FFPlus Open Call 2 for business experiments addressing the uptake of HPC by SMEs
Seeks to enhance the adoption of High-Performance Computing (HPC) by SMEs through innovative business experiments that demonstrate the technology's potential to address specific business challenges and drive competitiveness across Europe.
FFPlus Open Call 2 for business experiments is a funding opportunity aimed at empowering SMEs with advanced computational capabilities using High-Performance Computing (HPC). This initiative seeks to drive innovation, enhance competitiveness, and address business challenges through the adoption of HPC technologies by SMEs across Europe.
Type of projects to be funded: The call targets business experiments for SMEs new to HPC, aiming to solve specific business challenges and demonstrate the business impact of HPC adoption. FFplus sub-projects are expected to make use of the HPC resources provided under the EuroHPC JU access schemes, or nationally provisioned HPC resources (considered equivalent).
Sectors / domain: The open call is open to various application domains and prioritises SMEs whose adoption of HPC services will create significant business impact.
Individual or consortium: Proposals can be submitted by individual SMEs or consortiums, with a maximum of five partners. Each partner must have a clearly defined role.
Specific eligibility requirements:
- A main participant is an SME or a startup; and supporting participants are organisations supporting the main participant in the technical work needed to achieve the objectives defined for the experiment.
- Only organisations with head offices in EU Member States or associated countries eligible for funding from the Digital Europe Programme may apply. Participants are limited to engaging in either business experiments or innovation studies.
- At least 50% of the funding applied for should be allocated to the main participants.
- Subcontracting costs are not eligible.
Specific topics or challenges: The call seeks proposals addressing business challenges of SMEs that have not previously used HPC services.
Projects duration: The expected duration of the funded projects is 15 months.
Budget, funding rates and payment conditions:
Funding rate: 100% for eligible direct costs.
Budget conditions / limitations: The total funding budget for this call is €4 million, with a maximum funding request per proposal of €200,000. The maximum funding that can be allocated to any Third Party is €150,000.
Payments: Payments will be made in multiple tranches, starting with an advance payment, followed by instalments linked to deliverables.
Key dates: Submissions are due by 17:00 Brussels local time on August 26th, 2025, with project commencement expected in January 2026.
Links
Closes
26/08/2025
Max funding per project
200.000€