SNS Trials and Pilots (T&Ps) with Verticals

The HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-02-STREAM-D-01 grant opportunity is part of the Horizon Europe program, focusing on the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking. This initiative aims to fund innovation actions, specifically targeting advanced trials and pilots of 5G/6G technologies across various vertical industries including automotive, healthcare, smart cities, agriculture, education, and media.

The program allocates a total budget of €24 million for around four projects, with each expected to receive approximately €6 million. Proposals must be submitted through a single-stage application process via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, with the submission deadline set for September 18, 2025.

Eligible applicants include legal entities established in EU member states and associated countries like Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Strong participation from small and medium-sized enterprises is encouraged, alongside public and academic institutions that are relevant to the industry.

The financial support operates as a grant under the Horizon Europe framework, providing 100% funding for non-profit organizations and up to 90% for for-profit entities, who must contribute a minimum of 10% in co-funding.

Applications should demonstrate clear benefits for their targeted sectors and aim for specified maturity levels concerning technology readiness, primarily focusing on TRLs between 6 and 8. Successful projects should validate the operational use of advanced technologies and achieve tangible sustainability, economic, and societal impacts.

The overarching goal is to enhance Europe's technological sovereignty and position in the global market by addressing dependencies on non-EU technology providers. Proposals that highlight interdisciplinary collaborations, particularly those linking technology providers with end users, will be favored in the application process.

Eligible projects are expected to build on existing platforms or solutions from previous SNS initiatives and focus on real-world applications while contributing to open-source tools relevant to this ecosystem. The initiative aims not only to test but also promote new market-driven applications, ensuring a significant involvement of SMEs and promoting standardization in telecom technologies.

In summary, this grant represents a strategic investment in developing the European 5G/6G ecosystem, fostering collaboration between industry, academia, and public entities, ultimately aiming to create commercially viable solutions that align with EU policy objectives.

The HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-02-STREAM-D-01 call, under the Horizon Europe program, aims to fund Innovation Actions (HORIZON-JU-IA) focused on SNS (Smart Networks and Services) Trials and Pilots (T&Ps) with Verticals. The call, managed by the HORIZON JU (Joint Undertaking), has a budget of 24,000,000 EUR and anticipates awarding approximately 4 grants, each around 6,000,000 EUR. The call follows a single-stage submission process, with the submission system planned to open on June 18, 2025, and a deadline for submissions on September 18, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time.

The key target of Stream D projects is to qualify, quantify, and test the enablement effect and impact of advanced 5G/6G technologies in and for various vertical sectors. Projects should leverage existing platforms and elements from previous SNS Stream B, C, and D projects, upgrading them as needed for future SNS phases. They should also consider platforms developed through national initiatives or other EU-based solutions that offer preliminary 6G network solutions, including relevant computing platform initiatives.

Expected outcomes include:
Evaluation, measurement, and validation of advanced 5G/6G technologies.
Contribution to refining seamless end-to-end 6G test infrastructures, integrating vertical use case-specific performance/KPI and Key Value Indicators (KVIs) requirements across public and non-public networks and services.
Validated infrastructure core technologies and architectures for public and private deployments across the value chain, targeting tangible sustainability results (societal, business, and environmental).
Viable business models for innovative digital use cases tested across various vertical sectors.
Mature solutions with high potential for adoption by verticals after project completion.
Support for impactful contributions to standardization bodies for 6G use cases and technologies, including KVIs.
Showcasing European 5G Advanced and 6G know-how through visible, widely accessible public events.
Onboarding vertical stakeholders, SMEs, and the European Academic and Research community in experimental activities to validate technological trends.
Collection of requirements from verticals and lessons learned to prepare for subsequent SNS programme phases.
Contribution to a repository of open-source tools and modules accessible to SNS projects.

The scope of the projects should cover:
Demonstrating clear benefits for one or two selected vertical sectors with stakeholders, focusing on innovative 6G smart networks and services that address scalability, security, resilience, and performance improvements in line with diverse socio-economic scenarios.
Targeting and achieving tangible results for environmental, societal, and economic aspects.
Applicants should select targeted vertical sectors based on project objectives and use-cases, considering priorities for:
Industry/Manufacturing (including robotics)
Media (including gaming, broadcasting)
Transportation/Logistics
Emergency and Safety Services
Health

These verticals should align with the European view on 6G use-cases presented at the 3GPP SA1 Workshop in May 2024. Projects should focus on one or two specific vertical sectors, indicating the center of gravity for evaluation purposes if addressing two.

To ensure a balanced portfolio within Stream D, grants will be awarded to applications that have different centers of gravity from the identified vertical priorities, with at least one project per vertical priority receiving funding, provided they meet all thresholds and are subject to available budget.

Trials and pilots should be carried out from an end-to-end perspective, using representative technologies across the value chain, including devices, connectivity, and service delivery. They should demonstrate the integration of IoT/cloud/edge/computing environments (public and/or private) towards a distributed environment with unified management.

Strong SME involvement is targeted, with SMEs playing a key role in developing new market-driven applications that build value on the 5G/6G infrastructure.

Performance and sustainability capabilities are to be assessed against related KVIs and KPIs, with proposals clearly indicating the target set and how they advance the state of the art. Software entities are expected to implement target services in Open-Source Code with open interfaces.

SNS T&Ps should attract key vertical industries to stimulate European participation in future standardization phases. Participation of vertical and industrial actors with demonstrated standardization impact is desired, along with engagement of key vertical stakeholders for monetizing/valorizing project results.

Stream D projects should leverage developed platforms and elements from previous SNS phases, national initiatives, or other solutions that integrate and offer preliminary 6G network solutions. Adaptation/development work on SNS or National Platforms, or related solutions from EC HE Cluster 4 activities, should be included.

The proposal page limit for IAs submitted under Stream D is 70 pages.

Eligible countries for participation in Stream D include Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment are not eligible. Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine are also ineligible.

At least half of the project budget should be implemented by the SNS JU member (other than the Union) and their constituent or affiliated entities.

Applicants must fill a mandatory table of compliance at the proposal stage.

The call emphasizes gender equality plans and the gender dimension of R&I.

Participants of selected projects will be required to cooperate in the SNS Programme by signing a collaboration agreement.

AI/ML training data sets created under Stream B topics must be made available through a common repository.

A call-specific application form will be used and will be available in the Submission System.

This funding opportunity is centered around advancing 5G and 6G technologies through practical trials and pilots within specific industry sectors. It seeks to bridge the gap between technological innovation and real-world applications, fostering European leadership in the next generation of network technologies. The EU is looking for projects that not only test and validate these technologies but also demonstrate their benefits in terms of sustainability, economic viability, and societal impact. Strong emphasis is placed on the involvement of SMEs and the alignment of projects with European strategic interests, particularly in reducing technological dependencies and promoting open-source solutions. The call encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing among projects, aiming to create a unified and robust European 6G ecosystem.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Strong involvement of SMEs is targeted. The European Academic and Research community is also encouraged to participate. Public bodies, research organizations, and higher education establishments are also eligible, with a gender equality plan required for some.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a HORIZON JU Innovation Action (HORIZON-JU-IA) under the Horizon Europe program. The type of Model Grant Agreement is HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG].

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to require or strongly encourage a consortium, as it mentions cross-project collaboration and targets strong involvement of SMEs, vertical and industrial actors.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility for applicants for Stream D is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Target Sector: The target sectors are primarily ICT, specifically focusing on advanced 5G/6G technologies. It also targets several vertical sectors including: Industry/Manufacturing (including robotics), Media (including gaming, broadcasting), Transportation/Logistics, Emergency and Safety Services, and Health.

Mentioned Countries: Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, OECD, Mercosur countries, EU Member States.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project is at the trials and pilots stage, focusing on demonstration, validation, and implementation of 5G/6G technologies in vertical sectors. The projects should aim to take advantage of developed platforms and/or elements from previous SNS Stream B, C and D projects, and if needed, up-grade them to keep them operational for next SNS phases, as well as platforms developed in the context of national initiatives or any other EU based solutions that integrate and offer preliminary 6G network solutions.

Funding Amount: The budget for the topic HORIZON-JU-SNS-2025-02-STREAM-D-01 is EUR 24,000,000, with an indicative grant amount of around EUR 6,000,000 per project. It is expected that around 4 grants will be awarded.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage open call.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant to support their projects.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage.

Success Rates: The success rate cannot be determined from the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement. However, it mentions that at least half of the budget should be implemented by the SNS JU member (other than the Union) and their constituent or affiliated entities, which may imply some form of financial commitment or in-kind contribution.

Summary:

This is a Horizon Europe grant opportunity under the SNS (Smart Networks and Services) Joint Undertaking, specifically targeting Stream D projects focused on trials and pilots of advanced 5G/6G technologies in various vertical sectors. The goal is to qualify, quantify, and test the impact of these technologies in areas like Industry/Manufacturing, Media, Transportation/Logistics, Emergency Services, and Health. The program seeks to refine 6G test infrastructures, validate core technologies, and develop viable business models for innovative digital use cases. Strong involvement of SMEs and contributions to standardization are highly encouraged. Eligible applicants are legal entities from EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Israel, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The call has a budget of EUR 24 million, with individual grants expected to be around EUR 6 million. The application deadline is September 18, 2025. The projects should demonstrate clear benefits for the selected verticals, achieve tangible results in environmental, societal, and economic aspects, and take advantage of existing platforms and solutions. The application process is single-stage, and a call-specific application form will be available in the Submission System.