REACH - a second-generation European incubator for data-driven start-ups and SMEs has announced the 1st Call for Startups to facilitate the development of reliable and secure innovative solutions based on industrial and personal data.
REACH's main objective is to launch a sustainable second-generation incubator across Europe for data-driven start-ups and MPS. The incubator aims to stimulate the generation of 100 business ideas from MSOs and select from among them 30 solid business cases based on data-driven innovation, born out of experimentation in secure and reliable data value chains in various sectors. This, with the aim of launching new data-powered products and services onto the market and leveraging the capabilities of the best data-driven IHLs in Europe.
REACH will support the selected candidate through an 11-month programme, where experts in various fields will provide a successful working methodology, access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and services, training in business and data-related topics, coaching, mentoring, visibility and community-building support.
This 1st Open Call will accept 30 submissions led and executed by PMs/startups, actively involved in research, development and application activities. The selected projects must have the potential to imply a substantial advance in the state of the art, providing new services with the potential to improve the European Data Market (i.e. data-driven solutions that improve the exploitation of data assets) and/or reach the market in the short term.
Tracks
The call will be divided into three participation bands. Candidates must apply for one of them:
THEME -DRIVEN (Track 1):
- The cross-sectoral Data Value Chain (DVC) themes to be addressed by the participants have been defined by the REACH consortium. These DVC themes are Data Challenges on secure and trustworthy data value chains (e.g. tourism, energy, health and insurance, manufacturing/industry...).
- Applicants will select the theme on the DVCs reach Theme page and then choose a challenge from the REACH Challenge Catalogue (marked as Theme-Driven) at the registration stage.
- There will be two different DVC themed categories:
- Individual DVC themes: composed of a single experiment.
- Collaborative DVC themes: composed of complementary and individual experiments.
- The data sets to be used in this range can be a combination of the following:
- Data provided by REACH data providers and available in the REACH DATA CATALOGUE.
- Dataset or datasets, external to the REACH Data Catalogue (i.e. open data), provided that the applicant has rights to access and process the data in compliance with data protection regulations and has legal permission to include it in a commercial solution.
- Set of data or data sets provided by the Data Provider/s candidates bring to the project.
- It is not always necessary to have a combination of datasets to demonstrate DVC in experimentation. Applicants are encouraged to use datasets provided by REACH data providers. 50% of the Theme-Driven successful applicants will use datasets from the REACH Data Catalogue.
READY-MADE (Track 2):
- Applications will deal with challenges defined by REACH data providers according to the needs detected in their market. Applicants will select the challenge to be solved from the REACH Challenge Catalogue (marked as Ready) at the application stage. The use of datasets from different sectors or fields to create cross-sector DVCs is encouraged.
- Applicants are encouraged to combine these datasets available in the REACH Catalogue with other sectors (i.e. open data). At least 20% of the experiments selected in this participation band will be intersected.
FREE CHOICE (Track 3):
- Applicants will create new DVCs by bringing their own Data Provider/s and/or their own datasets with those already facilitated within the REACH Data Catalogue. The applicant, a single SME, will apply together with its own Data Provider/s (at least one) proposing a joint challenge to be solved.
- Applicants are encouraged to combine datasets from different sectors. At least 10% of the experiments selected in this participation band will be cross-sectoral.
IMPORTANT: To a Track 1 (THEME ORIENTED) e Track 3 (FREE CHOICE)If the applicant brings their own data provider, the data provider will have to fulfil the country's eligibility rules (section 4.2) and follow the same rules as the current REACH data providers. In short: fill in the Data Providers application form as indicated in the Registration Form to be completed by the Applicant.
- To sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the REACH project coordinator, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux energies alternatives (CEA), at the time of application and before 1 April 2021. The MoU template is available here.
- Sign the Sub-Concession Contract if the Applicant is selected before the start of incubation in April 2021. A model Sub-grant Agreement is available here.
- Provide access to data and assistance to the Sub-beneficiary if selected.
- Participate in meetings with the sub-company organised by the project and in evaluations at the respective pitches and events, if selected.
Benefits
- Free capital financing of up to €120,000: Equity-free cascade funding for organisations to finance their innovations
- Access to large corporations and their industrial datasets: A range of Data Providers from different sectors offering their data and corporate challenges for experimental innovations
- Access to digital and business skills: Data mentoring and business coaching will be available for companies to help develop their experiments into market-ready solutions
- Enter the toolbox for secure and reliable data value chains: Ready-to-use tools and state-of-the-art technology to increase trust and security in data sharing and exchange (blockchain, data anonymisation and component minimisation, and tools for developing applications that are trustworthy by design)
- Big data computing infrastructure: Big Data infrastructure to host experiments and facilitate the development of data-driven solutions in a short space of time
- Access to private investment: A network of corporate and private investors engaged in selecting and potentially investing in promising companies with great growth and market potential.
- Visibility: REACH will offer ecosystem and organisational visibility for new partnerships and business opportunities
LocationBoth SMEs and PDs must be established in a country eligible for Horizon2020:
- The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including its outermost regions;
- Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- H2020 Associated countries: according to the updated list published by the EC. UK applicants are eligible under the conditions set by the EC for H2020 participation at the time of the call deadline, provided there is an adjustment with any of these call challenges.
Eligibility criteria
- The candidates accepted for REACH open calls are start-ups in the form of SMEs, which fit in with the proposed participation bands:
- Individual SME experience: SMEs or data-driven start-ups solving challenges and experiments.
- Collaborative SME experiment: Several data-driven SMEs will carry out different experiments under a common DVC theme or Data Provider challenge. This form of collaboration will be fostered by REACH partners, for example by identifying synergies between candidates throughout the incubation and facilitating their collaboration. The consortium will target 20% experiments that advance this collaborative scheme to contribute to the DVC concept.
- The use of big data tools is necessary.
- Uniqueness of the proposal.
- Candidates accepted for REACH open calls are start-ups in the form of SMEs. An SME will be considered as such if it complies with Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME user guide. To summarise, the criteria that define an SME are:
- Count of employees in Annual Work Unit (AWU) of less than 250.
- Annual turnover less than or equal to €50 million or annual balance sheet total less than or equal to €43 million.
