The SNS 2025 R&I Work Programme published on the SNS web site includes an Appendix 1, page 42, which specifies the call conditions for RIAs, under Streams B and C, and the award criteria table.

For RIAs under Streams B and C and for IAs under Stream D, the award criteria table is complemented as follows:

“- Introduction in the impact section of a sub criterion assessing the proposal contribution to the IKOP objectives;”

The sub criterion is to be found in the table of section 3.D that outlines the main award criteria for the various actions.

For all projects granted under this call, the total amount of eligible costs from members of the 6G-IA not reimbursed by the granting authority (SNS JU) should reach 2.4%, except for Stream B05 and Stream C which is 3.6%, of the project budget in order to reach the programmatic IKOP target of 6% (EUR 8 million). Further, for Stream D it should reach 19,5% of the project budget.

Only for-profit companies that are members of the 6G Industry Association (6G-IA) contribute to IKOP generation. The appendix also specifies in a table how the IKOP target at Programme level is converted in minimum values per Stream. All percentages of IKOP levels listed in the appendix are minimum values resulting from the conversion of the total targeted IKOP level for the Call when considering past average participation per type of beneficiary (for-profit & not-for-profit members -or non-members- of the 6G-IA). Note that universities, even if they are members of the 6G-IA, do not contribute to IKOP as they receive 100% of their eligible costs in all types of project (RIA).

At evaluation level, the Work Programme appendix also explains under section 1.6 how the IKOP level of a proposal may be used to sort out the ties between two or more equally ranked proposals.

IKOP generation is linked to i) 6G-IA membership, and ii) funding rate. Whatever the proposal, IKOP can only be generated by a participant that is member of the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA). If a participant is a for-profit company, its eligible costs are reimbursed at 90% for RIA. Then its IKOP generation is 10% of the eligible costs of this partner that are not reimbursed by the granting authority. But if a 6G-IA participant of the proposal is a non-for-profit member (e.g., university, research center, etc.) it is entitled to 100% reimbursement of its eligible costs and hence does not generate IKOP, even if it is  a member of the 6G-IA. IKOP generation for a given participant is hence computed as the percentage of eligible costs that are not reimbursed by the granting authority and this depends on the type of partner.

NB: For 6G-IA members that participate in the proposals as Associated Partners, all their requested amount is considered as IKOP.

The IKOP information is included at proposal stage and Applicants have to submit an IKOP declaration table (see section D of this FAQ).  The relevant sub-criterion is assessed based on the proposal information and 6G-IA information on Membership at the Call closing date.

Switzerland is still in the association process, and it was agreed that transitional arrangements apply to 2025 calls onwards. This has been reflected in the List of participating countries. Applicants from Switzerland should be treated as entities established in an associated country throughout the process, from admissibility and eligibility to evaluation, up until the preparation of grant agreements. Therefore, in terms of IKOP, the standard rules apply, as mentioned in the relevant FAQ  item above.

As of 1 January 2024, the entities established in the UK can participate under equivalent conditions as those applicable to entities established in the Union in all SNS JU calls implementing the programme’s budget of 2024 and onwards, within the scope of the UK’s association. UK applicants are therefore eligible to receive EU funding, sign Horizon Europe grant agreements as beneficiaries and can also act as project coordinators.

See the Horizon Europe List of Participating Countries on the Portal for an up-to-date list of associated countries.

F&T portal FAQ: Funding & tenders (europa.eu)

Until association agreements start producing legal effects either through provisional application or their entry into force, transitional arrangements may apply if provided for in the particular Horizon Europe Work Programme. Therefore, the General Annexes apply (see section B, eligibility): […] For the purposes of the eligibility conditions, applicants established in Horizon 2020 Associated Countries or in other third countries negotiating association to Horizon Europe will be treated as entities established in an Associated Country, if the Horizon Europe association agreement with the third country concerned applies at the time of signature of the grant agreement.

In practice, applicants from these countries should be treated as entities established in an associated country throughout the process, from admissibility and eligibility to evaluation, up until the preparation of grant agreements. However, if, by the time of the signature of the grant, any of these countries has not signed the association agreement to Horizon Europe, entities from that country in the selected projects will be treated as 3^rd country partners.

More information on the list of participating countries of Horizon Europe can be found here.

It is up to the proponents to decide what best corresponds to their plans and exploitation timeline taking into account 6G developments worldwide and the expected state of the art based on R&I and standardisation roadmaps for core 6G technologies.

“Minimum participation of 6G-IA Members” means that participants in these project proposals must be members of the 6G-IA, or an affiliated entity to a member of the 6G-IA, at the required percentage. In particular, at least half of the budget should be implemented by the SNS JU member (other than the Union) and their constituent or affiliated entities for HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-01-STREAM-B-05 and HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-01-STREAM-C-01.

In addition, for HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-02-STREAM-D-01 at least 70% of the budget should be implemented by the SNS JU member (other than the Union) and their constituent or affiliated entities.

For those Streams (Table in Section 3.B of the Appendix of the SNS 2025 R&I Work Programme), applicants will be invited to fill a mandatory table of compliance at proposal stage in the Application Form Technical Description (Part B).

NB: Proposals that do not fulfil the required conditions, including the mandatory table of compliance, at the time of the proposal submission, will be considered ineligible and, therefore, they will not be evaluated.

Yes

For proposals under Stream B and C on topics identified as “subject to restrictions on participation in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation” (in the specific conditions for eligibility), participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Associated Countries, OECD and Mercosur countries.

For proposals under Stream D (SNS trials and pilots with verticals), to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, Norway and the following additional Associated Countries (Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).  (see also call restrictions under  FAQ Section E)

In addition, entities established in an eligible country, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by their eligible country of establishment, in so far this is a Member State or Associated Country, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic, assets, interests, autonomy, or security. Entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ (or entities fully or partially owned or controlled by a high-risk supplier) cannot submit guarantees.

Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments (including the grant agreement itself as well as subcontracts, purchase contracts, financial support to third parties etc.) can be signed with Hungarian public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals. However, in case the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties). In this case, co-applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.

Please also refer to the F&T Portal FAQs on how the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506 on measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary affects the participation of the concerned legal entities in Horizon Europe actions published on the Portal. This FAQ list may be updated following further guidance.

An online brokerage service is available to assist everyone to find projects and participants. Potential Applicants can present their profile and interests and/or present their project ideas. In summary, this tool shows information about potential proposals and also show expertise offered by potential applicants. We encourage all potential participants in the current SNS call to avail of this service and to make their proposals strong by finding the best partners and collaborations. An online brokerage Event will also take place around end of January (more information will follow on SNS website and SNS communication channels, e.g. LinkedIn)

More information on https://sns-brokerage.eu/

For more information about the “Registration of participants”, you may refer to this presentation from the Central Validation Service:

or check this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNl478WEtU

The target participation of SMEs at programme level (20%) refers to project budget, NOT to the number of SMEs participating in SNS JU projects. This percentage, as a target, represents the minimum indicative value at programme level.

There is no lower threshold or upper limit for SME participation, it is a programmatic target that aims for SME involvement. However, achieving or surpassing the target level of SME involvement is considered a positive aspect of a proposal. The target SME participation level is 20% at programme level and remains an award criterion.,. More specifically, for RIAs under Streams B, C and IAs under Stream D, the award criteria table is complemented as follows:

– Introduction in the impact section of a sub-criterion (“SME Participation and opportunities to leverage project results”) assessing the proposal contribution to the overall SME objective as appropriate;

SME participation can be also used as a tiebreaker when ranking proposals (see Section F of the SNS workprogramme).

These key strategic orientations are the guiding principles for all parts of Horizon Europe and will be implemented through the work programmes 2025-2027. They provide strategic orientations for all HE R&I activities including the SNS JU ones. Addressing these 3 pillars is important as they are key design principles of the R&I work programme and are translated into more concrete objectives in the text. Relevant points are included under each Stream specific challenges & objectives, and under Expected Outcome and Scope of each Topic and relevant proposal text will be considered for the evaluation in regard to excellence and Impact criteria.

In HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-STREAM-B-05, we target a FEM design that covers in priority the FR3 frequency range. Only in the case of integration breakthroughs for supporting various bands through a single system, FR1 and even FR2 may be considered. In principle, research focusing solely on FR1 or above 24 GHz (i.e., FR2 or above) are not in scope of this work.

Follow-Up/POC term is used in Topics that were also present in previous SNS JU Calls and aims to show the maturity of the specific Topics, the continuity of R&I efforts from a thematic perspective, the advanced research and the target for higher TRL, as we progress on the SNS roadmap. It does NOT refer by any means to continuation/extension of previous SNS JU projects or to any preferential treatment towards previous or ongoing SNS JU projects and consortia.

This is the case, unless the EU funding requested by the proposals allows for funding a 5^th project. Note that, to ensure a balanced portfolio within Stream D and to guarantee that the approved projects will have different centre of gravity from the identified vertical priorities (i.e., Industry/Manufacturing, Media, Transportation/Logistics, Emergency and Safety Services and Health), grants will be awarded to proposals not only in order of ranking but at least also to one project that is the highest ranked within each of the above vertical priorities, provided that the proposals attain all thresholds (and subject to available budget). Projects can focus on one or maximum two verticals per project, in the case of existing commonalities/complementarities between the selected two verticals; nevertheless, if addressing two verticals, applicants should still clearly indicate the centre of gravity, i.e. the main vertical of the project, for evaluation purposes.

As described under B-03-02 (Expected Outcome), the main focus is on integration of different optical systems in the overall 6G architecture and not the detailed development of optical components and systems. The integration of photonics and wireless systems including sensing is part of it.

Furthermore, under Scope potentially space links for NTN are mentioned (architectures and protocols), while components and systems are developed in other initiatives. The integration of photonics and wireless systems including sensing is also part of the scope.

Please note that B-03-02 Scope is mainly related to fixed optical systems. Free space Optical systems could be considered, but this is not regarded as main focus.

It is preferable that the mother group becomes member of the Association, which gives access to affiliate entities, if headquartered in Europe.

According to the statutes of the 6G-IA: Affiliate of a legal entity means a legal entity directly or indirectly Controlled by, or under common Control with or Controlling such legal entity, for so long as such Control lasts.  For the above purposes, “Control” of any entity shall exist through the direct or indirect:

– ownership of more than 50% of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the entity or of more than 50% of the issued share capital entitling the holders to vote for the election of directors or persons performing similar functions

– right by any other means to elect or appoint managing board members of the entity (or persons performing similar functions) who have a majority vote.

Yes, Observers can be considered as members for meeting the eligibility criterion related to the required minimum 6G-IA Members’ participation. However, this benefit is only granted to the Observer organisation itself and does not extend to any affiliates of the Observer organisation.   This is according to the 6G-IA Statutes (article 11bis) where it states “the benefits of membership of the Association as regards to the participation in Activities are not extended to the Affiliates belonging to the Group of an Observer”.

An Affiliate of an Observer wishing to participate in SNS JU calls and be considered as a 6G-IA member for the eligibility criterion related to the required minimum 6G-IA Members’ participation, may only do so if they become a 6G-IA Member in their own right and commit to the long-term goals of the 6G IA.

No, it is not.

Membership in the Association is open to and limited to entities with legal personality, that

• have a registered seat in the Member States, Candidate States and Associated Countries of the European Union; and
• support the mission and vision of the Association and Horizon Europe (SNS JU) Contractual Arrangement; and
• have research and development (herein “R&D”) activities in the Member States, Candidate States and Associated Countries of the European Union.

Yes the deadline to apply for 6G-IA membership is the 31st of August 2025. After that time it cannot be guaranteed that membership applications will be processed in time.

Yes, you need to communicate the PIC number of your organisation and the PIC number of any affiliated entities to the 6G-IA by the 5^th of September. For more information, you can reach out to Office@6g-ia.eu.

Yes, Observers can be considered as members for the accounting of the contribution to the target IKOP

However, this benefit is only granted to the Observer organisation itself and does not extend to any affiliates of the Observer organisation.   This is according to the 6G-IA Statutes (article 11bis) where it states “the benefits of membership of the Association as regards to the participation in Activities are not extended to the Affiliates belonging to the Group of an Observer”.

An Affiliate of an Observer wishing to participate in SNS JU calls and be considered as a 6G-IA member for the accounting of the contribution to the target IKOP, may only do so if they become a 6G-IA Member in their own right and commit to the long-term goals of the 6G IA.

Annexes to Part B are only meant for extra information and will not be counted in the page limit (70 pages limit in this Call). If the uploaded document for part B does contain more than the specified page limit, information contained in these extra pages will not be evaluated. Information that is important and to be evaluated to support the proposal must be, for the part B of the proposal, within the page limit as appropriate for the selected topic.

The additional Annex will be used  in the context of Restrictions on participation in accordance with Article 22(5) of the Horizon Europe Regulation. This will not be counted as pages in excess to the page limitation and will be taken into account as extra information.

Each partner in the proposal (contributing AND not contributing to IKOP generation) should fill up one line in the table that is provided in the Part B submission form, including the participant number in the proposal, the Membership status, the IKOP value (€), and the name & PIC of the 6G-IA member it is linked to (in the case of affiliate 6G-IA Members). In the “IKOP” column, the absolute value of the € value of the generated IKOP for this partner is indicated. This is summed at the bottom and divided by the overall eligible costs, to compute the percentage of IKOP generated by the proposal.

The final table will be provided in the submission forms as of Call Opening. An indicative table would look like the one below:

The 2025 Work Programme outlines that applicants will be invited to fill a mandatory table of compliance at proposal stage in the Application Form Technical Description (Part B).

Proposals that do not fulfil the above conditions, including the mandatory table of compliance, at the time of the proposal submission, will be considered ineligible and, therefore, will not be evaluated.

The final table (combined with IKOP) will be provided in the submission forms as of Call Opening. The indicative table would look like the one provided in the above FAQ point.

The same mechanism applies for all topics where it is requested that part of the consortium budget is implemented by 6G-IA members.

The full members as well as the observer 6G-IA members are listed at the 6G-IA web site (https://6g-ia.eu/). As 6G-IA is frequently receiving and approving new membership applications, it may take a few days for newly accepted members to appear on the web site. Note also that the definition of affiliated entity to a 6G-IA member can be found in the section “6G INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (6G-IA) ISSUES”. In case of any question, you can contact directly the 6G-IA Office at: Office@6g-ia.eu.

There are no strong recommendations on the number since this depends on a variety of aspects of the proposal. It will be assessed under criterion 3 and depends on the proposal objectives and projected work as well as the number of members of the consortium.

There is no recommendation on the number of partners within a consortium. This depends on many factors, including the proposal objectives.

For proposals under Stream B and Stream C, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Associated Countries, OECD and Mercosur countries.

For proposals under Stream D (SNS trials and pilots with verticals), participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, Norway and the following additional Associated Countries (Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).

Entities established in an eligible country, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in these actions unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by their eligible country of establishment, in so far this is a Member State or Associated Country, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic, assets, interests, autonomy, or security.

Entities that are assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ (or entities they fully or partially own or control) are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries, affiliated entities and associated partners.

‘Control’ will be defined as the possibility to exercise decisive influence on the participant, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediate entities, ‘de jure’ or ‘de facto’. The fact that no influence is actually exercised is not relevant, as long as the possibility exists. A participant will be considered to be ‘controlled’ when an (ineligible) third country, third country entity or third country national has the possibility to exercise decisive influence on the entity concerned, notably in relation to its strategic business decisions (such as appointment and removal of senior management, budget, investment business plans, market-specific decisions, etc).

No guidance can anticipate upon all possible constellations of control of an entity, hence, any assessment has to be done on a case-by-case basis, looking at the legal and factual position in each individual case.  Control will be assessed at the level of the ultimate ownership and control line and all intermediate layers (in case of indirect control).

The following elements will, in particular, be taken into account:

– ownership structure and specific rights;

– corporate governance;

– commercial links conferring control;

– financial links conferring control;

– other sources of control.

Participants  must fill in the ownership control declaration, annexed to the application form. This declaration must be signed by a person empowered to represent the legal entity. The coordinator must combine all declarations into one single document and submit it with the proposal (signed originals should be kept on file by the participants). Proposals missing this annex for any of their participants may be declared inadmissible. The participants will then undergo an ownership control assessment to determine whether they are controlled from an eligible country or not. Public bodies (validated as such in the Funding & Tenders Portal Participant Register) will automatically be considered as controlled by their country.

In all Topics, entities established in an eligible country, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by   their eligible country of establishment, in so far this is a Member State or Associated Country, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic, assets, interests, autonomy, or security. Entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ (or entities fully or partially owned or controlled by a high-risk supplier) cannot submit guarantees.

Participants must guarantee compliance (via a guarantee declaration form – last page) with the specific conditions set out in the SNS 2025 Work Programme and in the call conditions, namely:

a. control over the applicant legal entity is not exercised in a manner that retrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purpose of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action;

b. access by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented; and the employees or other persons involved in the action have a national security clearance issued by an eligible country, where appropriate;

c. ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or non-eligible country entity, and are not exported outside the eligible countries, nor is access to them from outside the eligible countries granted, without the approval of the eligible country in which the legal entity is established.

More information on restricted calls can be found here

At submission stage, it is for the participants to collect the necessary information as to their ownership control structure and duly fill in the ownership control declaration:

• Self-declaration: entity subject to control by an ineligible country or ineligible country entity:

If ineligible country control is already known at proposal submission, proposers are strongly advised to already prepare the guarantees as part of their proposal if established in an EU/AC  country (the approval, if needed, may be provided later during grant preparation). The guarantees must cover all conditions and explain the concrete measures put in place to ensure compliance.

• Self-declaration: entity NOT subject to control by an ineligible country or ineligible country entity:

Ownership control assessment will be conducted at the GAP stage. If control from an ineligible country is established by the granting authority in the context of the ownership control assessment check, the entity, if established in an EU/ AC country  will be requested to provide the guarantees during grant preparation, within 15 working days from receiving notification. The EU assessment process is launched only at the GAP stage i.e. for entities that participate in the proposals included on the main list.

Under both scenarios, the guarantees will be first assessed by the SNS JU/EU services, and later on the granting authority (i.e. SNS JU) will contact the national authorities of the country of establishment (eligible country) on the assessment of the guarantees and seek their confirmation, which will have to be provided within 30 working days. Information on the respective national authorities cannot be provided to the Proponents.

According to the AGA and HE Guidance, public bodies do not need to submit the ownership control declaration, but they must be formally validated as public bodies in the Participant Register prior to proposal submission. Therefore, public bodies do not need to submit the declaration form in situations where their public body status is confirmed and validated in the Participants register.

Employees and other persons involved in the action would normally need national security clearance only if they need to have access to classified information up to the level of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or above. EU CLASSIFIED INFORMATION (EUCI) means any information (documents/deliverables/materials) that will be generated as result of the project and that has been designated by an EU security classification. This classification indicates that unauthorized disclosure of the information could harm the interests of the European Union or one or more of the Member States.

More information on the matter can be found here: Classification of information in Horizon Europe projects and How to handle security-sensitive projects.

No. Since the ownership control declaration is part of the eligibility conditions for submitting a proposal, an entity needs to submit an OCD for each proposal it would submit.

Furthermore, as long as legal entities based in an eligible country have different PIC numbers, the ownership control declaration must be distinct and signed by a person empowered to represent the legal entity with this specific PIC.