Eligibility Criteria for Open Call 1

FCI4Africa Open Call 1 (OC1) accepts applications from single entities only; consortia are not allowed. Each third party can participate in only one proposal. Eligible applicants are research and technology stakeholders, which include universities and research institutes, technology developers and R&D SMEs, and innovation-driven start-ups.

Definition of Eligible Entities:

• A start-up is an early-stage business entity typically established within the past 10 years, focusing on innovative products, services, or business models, and demonstrating potential for high growth or significant social impact.
• An SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) must comply with European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, having a headcount of less than 250 Annual Work Units (AWU) and an annual turnover less than or equal to €50 million.

Eligible Countries:

Legal entities must be established in countries eligible for funding through Horizon Europe. This includes:

• EU Member States.
• Associated Countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.
• Countries with Transitional Arrangements: Egypt (for 2025 onwards), Japan, and Morocco (for the entire Programme).
• Low- to Middle-Income Countries: A comprehensive list of over 100 countries, including many African nations, whose participants are automatically eligible for funding.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Legal entities established on the basis of the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity maintained by such a public interest trust.
• Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine.
• Existing consortium members of the FCI4Africa project and their affiliated entities.
• Applicants involved in the implementation of the FCI4Africa project or having a confirmed, paid relationship with any FCI4Africa consortium partner.

Other Key Eligibility Requirements:

• Proposed solutions must fit within the project's objectives or one of the FCI4Africa Use Cases, and activities must be implemented within Africa, directly targeting local food system actors and value chains.
• The proposal must align with the Open Call's objectives and not be preselected in other projects' open calls funded under the same topic (HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01-11).
• Applicants must have a valid VAT number or a registration number from their respective national authority if a VAT number is not mandatory.
• The proposed work must be carried out after the selection process.

Submission and Selection Process

The application process for FCI4Africa Open Call 1 involves several stages, from submission to project implementation. Applicants must submit their proposals digitally through the opencalls.fund platform. Only the last version of an application will be considered if multiple versions are submitted. Required documents at the time of submission include a Declaration of Honour and an SME Declaration. During the contracting phase, selected applicants will need to provide bank account information, the signed Sub-grant Agreement, and proof of legal existence.

Following the submission deadline, an eligibility check is conducted by the FCI4Africa OC Advisory Board (OCAB). Eligible proposals then proceed to a remote evaluation by two external evaluators against predefined award criteria. If there is a significant difference in scores, a consensus meeting or an online interview may be held. Applicants receive an Evaluation Summary Report (ESR), and a redress procedure is available for both eligibility and evaluation results within specified timeframes.

Contract negotiations with selected proposals take place, leading to the signing of a Sub-grant Agreement. Projects are then launched and implemented over 12 months, divided into three phases with deliverable-based lump-sum payments.

Implementation Timeline and Activities

Evaluation Process and Criteria

After an initial eligibility check conducted by the FCI4Africa OC Advisory Board (OCAB), all eligible proposals will undergo a remote evaluation by two external evaluators. Each proposal will be assessed against four equally weighted award criteria, with a scoring range of 1 to 5 and a threshold of 3 points for each criterion. An overall minimum score of 12 points is required for a proposal to be considered for funding.

Interpretation of Scores:

• 1 - Poor: Inadequately addressed or serious inherent weaknesses.
• 2 - Fair: Broadly addresses, but significant weaknesses.
• 3 - Good: Addresses well, but a number of shortcomings.
• 4 - Very Good: Addresses very well, but a small number of shortcomings.
• 5 - Excellent: Successfully addresses all relevant aspects; any shortcomings are minor.

In cases where the total scores between evaluators differ significantly (>5 points), a consensus meeting will be held. If unsuccessful, an online interview with the applicant will be conducted by external evaluators, assessing confirmation of proposed solution (40%), viability (30%), and reliability to reach exploitation milestones (30%).

Tie-breaking Procedure:

If multiple proposals share the same overall score and are at the funding threshold, priority will be given based on scores in the following order:

1. Concept and feasibility
2. Impact & Exploitation
3. Technology readiness and innovation development
4. Organisational capacity and sufficiency

In the event of an absolute tie after applying all criteria, the final decision will be made by the Open Call Advisory Board.

Redress Procedure:

Applicants may submit a written request for redress to the FCI4Africa OC Advisory Board within three working days of receiving eligibility check notifications or within five working days of receiving the Evaluation Summary Report (ESR), if they believe there was a shortcoming in the process that affected the decision. The OC Advisory Board will review these requests, but will not question the scientific or technical judgment of the evaluators.

Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP)

The FCI4Africa Open Call 1 provides financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of pre-defined lump-sum amounts, linked to the successful completion and acceptance of agreed deliverables. The total budget allocated for OC1 is €400,000, with a maximum grant of €50,000 per selected single entity. Up to eight subprojects will be funded.

No pre-financing is foreseen; payments are made after the successful completion of each implementation phase:

• Phase 1 - Design (Activity plan): 20% of the total grant.
• Phase 2 - Development (Results demonstration): 50% of the total grant.
• Phase 3 - Validation (Report on dissemination activities and lessons learnt): 30% of the total grant.

Applicants must provide a detailed explanation and justification for their budget, which is subject to the basic eligibility rules of Horizon Europe. Overestimated costs may lead to adjustments in the lump sum amount.

Eligible Cost Categories:

• Personnel costs: Costs for personnel realizing the work and preparing deliverables, calculated according to national rules and real labor market data. These are considered direct costs.
• Subcontracting: Allowed for up to a maximum of 25% of the proposed budget, provided it is clearly justified and ensures best value-for-money. Subcontractors cannot be part of the FCI4Africa consortium.
• Purchase costs: Includes travel costs, depreciation costs for purchased equipment (borrowing/lending equipment is not eligible), and other goods & services (e.g., consumables, dissemination, protection of results, translations).
• Indirect costs: Up to 25% of the direct costs (excluding subcontracting).

A minimum of 7% of the funding must be allocated to dissemination activities. The funds originate from the European Project FCI4Africa, which is funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement Number [101182485]. The Sub-grant Agreement will be signed with the FCI4Africa Open Call Manager / Treasurer (RFF) and the FCI4Africa coordinator (IITA).

Collaboration and Synergies

Applicants are expected to collaborate with local stakeholders to ensure that solutions are contextually relevant and effectively address the unique challenges faced by African communities. Proposals must demonstrate an iterative multi-actor innovation process in a real-life environment, involving a wide range of food system actors, including research and development organisations, business organisations, civil society organisations, and government.

The FCI4Africa project itself builds on existing innovations and preliminary business models, co-developing user-driven solutions and sustainable business concepts with stakeholders across the food supply chain. Within Use Case #1, the project explicitly mentions taking advantage of synergies with other projects, such as EU HORIZON projects HD4A, FS4Africa, and UP-RISE.

While proposals are from single entities, subcontracting is allowed for up to a maximum of 25% of the proposed budget, provided it is clearly justified and complies with sound financial management principles.

Project Implementation and Responsibilities

Selected projects will be implemented over a 12-month timeframe, from November 2026 to October 2027, divided into three distinct phases:

• Phase 1 - Design (3 months / November 2026-January 2027): Requires the submission of an Activity plan.
• Phase 2 - Development (6 months / February 2027-July 2027): Requires the submission of Results demonstration.
• Phase 3 - Validation (3 months / August 2027-October 2027): Requires the submission of a Report on dissemination activities and lessons learnt (or market or community associated activities).

Payments are deliverable-based, meaning that sub-grantees receive funding upon the successful completion and acceptance of agreed deliverables for each phase, with no pre-financing foreseen.

Sub-grantees are indirect beneficiaries of European Commission funding and are responsible for complying with obligations set out in Horizon Europe specific requirements. Key responsibilities include:

• Conflict of Interest: Sub-grantees must prevent any situations that could compromise the impartial and objective implementation of the Sub-grant Agreement. They cannot be affiliated with FCI4Africa consortium partners or be their employees.
• Ethics, Data Protection & Confidentiality: Applicants must identify and explain ethical issues in their proposals, adhering to EU ethical rules and GDPR principles. Confidentiality of data and documents must be maintained for at least five years after final payment.
• Promoting the Action and Giving Visibility to EU Funding: Sub-grantees must promote their projects and the FCI4Africa project, acknowledging EU support by displaying the European flag and funding statement, and including the FCI4Africa logo and a standard disclaimer in all communication activities.
• Financial Audit and Controls: Sub-grantees must comply with financial support conditions and cooperate with EU instances for audits, keeping all relevant documents for up to five years after project completion.
• Do No Significant Harm Principle: Sub-grantees must ensure their project methodology does not significantly harm any of the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.

Proposals must consist of original work by the applicants, and their anticipated developments must not infringe upon any third-party rights.

Proposals must address ethical concerns and adhere to relevant legal and regulatory frameworks. Applicants are required to describe how they will comply with European Union ethical rules/principles and integrate ethics principles into the project. This includes addressing aspects such as participant involvement, informed consent, privacy protection, data management, and any other relevant ethical considerations.

An 'ethics by design' approach is expected, meaning ethical and legal principles, based on GDPR, competition law compliance, and absence of data bias, must be implemented from the beginning of the design process.

Multi-Actor, Interdisciplinarity, and SSH Dimensions

The FCI4Africa Open Call 1 strongly emphasizes a multi-actor approach. Use cases are designed as user-centred, open-innovation ecosystems that bring together scientists, practitioners, civil-society actors, and public authorities. Proposals are required to accomplish an iterative multi-actor innovation process in a real-life environment, ensuring adequate involvement of a wide range of food system actors, including research and development organisations, business organisations, civil society organisations, and government. Applicants are also expected to collaborate with local stakeholders to ensure contextually relevant solutions.

The project inherently promotes interdisciplinarity by addressing both technical-scientific and socio-economic aspects, such as gender issues and fairness of income distribution across the production chain. This holistic approach is reflected in the evaluation criteria, which assess the soundness of proposed solutions, including the involvement of diverse stakeholders.

The call has a significant Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) dimension. Its core objective is to empower small-scale, informal, and vulnerable actors in Africa's agri-food value chain, focusing on fairness, justness, and climate neutrality in African products. Use Case #3, for instance, specifically elaborates approaches to increase the resilience of rural communities against shocks, considering socio-economic aspects like gender issues and income distribution. The evaluation criteria also explicitly include 'Gender and inclusivity', assessing whether projects promote diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities.

The project implementation is structured around three key phases, each with a mandatory deliverable tied to payment:

• D1. Activity plan: Due at Month 3 (M03) during the Design phase. The cost for this deliverable cannot exceed 20% of the overall budget.
• D2. Results demonstration: Due at Month 9 (M09) during the Development phase. The cost for this deliverable cannot exceed 50% of the overall budget.
• D3. Report on dissemination activities and lessons learned: Due at Month 12 (M12) during the Validation phase. The cost for this deliverable cannot exceed 30% of the overall budget.

These three mandatory deliverables summarise each implementation phase and are linked to the payment schedule. Applicants may add additional deliverables if desired.

Applicants must follow the provided proposal template structure. The proposal, including all tables, figures, and references, must not exceed a limit of 15 pages. The cover page and Table of Contents are excluded from this limit. External evaluators are instructed to dismiss any pages beyond the 15th page from the evaluation. The budget tables (Annex 6) and Appendix 1 are also excluded from the page limit, though applicants should aim to limit the budget section to one page.

Formatting requirements include using Arial font, a minimum font size of 11 points for body text (including tables), a minimum paragraph spacing of 6 pts, and single line spacing. The page size must be A4, with all margins (top, bottom, left, right) at least 15 mm. Incomplete applications or those not complying with these requirements will be excluded from evaluation.

Proposal Structure:

• 1 General Information
  • 1.1 General details
  • 1.2 Executive Summary
  • 1.3 Applicant Information
• 2 Proposal Description
  • 2.1 General Description
  • 2.2 Objectives
  • 2.3 Work Plan and Activities
  • 2.4 Team's Capacity
  • 2.5 Expected Results and Deliverables
• 3 Business Impact
  • 3.1 Food System Challenge and Opportunity
  • 3.2 Value Creation and Sustainability
  • 3.3 Scalability and Transferability
  • 3.4 Barrier, Risk, and Mitigation
• 4 Technology Impact
  • 4.1 Description of Applied Technologies or Tools
  • 4.2 Technology Readiness Level
• 5 Other Aspects
  • 5.1 Impact on the FCI4Africa Ecosystem
  • 5.2 Environmental and Other Sustainability Impacts
  • 5.3 Societal Impact
  • 5.4 Multi-actor's Involvement
  • 5.5 Ethical and Legal Considerations
• 6 Costs and funding
  • 6.1 Deliverables List
  • 6.2 Budget and Cost Justification
• Appendix 1

Applicants are required to provide specific administrative information within the proposal template. This includes:

General Details:

Applicant Information:

Applicants must use the Budget template provided as an Excel file in the Open Call kit to calculate their application budget. The completed workbook should be saved and submitted as a separate PDF during the application phase, with only the green-highlighted fields to be filled in.

All costs must be entered in EUR currency, in the full amount (e.g., €50,000.00). VAT is eligible as a cost, except when the beneficiary can deduct or refund the VAT. Sub-grantees should be aware that payments will be made in EUR, and any related costs may be incurred by them.

Adequate budget must be allocated to dissemination activities, with a minimum of 7% of the funding recommended for deployment of such activities (e.g., organisation of information/field days, workshops, informal events to promote FCI4Africa results).

Deliverables and Budget Allocation:

The budget is tied to three mandatory deliverables, summarising each implementation phase, with specific cost limits: