ExpectedOutcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
- Development of innovative EGNSS and Copernicus based solutions that contribute to the implementation of the European Green deal[1]. These solutions can play a major role in the transformation of the EUs economy into a climate-neutral economy by 2050, as well as support environmental protection, maintaining biodiversity, etc.
Uptake of Copernicus services and/or Galileo’s specific features and differentiators in areas such as zero-pollution, EU methane strategy, clear and renewable energy and circular economy; sustainable and smart mobility; building and renovation, and digital/precision farming supporting the farm to fork strategy.
Scope:
Proposals should focus on the development of innovative EGNSS and Copernicus applications that support the Green Deal objectives and its related policies and they can be submitted in any of the following areas:
- Increasing the EU’s climate ambition for 2030 and 2050: EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which contribute to CO2 reductions and a toxic free environment, through better monitoring and preventing pollution from the air, water, soil and consumer products as well as natural catastrophes as pollution sources.
- Supplying clean, affordable and secure energy: EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which support the supply of clean, affordable and secure renewable energy.
- Mitigating natural hazards:EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which limit the damage from fires, floods or other natural hazards.
- Accelerating the shift to sustainable and smart mobility: EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which enable or contribute to the development and impact monitoring of new sustainable mobility services and which reduce congestion, emissions and pollution especially in urban areas, while keeping costs at an efficient/reasonable level. Examples of emerging applications include automated and connected multimodal transport, public transport, mobility as a service, autonomous driving, IoT solutions for efficient mobility, road maintenance, air quality monitoring and forecasting.
- Building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way: EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions, which contribute to the digitisation, smart monitoring and tracking of building and renovation processes. Examples of emerging applications include EGNSS based augmented or mixed reality for construction, special mapping solutions for making digital twins of buildings, utilities and infrastructure using Building Information Modelling (BIM), location-based applications for governmental processes, e.g. energy labelling of buildings leveraging the authentication feature, sensors for smart monitoring, drones with thermal camera to detect water and thermal leaks.
- From “Farm to Fork”: a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system: EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which provide for food security and traceability across the entire supply chain and valorisation of the “made in Europe”. Precision or digital EGNSS farming solutions, which reduce significantly the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers and help saving water for irrigation. Innovative EGNSS and/or Copernicus based tools that support the digitisation of post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy or other agri-environmental policies.
- Preserving and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity. EGNSS and/or Copernicus based solutions which enhance biodiversity monitoring and enable data-driven decision tools for policymakers, to stop biodiversity loss and support the EU nature restoration plan. Examples of emerging applications include monitoring and detection of actions which are threatening the functionality of the ecosystem.
The solutions developed for all areas should leverage the Copernicus data or core services products including Copernicus contributing missions and/or EGNSS differentiators, e.g. High Accuracy Service, authentication features or Galileo Open Service with multi-frequency capability. The developed solutions may integrate technologies like IoT, big data, artificial intelligence, drones, 5G, augmented/mixed reality etc.
The developed applications should have a clearly defined commercial potential and should respond to well identified user needs. The developed solution is expected achieve TRL7-9 by the end of the project
Proposals should deliver new innovative applications, with commercial impact and a clear market uptake.
For proposals under this topic:
- Participation of industry, in particular SMEs and midcaps, is encouraged;
- Participation of, or outreach to, entities based in countries without a space tradition is encouraged;
- Involvement of post-graduate researchers (engineers, scientists, and others) is also encouraged, for example through professional work experience or through fellowships/scholarships when applicable;
- A Business Plan and evidence of user engagement is compulsory and must be provided as part of the proposal, to demonstrate the user need and sustainability of the project.
Proposals addressing PRS (Public Regulated Service) related applications are not in the scope of this action.
Proposals under this topic should exploit synergies and be complementary to national activities and activities funded by ESA.
Applicants are welcome to use the European space data infrastructures, e g. Galileo Service Centre, EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS) and the EGNOS user support facilities (ASQF).
Applicants are advised to exploit all possible synergies with other specific actions related to the European Green Deal and funded under the work programme of Cluster 5 “Climate, Energy and Mobility” and of Cluster 6 'Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment'.
Specific Topic Conditions:
Activities are expected to achieve TRL7-9 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
[1]COM (2019) 640 of 11 December 2019
