EU-Wide Advantages & Strategic Opportunities

Grant: “Second call for business experiments addressing the uptake of HPC by SMEs”

Call ID: DIGITAL-EUROHPC-JU-2023-SME-01-01

(Max. 15 months | €200 k total | €150 k per organisation)

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1. Single Market Access – 450 + Million Consumers

• Pan-European customer validation: Running an HPC-enabled experiment under an EU-branded programme lets SMEs test new products/algorithms simultaneously in multiple Member States, shortening time-to-market across the entire Single Market.

• Free movement of digital services & data: Outputs (e.g. SaaS, AI models) can be commercialised EU-wide without extra localisation of technical standards, thanks to harmonised rules under the Digital Single Market strategy.

• Public-procurement entry point: Success stories generated under FFplus become credible references for future bids under the EU Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPIS) schemes.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration Potential

• Multi-national consortia encouraged: Main participant (SME) + supporting participants (HPC centres, ISVs, universities) can be sourced from different countries, facilitating technology transfer and broader market insights.

• EuroCC network leverage: 34 National Competence Centres broker contacts, mentoring and local language support, lowering barriers for newcomers in less-represented regions.

• Shared risk & cost: Distributed effort in tuning, porting and scaling codes across HPC infrastructures reduces the per-partner financial burden (<€150 k cap), while maximising aggregate expertise.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Strategies

• Digital Europe Programme & EuroHPC JU: Direct contribution to the objective of increasing SME uptake of advanced digital technologies.

• Green Deal / Fit-for-55: HPC experiments can model energy efficiency, materials optimisation or CO₂-reduction scenarios, positioning SMEs for green-tech markets.

• AI Act & Data Act readiness: By integrating EuroHPC AI Factory access, experiments can prototype compliant, trustworthy AI before new legislation enters into force.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Data Governance Benefits

• GDPR-aligned data handling: EuroHPC and national centres already operate under strict EU data-protection frameworks, simplifying legal compliance for SMEs lacking in-house legal teams.

• Uniform IPR approach: Cascade funding contracts follow Horizon Europe rules—granting SMEs full exploitation rights on foreground IP while the EU retains free-of-charge access for policy purposes; this clarity accelerates commercial negotiations with international partners.

5. Embeddedness in the EU Innovation Ecosystem

• Access to 10+ EuroHPC petascale/exascale systems located in Finland, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, etc., available at zero compute cost via JU access calls—an in-kind advantage rarely matched nationally.

• Connection to EDIH network: European Digital Innovation Hubs can offer follow-up services (incubation, test-before-invest, skills).

• Research-industry interface: Experiments can recruit post-docs or engineers from EU universities familiar with PRACE & EuroHPC software stacks, reducing onboarding time.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• Cumulative financing strategy:

- Horizon Europe Cluster 4 (Advanced Digital, AI & Robotics) for TRL elevation.

- European Innovation Council Transition or Accelerator for scale-up equity/blended finance.

- Cohesion Policy / ERDF smart-specialisation funds for regional piloting & manufacturing scale-out.

• Non-dilutive + equity mix: Starting with €200 k non-dilutive grant demonstrates traction, improving valuation for later private or EIC equity rounds.

• Complementarity rule compliance: SMEs ineligible for Type-2 (Generative AI) can still partner as support participants—broadening revenue streams while staying under the €150 k lifetime cap.

7. Scale, Replicability & Market Impact

• EU certification effect: “Fortissimo Success Story” label is recognised by clusters, investors and large corporates throughout Europe, easing adoption in automotive, aerospace, pharma, and energy value chains.

• Template for sector peers: Each experiment must publish multi-media results, enabling rapid replication in other Member States—accelerating Digital Decade KPI of 75 % SME cloud/HPC uptake by 2030.

• Interoperability focus: Using EuroHPC-compliant containers and OSS libraries ensures smooth migration between national and commercial clouds, supporting future cross-border data-spaces.

8. Strategic Recommendations for Applicants

1. Form a trio:

• 1 SME (main) in a low-HPC-uptake country

• 1 leading HPC centre in another Member State (supporting)

• 1 ISV/engineering house for domain expertise (optional)

2. Bundle EuroHPC compute request with proposal timeline: prepare access-call draft in parallel to shorten lead time.

3. Quantify EU-wide business impact: reference market size across at least three Member States; include export readiness outside EU to underscore scale.

4. Map to EU policy KPIs: e.g., tonnes of CO₂ saved, % throughput gain in med-tech supply chain, alignment with Chips Act or EU Battery Strategy.

5. Plan follow-up funding early: outline Horizon Europe or EIC pathway in exploitation section to show sustainability beyond 15 months.

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Bottom Line: Operating under this EuroHPC cascade-funding scheme gives SMEs unparalleled access to top-tier compute resources, pan-European expertise and a harmonised regulatory & commercial playground—advantages impossible to replicate at purely national level and pivotal for scaling deep-tech solutions across the entire European Single Market.