2nd Open Call: Calling upon all European SMEs in the construction sector!

The consortium of the SUSTAIN Eurocluster organised last week an information webinar to disseminate the second open call, which aims to boost innovation in the construction sector. The webinar, conducted by the CERTH researcher and project coordinator, Nikos Laloumis, served to present the requirements of the second round of financial opportunities, which target go-to-market solutions with a total budget of 450,000 euros.

Laloumis emphasised the fact that this second call aims at “projects in an advanced stage of maturity (TRL 7-8)”, which “include projects in the pilot, prototyping, demonstration, testing or product validation phases.” Therefore, these financial opportunities will go to “support the development of new products and innovative services for SMEs that, in turn, allow them to address the challenges of sustainable construction”. “This is a great opportunity to drive innovative changes within small and medium companies”, Laloumis said.

Following this, the project coordinator proceeded to detail the eligible disruptive technologies which must feature in the submitted projects and which are changing the state of the art in the construction sector. Proposals must be aligned with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Building Information Modeling (BIM), Energy Efficiency Certificates (EPC), Energy Management Systems Buildings (BEMS), the Internet of Things (IoT), and methodologies or tools for the renovation of Positive Energy Buildings (PEB). All of them will have to be properly coupled with the Smart Readiness Indicators (SRI).

As Laloumis explained, each organization interested in taking part may apply individually or as part of a consortium, with each proposal having a maximum budget of €30,000.

The deadline for sending applications is August 27, 2024 and those interested must send proposals through the Open Calls portal.

For more information, download the application guide here.

The webinar also featured in a second part where members of the IsZEB Cluster made a presentation about the Smart Readiness Indicators (SRI), which are pivotal for the success of the proposals. The research engineer at IsZEB, Penelope Valiouli, presented the technical domains of SRI and the methodology for calculating the SRI score.

Video of the session available here.