TrialsNet Open Call FAQs

General FAQs

I noticed today (15th of January) that the banner “Current proposals are below the 60 proposals limit” on your official site is no longer present. Have you reached the limit of proposals? Is it still possible to submit our application?

The limit of proposals defined in the Guide for Applicants has been reached on the 14th of January. The eligibility check is ongoing. Further proposals can still be submitted until the deadline, but the evaluation is not guaranteed.

Which EU and Associated Countries are eligible for funding?

The following EU Members States (September 2023):

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Any of the Associated Countries listed below (September 2023):

Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.

This list may be changed by the EC in the next period. Click on this link to learn more.

Can UK, Hungarian, or Swiss companies or organisations participate?

UK and Swiss legal entities can apply. However, at the current time they are ineligible for funding; however this may change in future calls.

Regarding Hungary, following the Council Implementing Decision 2022/2506, as of 16th December 2022, no legal commitments can be signed with Hungarian public interest trusts established under Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. The entities ‘maintained’ referred to in Article 2(2) of the Council Implementing Decision 2022/2506 are the following:

Entities listed in Annex I of the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 either by name (usually higher education institutions) or by category (e.g. research centers/institutes, farms/agricultural companies, museums, etc.). The indicative list of affected entities (i.e. public interest trusts and entities maintained by them) is available under this link.
Entities that have been transferred to the public interest trusts through the individual Hungarian Acts by which public interest trusts were established and which are owned by these public interest trusts (that may have been created or may be created in the future), i.e.:
- Entities for which a public interest trust owns 100% of shares and;
- Entities for which a public interest trust can exercise a decisive influence and control (case-by-case assessment based on the criteria set by the EU legislation on mergers and anti-money laundering, i.e. Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings and Article 3(6)(a)(i) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing).

Please refer to this page of the EU Funding and Tender Portal for the most updated information on the concerned Hungarian entities.

What kind of stakeholders can participate to the TrialsNet Open Call?

Applications to the Open Calls can be made by both private and public organisations from industry and research (not individual researchers), located within the EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Can an individual based in the European Union participate in an Open Call project?

No. In the project’s General Agreement and DoA, it is specified under grant eligibility, including definition of persons or categories that might receive financial support, as follows:

Any legal entity in Europe and Associated country.

Can a group of collaborating partners that presents a proposal be composed by entities that are all located in a single eligible country?

Yes, they may be located in the same country.

Can more than one participant organisation team up for a single application? How payments will be managed in such a case?

Yes, but only up to a maximum of 3 partners. In other terms, the number of participants per proposal goes from one single organization (Coordinator only) up to 3 organizations (1 Coordinator and 2 distinct partners). Also note that in case of 2 or 3 partners, the proposal shall be submitted by the Coordinator and that the subgrant agreement will be signed with the Coordinator only. For what concern the payments, these will be made to the Coordinator whom will distribute them to the other partners accordingly.

What are the eligibility rules for proposals that wish to sub-contract?

Sub-contracting is allowed subject to the following:

The subcontractor is named in the proposal;

The reason for subcontracting is compelling, meets normal HE rules and is justified in the proposal (e.g. why a subcontractor is needed; what role the subcontractor will have);

No member of the TrialsNet consortium, nor any organisation with formal business ties to any TrialsNet member (e.g. a wholly or part-owned subsidiary, parent, sister or affiliated business), is named as a sub-contractor;

The sub-contractor will not be the core of the sub-project (e.g. will receive no more than a maximum of 20% of the total budget).

There is nothing to prohibit application to TrialsNet at the same time as an application to another SNS projects Open Call; however, under no circumstances double funding is admissible for the same activity.

Do we get a notification when an application submission is made?

Yes, you will get an email from the project.

Do we get a notification about the result of the Open Call?

Yes, you will get an email from the project.

Will participant organisations be required to sign a Declaration of Honour (DoH)?

Yes. A Declaration of Honour will be requested to be signed once the final eligibility checks are made at the end of the evaluation period. All participant organisations in the project team should sign a DoH and return a signed copy to the designated TrialsNet contact email. A template for the DoH is available on the Open Call website for you to examine.

Typically, funding within Innovation Action projects for-profit companies is 70%. Is this the case with funding for-profit companies participating in the TrialsNet Open Call?

No. Private for-profit companies (whether big, medium, or small) can receive 100% of the funding. All contracted applicants will receive 100% of the presented costs, including 25% of overheads.

How will we be paid by the TrialsNet project?

The payment is scheduled in three parts, subject to the level of development of the action, the submission of deliverables and the accomplishment of KPIs as reflected in the description of the trial:

20% of the assigned Grant after 1 month from the Grant signature against presentation of a detailed plan of activities;

65% at competition of the contracted activities;

15% when the EC will accept the projects final results.

Should the Declaration of Honour be signed too?

Declaration of Honour should be signed and submitted during the contracting phase by the selected applicants.

How does the partnership work? Does only the leader need to complete the application form or also the other partners have to apply? If only the leader has to worry about filling out the tender, how are payments made?

The leading applicant should fill all requested information, including those of the other partners. The payment schedule is defined in the Guide for Applicants; payments will be done through the leading applicant. Since the contracting phase,

In accordance with GDPR regulations, a main pronciple is established to prevent the exchange of personal data among different stakeholders, participants, or applicants. This ensures that all personal data and related information remain within the purview of a single partner. Additionally, several documents, currently not public, will be discolsuede post-contract, as the contractual agreement will delineate intellectual property rights (IPR) and document accessibility. It is emphasised that adherence to the existing GDPR rules is imperative, given your membership in the European Union and the operational status of the GDPR directive in member countries.

Technical FAQs

How can the applicant retrieve technical information about the TrialsNet Open Call?

TrialsNet prepared two technical documents in support to the applicants describing the TrialsNet sites and use case, as well as providing a description of the project’s framework including KPIs and KVIs related aspects. The documents are downloadable from the Open Call page.

In addition, TrialsNet will be holding a number of webinars during the submission period, which will provide an opportunity for you to interact with the TrialsNet technical team, who will be able to address simple queries of a technical nature. Webinars dates and related registration links are available at the Open Call page.

Can an applicant ask if a proposal could be suitable for the TrialsNet Open Call objectives?

TrialsNet provides the applicants with the opportunity to request for a Feasibly Check of the proposal. The Feasibility Check is not mandatory but is quite encouraged in order to verify the feasibility of the proposal and to receive an informal and not binding feedback on it. Details on the Feasibility Check are available at the Open Call page.

What is the situation with IPR in the Open Call projects?

The grant awarded to the chosen applicants will not impact the ownership of any pre-existing intellectual property, including background technologies, designs, works, inventions, software, data, techniques, know-how, or materials. The third-party that contributes with TrialsNet will retain ownership of their pre-existing intellectual property.

The results of the trials should be freely used by the project for internal or external dissemination activity.

Can local private networks, which are foreseen by 5G, constitute a possible evolution of a private FWA network and be the subject of a case study?

Yes, if it clearly shows how will contribute to the 5G evolution.

Do you expect the “Challenges” described in your use cases to be addressed as a priority in Cascade Funding proposals regarding the types of proposals that improve current use cases?

Certainly not. We treat all proposals equally, without assigning any prioritization. Although challenges have been presented, we have identified certain aspects or complexities; however, it is crucial to note that these do not constitute a definitive priority.