Under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), the European Commission expects to open calls for proposals to fund AI Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) in February 2022. These TEFs will be in the sectors of agri-food (€30 million), healthcare (€30 million), manufacturing (€30 million) as well as smart cities and communities (€20). These calls will be co-funded equally at EU and Member States level.

The European Commission foresees one large-scale project of €40 - €60 million overall funding per sector, each of them requiring a consortium of several testing facilities across Europe. To support the community in building these consortia, the European Commission will organise an online information day on 29 November 2021, after which stakeholders can continue to network on the brokerage days on 2 and 3 December and on the matchmaking platform available afterwards for a longer period (exact duration tbc).

The goal of the info-day is to raise awareness of the upcoming sectorial TEFs DIGITAL calls and give relevant stakeholders already the opportunity to identify potential collaborators.

In the morning of the info-day, the European Commission will present the concept and process on TEFs and answer questions. After a lunch break, potential proposers will be invited to pitch either their project ideas or the competence they can offer to a consortium in the making.  This will be followed by a poster session where visitors can meet potential proposers presenting their project ideas or competence. More information on the video-conferencing tools available will come soon.

Participation is free of charge but registration will be mandatory (to be opened soon). In case there are too many requests for the pitching sessions, selection will be on a first-in-first served basis.

Draft Agenda

• 9:15-9:30: dial-in (if necessary)
• 9h30: Presentation on TEFs: concept & process by European Commission
• 10h15: Q&A
• 10h30: Coffee break
• 10h45: Presentation of four sectors: agri-food, healthcare, manufacturing as well as smart cities & communities
• 11h45: Q&A
• 12h30: Lunch break
• 14h00: Project ideas presentations (parallel sessions per sector)
• 15h00: Q&A
• 15h30: Poster session
• 15h50: Conclusion
• 16h00: End

Organiser: European Commission, DG CNECT

More here: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/events/online-information-and-…