The Southern European Entrepreneurship Engine programme (S3E), funded by the European Commission, has launched an Open Call for solvers among SMEs and Scaleups. The SMEs and Scaleups will address and suggest solutions to one of the challenges and/or problems that S3E has received from large organisations. Evaluators will select the most mature and fitting solver and will match them with the challenger organisation. The selected SMEs and Scaleups will then benefit from a customised innovation support programme.

The Open Call operates on a first-come, first-served basis: when a match is identified, the Challenger and the Solver will be notified so they can start working together.

The topics of the challenges:

• Collaborative intelligence in the Service of Humanity
• Route Optimisation for Meter Reading Collection
• Improving User Experience for Data Protection and Privacy
• Integrating collaborative robots into various facets of the food production industry
• Weather Radar Interference
• Reduction of Free Melamine Content in Wastewater
• Automobile Sales Forecasting with AI: Reducing Deviation Rates and Improving Accuracy
• AI Based Damage Inspection
• Creation of lightweight installation structure
• Enhancement of Operational Efficiency and Industry 4.0 Adoption
• Reduction of Food Waste in Acquaculture
• C-BEMS + CO2 Emissions Calculator
• Internationalisation of R&D

Eligibility Criteria

• Legally established in specific Southern European Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain) and Associated countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and Turkey)
• Eligible entities are SMEs and Scaleups

Benefits for participating SMEs:

• Networking with industry leaders and showcase opportunities at the S3E Open day and in collaboration with other programmes and initiatives.
• Gaining market traction by being connected to larger companies and potential customers or test-beds
• Collaborations may lead to the direct procurement of innovative solutions, the formation of a new joint venture, the establishment of a research collaboration, or other collaborations explored during the technology brokerage phase.

Please follow this link for more information about the application process, evaluation criteria, and proposal requirements.

The deadline to submit applications is set to 30 October 2024.