NOSTRADAMUS - Open Call #1: Funding Digital Applications for Sustainable and Efficient Agriculture

NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 (Horizon Europe) offers cascade lump-sum funding to select five projects (total call budget €250,000; up to €50,000 per project) for design, development, testing, validation and demonstration of open-source digital applications for cereal-based agriculture. Projects must be 12-month single-entity or two-entity consortia led by an SME, start-up or small mid-cap, start at minimum TRL 4 and target TRL 7, demonstrate at one NOSTRADAMUS pilot site (DE, RS, CH, SI or CY) and release source code under an open-source licence. Funding is paid in four tranches linked to sprint deliverables and applications are evaluated by external experts against Alignment, Excellence, Impact and Implementation criteria. Submission is via F6S by 2 December 2026 at 17:00 CET and applicants must be legally established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.

What it funds

Scope summary

Grants to develop, test and validate multi-functional, open-source digital applications that use the NOSTRADAMUS data infrastructure (Open Data Cubes, ARD Earth Observation pipelines, IoT streams, socio-economic data) to optimise inputs (water, fertiliser, pesticides), improve energy balance and increase resilience in cereal-based systems.

Funding & participation details

Fixed lump-sum grants of up to €50,000 per selected project. Total budget for the call €250,000. Funding is paid in 4 tranches tied to sprint milestones (10% / 25% / 40% / 25%). Minimum entry TRL 4; target TRL 7 by month 12.

Selected Third Parties must join the 12‑month programme (training, design, development & validation, demonstration & assessment), physically demonstrate at one primary pilot site, deliver at least one user training, publish source code as open-source and prepare an EIP-AGRI Practice Abstract.

Apply via the F6S platform. Full call documents and guidance are available on the project website NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 and the application page Apply on F6S 1

Footnotes

1. 1Submission and official templates are provided on the F6S application page; enquiries to opencall@nostradamus-project.eu.

Opportunity Snapshot

Purpose and Scope

NOSTRADAMUS Open Call #1 invites system actors and innovators to design, build, test and validate multi-functional, open-source digital applications that support farm decision-making and agribusiness in cereal-based agricultural systems. Applications must leverage the NOSTRADAMUS data infrastructure: multi-dimensional Open Data Cubes, Analysis Ready Data Earth Observation pipelines, real-time IoT Observatory streams, and socio-economic datasets to deliver data-driven tools that optimise inputs (water, fertilisers, pesticides), improve energy balance and enhance production resilience.

Designated topics (select one)

Who can apply (Eligibility)

Eligible applicant types (explicit list)

Funding type, model and financial rules

Technical and project requirements

Mandatory operational deliverables and conditions

Application and submission

Application templates and likely structure

The call references official templates available on the project website. While the call uses a fixed lump-sum payment, proposals are evaluated on technical and implementation merits. Applicants should expect to provide the following sections and documents in the submission template: project title and topic selected, executive summary, detailed technical description (objectives, methodology, data usage and integration with NOSTRADAMUS data infrastructure), TRL evidence and validation plan, demonstration plan at pilot site (including logistics and user engagement), impact and exploitation plan (including open-source release strategy), implementation plan and Gantt aligned to the 4 Sprints, team and partner roles and CVs, KYC / legal documentation for contracting, and any supporting letters from pilot sites or end-user partners. Budget is not an itemised cost reimbursement but proposals must justify that the work is feasible within the lump-sum award.

Evaluation process and criteria

Admissibility and eligibility checks are performed first (format, language, official templates, single submission rule, country and applicant eligibility). Eligible proposals are reviewed by two independent external experts against four criteria: Alignment (0–5), Excellence (0–5), Impact (0–5) and Implementation (0–5). Thresholds: minimum score 3/5 for each criterion and at least 12/20 overall to pass remote evaluation. A consensus panel generates topic-specific rankings. The top 3 proposals per topic are invited to a 30-minute online pitch and Q&A interview session with an Interview committee to finalise scores and ranking. Final selection chooses five sub-projects while guaranteeing at least one project per topic T1–T5, followed by KYC checks and signature of a Sub-Grant Agreement.

Selection statistics and success rate

The call will select up to five sub-projects (one per topic guaranteed). The official documents do not publish expected number of applications or historic success rates; therefore an exact probabilistic success rate cannot be determined from the provided material. The selection count is five projects from the full applicant pool. Applicants should treat the process as highly competitive and prepare a high-quality technical demonstration plan and user engagement strategy.

Geographic and sectoral scope

Mentioned countries

Germany (DE), Serbia (RS), Switzerland (CH), Slovenia (SI), Cyprus (CY). Country eligibility additionally includes all EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Application advice and recommended preparation

Application contacts and resources

Summary and final explanation

NOSTRADAMUS Open Call #1 is a targeted cascade funding opportunity to accelerate the development and field-demonstration of open-source digital applications for cereal-based agriculture. It finances short 12-month projects (up to €50,000 each) that build on a shared data infrastructure (data cubes, ARD Earth Observation, IoT streams and socio-economic data). The call is aimed primarily at SMEs, start-ups and small mid-caps, alone or in two-partner consortia with RTOs, universities or end-users, and requires minimum TRL 4 at application and a demonstration target of TRL 7 within 12 months. Applicants must submit via F6S by 02 December 2026 and will be evaluated through admissibility checks, independent expert review, consensus ranking and interviews. Successful projects are required to demonstrate at one of the listed pilot sites, provide user training, publish source code open-source and produce an EIP-AGRI Practice Abstract. The funding model is a fixed lump-sum paid in four tranches conditioned on sprint deliverables and performance reviews. The programme therefore provides both financial support and non-monetary services: technical training, access to project data assets and pilot-site demonstration opportunities, plus visibility and practice dissemination through EIP-AGRI outputs.

Footnotes

1. 1Call documents detail the lump-sum payment profile and full terms available at the official call page: nostradamus-project.eu and submission platform f6s.com.

Executive summary

NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 is a Horizon Europe cascade funding opportunity supporting the design, development, testing, validation and demonstration of open-source digital applications for farm decision-making and agribusiness. The call focuses on sustainable, efficient and resilient cereal-based agricultural systems, including better management of water, fertilisers, pesticides, energy and production risks. Five projects will be selected, with each project eligible for up to €50,000 in lump-sum funding and a 12-month support programme.15

The opportunity is most suitable for an SME, start-up or small mid-cap with an existing digital agriculture solution at a minimum TRL of 4, a credible route to TRL 7, access to agricultural users or pilot environments, and the technical capacity to release and maintain an open-source application. The application must address exactly one of the five topics and must be demonstrated at one NOSTRADAMUS pilot site.

Key opportunity facts

Scope and policy purpose

The call is implemented under the NOSTRADAMUS project, Data Cube and Copernicus data for Food Security and European Independence, funded under Horizon Europe grant agreement 101134888. It contributes to the development of open-source solutions using edge, cloud or mixed architectures to strengthen agricultural production and administrative capacities.

Selected applicants will build on NOSTRADAMUS infrastructure and associated datasets. The available resources include multidimensional Open Data Cubes, Analysis Ready Data Earth Observation pipelines, real-time IoT Observatory streams, Early Warning System outputs and socio-economic datasets. Applicants should show how these resources will be converted into a usable and validated tool rather than merely proposing a general research concept.

The intended impact includes more precise use of agricultural inputs, improved energy balance, stronger drought and climate resilience, reduced pesticide dependency, better soil health and more actionable information for farmers, land managers and agribusiness users.13

Topics

A proposal should select one topic only. Topic T5 is not a general-purpose category. It must combine at least two of topics T1 to T4 into an integrated decision-support application.14

Who can apply

Applications may be submitted by one eligible legal entity or by a consortium of no more than two legal entities. A single applicant must be an SME, start-up or small mid-cap. For a two-entity consortium, the lead beneficiary must be an SME, start-up or small mid-cap, while the second partner may be an RTO, university, research organisation, end-user organisation or sectoral representation organisation.15

Eligible applicants may include technology companies, precision agriculture providers, digital farming companies, artificial intelligence and data analytics developers, Internet of Things providers, Earth Observation specialists, research and technology organisations, universities and organisations representing agricultural end users. A consortium is not mandatory, but a complementary partner can strengthen access to farmers, agronomists, pilot sites, domain expertise or validation capacity.

Applicants must be legally established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. Natural persons, unincorporated start-ups, large enterprises and larger mid-caps are not eligible according to the published applicant guidance.4

Each legal entity may participate in only one proposal, and applicants should submit only one unique application for this call. The proposal must be submitted in English using the required application form and technical proposal template.

Funding and payment conditions

The maximum contribution is €50,000 per selected project. The contribution is intended to cover 100% of the project costs, including indirect costs, subject to the applicant providing a justified plan of activities, resources and costs. Funding is provided as a lump sum rather than as reimbursement of individually verified actual costs.14

The payment schedule creates a material cash-flow requirement for beneficiaries. Applicants should be able to finance activities before later tranches are released and should avoid designing a work plan whose critical technical or demonstration outputs depend entirely on the final payment.

Project duration and work programme

Each selected project will participate in a 12-month programme divided into four sprints. The programme combines structured training, technical development, validation, mentoring, demonstration and assessment.24

Mandatory beneficiary obligations

Selected beneficiaries are expected to complete the following obligations during the 12-month programme:

Open-source and intellectual property implications

Open-source release is a core condition of the opportunity rather than an optional dissemination activity. Applicants should define the intended open-source licence, identify which newly developed components will be released, document dependencies and third-party licences, and confirm that they have the rights to publish the code and associated documentation.

Applicants should also distinguish between pre-existing background intellectual property, newly developed project results and third-party data or software. A credible proposal should explain how confidential information, personal data, proprietary algorithms and external commercial dependencies will be handled while still satisfying the required open-source result obligation.

Technology and implementation expectations

The application should be technically feasible within 12 months and should demonstrate a clear path from an existing validated prototype to a field-tested solution. Suitable approaches may include edge, cloud or hybrid architectures, provided that they can operate with the NOSTRADAMUS data environment and deliver practical value to agricultural users.49

Strong proposals are likely to demonstrate:

Evaluation and selection process

The process consists of eligibility screening, independent expert evaluation, consensus and ranking, interviews for the highest-ranked proposals, and final selection followed by know-your-customer verification and sub-grant agreement signature.

The topic-specific ranking approach means that applicants compete primarily within the topic they select. Because one project is guaranteed for each topic, a well-aligned and technically credible proposal in a less crowded topic may have a different competitive position from a proposal in a highly popular topic. This does not remove the need to meet the minimum quality thresholds.

Application process and documents

Applications must be submitted electronically through the NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 application page on F6S by 2 December 2026 at 17:00 CET, Brussels time. Late applications are not accepted.1

Applicants should prepare the F6S application, the mandatory technical proposal and any supporting information requested in the call documentation. The technical proposal should be internally consistent with the budget, work plan, technology readiness claim, pilot site, user group, open-source approach and proposed sprint outputs.

The official project documentation and application information are available from the NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 page NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1. The published helpdesk contact is opencall@nostradamus-project.eu.

Applicant preparation checklist

Key risks and points requiring attention

The maximum grant is modest relative to the required development, field demonstration, training and open-source publication activities. Applicants should focus on a clearly bounded minimum viable application rather than proposing a broad platform that cannot be completed and validated within 12 months.

The grant is a lump sum linked to sprint performance reviews. Failure to deliver or obtain approval for a sprint may delay or jeopardise the related payment, so each sprint should have objectively verifiable outputs and acceptance criteria.

The physical demonstration requirement may create logistical, travel, data access and user coordination costs. These should be reflected in the work plan and budget, while ensuring that the selected pilot site is appropriate for the proposed use case.

Open-source delivery may affect commercialisation plans. Applicants should define a sustainable business or exploitation model around services, support, deployment, hardware, hosted infrastructure, proprietary background components or other permitted assets without undermining the required openness of the funded application.

Overall assessment

This is a targeted innovation and validation opportunity rather than a conventional research grant. It offers a relatively small but potentially valuable package of funding, data infrastructure, mentoring, pilot access and visibility to an applicant that already has a credible technical foundation and needs support to reach field demonstration and open-source release.

The strongest applications will combine a precise cereal agriculture use case, demonstrable technical maturity, direct use of NOSTRADAMUS data capabilities, strong end-user involvement, measurable sustainability impacts and a realistic route to field deployment. Proposals should be written around the mandatory delivery obligations and evaluation criteria, not only around the novelty of the underlying technology.

Source note

The analysis uses the published NOSTRADAMUS Open Call 1 information, applicant guidance and related official project materials. Applicants should verify the final call documents, templates, contractual terms and any subsequent amendments before submission.134