The main aim of the FFplus project is to raise awareness about the business benefits that HPC-related and generative AI technologies bring to the industry, especially SMEs and startups, and to support them in bringing their innovation projects to life through the funding mechanisms of the Open Calls.
Business Experiments Open Call
Below you can read the key details about the Business Experiments Open Call. In case you are unsure or have more questions, you are invited to join the webinar on July 1st at 13.00 CET and July 8th at 10.00 CET. Registration for the webinar is obligatory.
Which SMEs can apply?
Proposals are sought that address business challenges from European SMEs from varied application domains, whereby SMEs whose adoption of advanced HPC services will create the highest business impact will be
prioritized. Only organisations with head offices based in an EU Member State or in associated countries that are eligible to receive funding from the Digital Europe Programme are eligible to receive funding.
Key Details
Submission Deadline:
4th September 2024, at 17:00 Brussels local time
Indicative Timetable:
The new experiments commence at the beginning of January 2025. The maximum duration of the experiments is 15 months.
Funding for Open Call:
The indicative total funding budget is EUR 4 million.
The maximum funding request per proposal is EUR 200,000.
Why should SMEs apply?
Address Specific Business Challenges: Solve pressing business
issues with the help of HPC.
Develop and Optimize Solutions:
Create or enhance innovative,
advanced solutions, products, or processes.
Acquire New Know-How:
Adapt to and implement
state-of-the-art technologies such as HPC, HPDA, and AI.
Achieve Clear Business Benefits: Experience benefits like reduced
time-to-market, higher ROI, and lower R&D and production costs.
Innovation Studies Open Call
Below you can read the key details about the Business Experiments Open Call. In case you are unsure or have more questions, you are invited to join the webinar on July 1st at 15.30 CET and July 8th at 14.00 CET. Registration for the webinar is obligatory.
Which SMEs and start-ups can apply?
The innovation studies
must use large-scale European HPC resources (e.g., pre-exascale and exascale supercomputers) to develop and customise generative AI models such as foundation and large language models. Only organisations with head offices based in an EU Member State or in associated countries that are eligible to receive
funding from the Digital Europe Programme are eligible to receive funding.
Key Details
Submission Deadline:
4th September 2024, at 17:00 Brussels local time
Indicative Timetable:
The new experiments commence on December 1st, 2024. The maximum duration of the experiments is 10 months.
Funding for Open Call:
The indicative total funding budget is EUR 4 million.
The maximum funding request per proposal is EUR 300,000.
Why should SMEs and start-ups apply?
Expand your generative AI business potential by leveraging new models
and exploiting European extreme-scale computing resources.
Develop a path to offer new value propositions to an expanded customer base.
Learn to integrate HPC capabilities into your machine-learning product and service development life-cycle.
The first FFplus Open Call webinars will take place on July 1st
For Business Experiments: starting at 13:00 CET
For Innovation Studies: starting at 15:30 CET
These webinars address European SMEs and startups, as well as supporting organisations (e.g., research institutes, universities, ISVs, IT providers) who want to learn more about solving business challenges and advancing to the next level with the help of HPC and AI, or taking the opportunity to develop and customise LLM models with generative AI.
