proposal can be accepted by a single legal entity.

The feasibility check is mandatory, but a negative result does not prevent you from making the final submission. The final submission must include the changes according to the feedback received.

In case the answer to your question cannot be found neither in the available Open Call 2 documents (Information Document, Proposal Template, Declaration of Honour, Draft Third Party Agreement), nor in the Frequently Asked Questions, you can send your question to the following email address: [email protected].

For technical details related to the offered infrastructures or topics, you are kindly requested to clearly mention in the subject line the exact topic (title and number) or infrastructure that you are referring to.

Information clause for personal data processing in the Open Call organised under 6G-XR Project Grant Agreement No.101096838

The data controller is Martel Innovate; you can contact us using the following email address: [email protected].

  1. To run an Open Call and collect data necessary to evaluate applications submitted in the Open Call.
  2. To realise the Project goals described in the Grant Agreement (e.g. communication, reporting, collaborating with other project partners). 
  3. To consider potential complaints and defend against them.
  4. To evaluate proposal eligibility (based on eligibility rules) and identify potential conflict of interest. 
  5. To gather feedback from applicants when the Open Call is over to improve processes. 
  6. To send a newsletter about other 6G-XR activity (e.g. information about other funding opportunities).
    When a proposal is selected for funding: 
  7. To collect the applicant’s details and documentation necessary to verify its legal status and prepare Third Party Agreement.

Legitimate interest of Martel Innovate (based on Art. 6.1.f of GDPR) which is fulfilling the obligations and our other interests related to implementation of the Project, and implementation of Third Party Agreement (based on Art. 6.1.b of GDPR).

The  data collected through our Open Call submission platform will be retained for 6 years from the end of the Project.

In principle, we do not share your personal data with anyone other than the persons who work for us, as well as with the 6G-XR project partners and with the suppliers who help us process your personal data. Anyone who has access to your personal data will always be bound by strict legal or contractual obligations to keep your personal data safe and confidential. This means that only the following categories of recipients will receive your personal data:

  • You;
  • Your employer or business partners, but only when this is necessary for the purposes mentioned above (e.g. when your employer is our supplier or customer);
  • Our employees and suppliers; and
  • Government or judicial authorities to the extent that we are obliged to share your personal data with them (e.g. tax authorities, police or judicial authorities).

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) (the European Economic Area consists of the EU, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland). We will only transfer your personal data outside the EEA if you or your employer, as a customer or supplier, have offices outside the EEA with which we need to communicate. If a transfer were to take place, we will take sufficient safeguards to protect your personal data during the transfer (e.g. by entering into an agreement based on standard data protection clauses approved by the European Commission).

6G-XR is a project funded by the European Commission, meaning that it is possible that another (consortium of) partner(s) will take over it in the future as a result of a new funding round. In that case, your personal data may be transferred to the new (consortium of) partner(s) in order to ensure the continuity of the 6G-XR project and after you have been informed thereof.

Due to the fact that we process your personal data, you have the right to: 

  1. request access to your personal data, 
  2. demand the rectification of your personal data, 
  3. Request to remove or limit the processing of your personal data. Important: Data collected for the purpose of investigating a potential conflict of interest will be stored for the indicated retention period and will not be deleted even at the request of the applicant before the end of the retention period. 
  4. Complain with the supervisory authority (https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en). 
  5. You also have a right to object to processing of your personal data for all purposes indicated above (according to the Article 21 of GDPR).