FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT HOSMARTAI OPEN CALL#2 EXPERIMENT
What is HosmartAI?
The HosmartAI Project will create a common open innovative platform for robotics and AI technology integration for the digital transformation of the European healthcare sector, to make the European healthcare system more strong, more efficient, sustainable and resilient.
The HosmartAI mission is to guarantee the integration of digital and robot technologies in new healthcare environments and the possibility to analyse their benefits by providing an environment where digital healthcare tool providers will be able to design and develop AI solutions as well as a space for the instantiation and deployment of AI solutions.
The project involves 24 partners, from 12 countries and eight large-scale pilots who target advancements in cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular diseases, thoracic disorders, neurological diseases, ageing and elderly care, and pregnancy.
What is Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT - Call for Pilots?
HosmartAI organises its Open Call #2 to fund the development and implementation of highly innovative and challenging AI pilots, which will become the HosmartAI flagship portfolio of success stories, enlarging the value and outreach of the HosmartAI ecosystem, model, and technologies.
This call will finance pilots made of small consortia of 2–3 partners representing at least Technology providers/integrators: emphasis on the AI and robotics Startups/SMEs (innovators), and Technology adopters: healthcare facilities (end users).
Optionally a consortium is welcomed to engage a research centre and/or academia, and or another SME/Start-up taking a role of a competence centre collaborating in the strategically important area(s) between the innovation and health care industry. The selection of each consortium partner must be justified.
What are the main Open Call#2 EXPERIMENT characteristics?
| Item | Characteristic |
| Application timeframe | from the 15th of September 2022, 00:00 CET to the 15th of November 2022, 17:00 CET |
| Target group |
|
| Activities to be funded | Design > Develop & Deploy & Operate > Assess new pilots adopting the HosmartAI platform to ensure a fast pace, quality of deployment and measurable impact. |
| Duration of activities | 12 months |
| Funding | Up to €145 000 per applying consortium. The total grant requested will represent up to 100% of the total costs of the submitted project. Checking the consistency between these costs and the expected work of the project will be part of the evaluation process. |
| How the funding will be made? | The selected 4 consortia will be paid against delivering activities submitted in Annex 3.1 Description of Work.
Each project will develop an implementation plan including milestones and deliverables, and a cost estimate justifying the costs and resources concerning the implementation plan. The total requested budget will be divided and paid through lump sum in the 3 stages: Design (30%), Develop, Deploy, Operate (50%), and Assess (20%). The payments will be made according to a staged payment arrangement based on the successful completion of specified milestones, deliverables, and reviews after each sprint. |
What are the main Open Call#2 EXPERIMENT requirements?
| Item | Description |
| TRL – minimum entry level to apply | ≥ TRL 4 |
| TRL – minimum end level | ≥ TRL 6 with the involvement of the healthcare facilities. |
| HosmartAI technology requirements | Each applying consortium must use one or more parts/components of the HosmartAI platform in its pilot design. Which parts and how they will be used need to be explained by the applying consortium.
Technical description of the HosmartAI platform is publicly available on the project’s website: Report titled D1.6 “HosmartAI platform conceptual architecture – final version” is accessible here. The report titled D4.1 “Platform Architecture Design and Open APIs – First version” is available here. Other public deliverables of interest can be found here. The applying consortium is required to get familiar with the documents. |
| Security requirements | Each applying consortium must ensure compatibility with the HosmartAI platform’s security. As linked above, details about the platform are presented in the public deliverable D1.6. |
| Gender requirements | An applying consortium must address sex and gender design, and analysis.
The analysis of epidemiological and socio-economic data of each funded pilot will play an important role in the interpretation of the data as well as in the correct design of the HosmartAI platform and its technologies. Therefore, gender bias, gender dimension and sex aspects must be studied and included in the design of the technology’s pilots. A pilot methodology must ensure a balanced sampling of human participants as part of the design of the services, considering gender and diversity by balancing involved workers in terms of sex, age, culture and social factors like education, occupation, and residence. |
| Required KPIs | The OC#2 (all funded projects) must in total meet the following KPIs:
● 200 patients ● 50 healthcare professionals Therefore, HosmartAI is expecting each of the applying projects to involve in its pilot design minimum of ● 50* patients ● 12/13* healthcare professional (*) Lower numbers are allowed, however, the applicant must be aware that this criterion can be considered in the final selection prioritising the projects meeting the required KPIs. |
| Ethics requirements | An applying consortium must ensure that all the ethical requirements for its pilot are obtained before the implementation without causing any constraints in the actual programme or it must guarantee by signing in the subgrantee agreement a declaration that all the ethical requirements will be obtained timely during the programme without causing any delays. |
| Potential Impact and Exploitation plan | Each consortium must provide a description of the potential impact and exploitation plans of its pilot.
Impact: ● What will change and how much with the piloting solution you are targeting? ● What are the longer-term goals and how this first successful proof-of-concept will lead to there? ● What are the Key Performance Indicators you use to measure your project’s success? ● Is the business case realistic and sufficiently elaborated? ● Does the project fit within the roadmap of the companies involved? Exploitation plans: ● What are the main exploitable results you expect to achieve with this pilot? ● How you will exploit the results. ● What are the means you will use to publish and market your achievements? ● When do you expect the commercialization to start? |
How HosmartAI can help me?
HosmartAI can empower you to Design > Develop & Deploy & Operate > Assess new pilots adopting the HosmartAI platform to ensure a fast pace, quality of deployment and measurable impact through a 12-month programme, where experts in diverse fields will provide technical support, access to HosmartAI architecture, up to €145k equity-free funding, visibility and the opportunity to work with innovative European healthcare stakeholders.
So, are you financing my initiative?
Your project could be financed if you are selected in the HosmartAI Open Call #2. Conditions are found in the Guidelines for Applicants. Each selected consortium can be funded with up to €145k.
How does Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT work after I am selected?
After the open call for proposals, the selected projects will join the programme comprising 3-phases (Design > Develop & Deploy & Operate > Assess). Each project-defined milestones and deliverables in the submitted proposal are the basis for monitoring and evaluating the work progress during the execution of the activities. The milestones and deliverables will be evaluated at the end of each phase.
- Phase 1 DESIGN is associated with the starting point of each project and will have a maximum duration of 2 months. Within this phase, consortia must fine-tune their pilot planning and technology usage with HosmartAI and design a detailed pilot plan, aligned with the HosmartAI objectives.
- Phase 2 DEVELOP & DEPLOY & OPERATE is the 6-months core phase of the funded consortium. Within this phase, projects will perform their technical developments and deploy them in the healthcare unit partnering with the funded consortium to achieve what has been proposed.
- Phase 3 is critical to leverage the results of the DESIGN and DEVELOP, DEPLOY & OPERATE phases and will have a maximum duration of 4 months. The aim of the ASSESS phase is to provide business support that will foster the exploitation of project results, and sustainable growth and envisages an investment round for the pilot. Within this phase, projects must focus on the assessment and exploitation of results/achievements.
What kind of projects are you looking for?
The HosmartAI is welcoming applications to the following topic: AI/robotics pilot for smart healthcare centre. The projects to be funded under the HosmartAI Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT must address specific HosmartAI needs. Check the Guidelines for Applicants for details.
Where does the funding come from?
Funding is given by the HosmartAI consortium under an Open Call Beneficiary Agreement signed by the selected consortia and the HosmartAI consortium. The funds are given by the European Commission (Horizon 2020 Framework Programme), which uses HosmartAI as an intermediary.
Is there any support for non-selected applicants?
Not direct, however, we share other EU funding opportunities once an applicant is in the F6S pipeline.
Only the selected applicants will be benefiting from HosmartAI Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT: funding and services.
What if I secure funds from other national or regional authorities for the same project?
The funds for the project come from the H2020 Programme. This means its regulation will apply to the funds. If you get additional public funding from other entities, it will be your responsibility to assure the compatibility of the different sources of funding.
How does the funding mechanism work?
The aid provided relies on a cascade-funding (lump sum) scheme involving H2020 funds. The scheme is based on a Grant Agreement signed by the European Commission and the HosmartAI Consortium partners. The Consortium partners as such receive the H2020 funds which are then transferred to the winners of the open calls based on the rules and regulations explained in the Guidelines for Applicants available on our website. This means that the funds that the call winners will receive are H2020 funds.
Due to Brexit, is there any effect for legal entities and natural persons legally established in the UK to be able to apply to HosmartAI?
The UK continue to participate in programmes funded under the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) until their closure.
Meaning, that UK participants are at the moment eligible for funding under the HosmartAI Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT.
How large is your fund?
HosmartAI will distribute a total amount of €580k in Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Who is eligible for Open Call#2 EXPERIMENT?
HosmartAI invites consortia of 2-3 partners representing at least a tech provider/integrator and an end-user (healthcare entity), led by a for-profit SME.
The applying consortia can be composed of:
- micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)/Startups,
- healthcare entity/entities (e.g hospital(s))
- secondary and higher education establishments, research institutes and other not-for-profit research entities.
Only applicants legally established in any of the following countries (hereafter collectively identified as the “Eligible Countries”) are eligible:
- The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their outermost regions;
- The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) linked to the Member States.
- H2020 associated countries (those which signed an agreement with the Union as identified in Article 7 of the Horizon 2020 Regulation): according to the updated list published by the EC.
The UK applicants are eligible under the conditions set by the EC for H2020 participation at the time of the deadline of the call.
See Guidelines for Applicants for more eligibility criteria details.
How do I apply?
The F6S platform is the entry point for all proposals at https://www.f6s.com/hosmartai-open-call-2-for-pilots/apply
Submissions received by any other channel will be automatically discarded.
Remember to read the Guidelines for Applicants to get all the information you need to apply successfully.
Can I submit several proposals?
Only one proposal will be accepted for funding per applying Consortium.
What is the deadline for Open Call #2 EXPERIMENT?
15th November 2022 at 17:00 CET.
Are you sharing any information about my proposal?
Yes. The proposal’s information will be shared within the HosmartAI Consortium, and independent external evaluators. A summary of the proposals and the participants’ information will be shared with the European Commission. Moreover, we will publish an Open Dataset with the beneficiaries of our open call winners including their basic information data and funding received on our project website, and social media accounts.
All the information that will be made public is clearly indicated in the official documentation of the call. Unless you want to, no technical insights will be published anywhere.
What are your funding criteria?
Every eligible proposal will be evaluated by at least two different experts. The evaluation criteria are
| HosmartAI Open Call #2 evaluation criteria | |||
| Evaluation criteria | Sub-criteria | Scoring (0-5) | |
| Excellence & innovation | Interoperability level of the proposed solution. Innovation degree | ● Appropriateness of the pilot project scope and alignment with HosmartAI objectives.
● Level of innovation and technological and healthcare challenges addressed. ● Level of integration with HosmartAI technologies to test. ● Feasibility of the proposed pilot and technological contribution. ● Quality, credibility, and clarity of pilot project description. ● Minimum TRL 4. |
Threshold
3/5 |
| Impact & Exploitation
|
Industrial relevance and
exploitation plans |
● Overall impact of the proposed pilot if successful.
● Healthcare industrial relevance of the proposed pilot if successful. ● Level of engagement with the healthcare unit – experts and patients involved. ● Gender and sex equality impact addressed. ● Quality of the exploitation plans and market potential. ● Effectiveness of the proposed measures to exploit and disseminate the pilot results. ● Potential of the outcomes to be adopted/used by healthcare entities in regular practices. ● Product concept, market and competition.
|
Threshold
3/5 |
| Consortium | Partners of the consortium | ● Quality of the consortium.
● Clarity of each partner role. ● Technical capacity and excellence of the technology provider capability to achieve the deployment of minimum TRL 6. ● Quality of the individual participants. |
Threshold
3/5
|
| Project planning and value for money | Deployment
of resources |
● Quality, effectiveness and clarity of project activities, structure, and timing.
● Appropriateness of deliverables, KPIs and means of verification. ● Allocation of appropriate resources to the proposed pilot. ● Justification of the proposed resources. ● Explanation of how the project will have access to third-party components if needed |
Threshold
3/5 |
What information is required for the application?
The documents that are required to be submitted are
- Annex 3: Application Form – an online form available at the F6S platform https://www.f6s.com/hosmartai-open-call-2-for-pilots/apply
- Annex 3.1: Description of Work – a mandatory word document for applicants to prepare and submit a proposal.
- Annex 4: Consortium Declaration of Honour, which declares that all conditions related to the HosmartAI Open Call #2 – EXPERIMENT Call for Pilots are accepted by an applying consortium.
Annex 5: SME Declaration, which evaluates the status of each SME participating in the applying consortium. It is not required for SMEs with a validated PIC number.
Can I have access to my application answers?
You should be able to view and access all your applications on F6S. If you run into any issues accessing your applications or account, please contact support@F6S.com
What if I need to change the answers to my application?
If the applicant discovers an error in the proposal and provided the call deadline has not passed, the applicant may request the Open Call HosmartAI team to re-submit the proposal (for this purpose please contact us at opencalls@hosmartai.eu with the email titled: RESUBMISSION REQUEST). However, HosmartAI is not committed that resubmission in time will be feasible in case the request for resubmission is not received by the Open Call HosmartAI team at least 48 hours before the call deadline.
When will I hear back regarding my application?
After applications close, the external evaluators will review applications for about 8-12 weeks. The goal is to notify applicants within 8-12 weeks from the call closing date.
SELECTED PARTICIPANTS
When are we going to be paid?
Selected Consortia will become part of HosmartAI EXPERIMENT activities and will go through an exhaustive sequential process which will last 12 months and will be composed of 3 phases. Payments will be done in 3 instalments (30% + 50% + 20%) based on concrete results, deliverables, and review of each phase.
Summary of funding:
| EXPERIENT Phases | Duration | Funding | Example €145k |
| #1Design | 2 months | 30% | € 43 500 |
| #2 Develop, Deploy, Operate | 6 months | 50% | € 72 500 |
| #3 Assess | 4 months | 20% | € 29 000 |
Detailed payment schedule and payment conditions will be settled in the Sub-grant Agreement.
Do I have to keep track of my expenses for justifying the cost?
Payments will be done based on concrete results and not actual costs.
Is subcontracting allowed?
Subcontracting is not supported.
The general rule applicable to the HosmartAI project is that beneficiaries must have the appropriate resources to implement the full set of tasks needed within the project. This means it is not allowed to subcontract key parts of the project.
Is physical presence needed at any time for the selected applicants?
Each winning project should be available to participate in one face-to-face activity in Europe during one of the 3 phases.
Other questions, comments or concerns?
Didn’t find the answer you were looking for? Ask us your question on the Online Q&A:
https://www.f6s.com/hosmartai-open-call-2-for-pilots/discuss
For extraordinal communication needs, please contact the Help Desk: opencalls@hosmartai.eu and we’ll get back to you shortly!
