EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities under the call “Accelerating uptake through open proposals for advanced SME innovation” (HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-04)

1. Single Market Access - 450+ M Consumers & 27 Member States

• Civil-security solutions validated in one EU country can circulate tariff-free and with mutual recognition across the entire Single Market, multiplying the commercial addressable market without replication of certification costs.

• Public procurement rules (Directives 2014/24/EU & 2014/25/EU) promote cross-border tendering, allowing SME beneficiaries to pitch to ~250 B €/year of security-relevant public demand.

• The lump-sum funding model reduces administrative burden, letting SMEs focus on rapid market entry in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously rather than dealing with fragmented national grant schemes.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Minimum consortium rules (≥ 2 SMEs from ≥ 2 Member/Associated States + ≥ 1 end-user) inherently create trans-EU value chains and early reference customers in several countries.

• Access to EU Security Research Innovation Networks (CERIS, Community of European Research and Innovation for Security) facilitates matchmaking with law-enforcement agencies (LEAs), civil protection services and critical-infrastructure operators from all EU-27.

• Consortium partners can share datasets otherwise restricted at national level (e.g. synthetic crime or disaster data) under a common GDPR-compliant framework, improving AI model accuracy and portability.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Digital Europe Programme synergies: mature digital/deep-tech solutions (AI, cyber-physical systems, 5G/6G) developed here can progress to large-scale deployment pilots under DEP.

• Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP): projects receive the STEP Seal, signalling priority status for InvestEU, EIC Accelerator and national Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) top-ups.

• Supports objectives of the EU Security Union Strategy, the EU Disaster Resilience Goals 2030 and the Schengen Strategy on smart border management, increasing political visibility and uptake.

• Contributes indirectly to the European Green Deal by enabling climate-resilient infrastructure protection technologies.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standardisation

• Participation eases engagement with CEN/CENELEC and ETSI committees for pre-standardisation activities, accelerating the creation of EU-wide technical standards that serve as de-facto market entry tickets.

• Development under Horizon Europe’s ethics & dual-use framework eases later export licensing (EU Regulation 2021/821) and compliance with the AI Act, Cyber-Resilience Act and NIS2 Directive.

5. Access to the Pan-European Innovation Ecosystem

• Direct links to 3 000+ EU-funded RTOs & Digital Innovation Hubs enable rapid prototyping, testing and certification (TRL 6-8) at specialised facilities (e.g. JRC Test Beds, NATO DIANA infrastructure).

• SME-friendly IP rules (beneficiaries own the results) and Horizon’s Key Exploitable Results (KER) support accelerate venture-capital attraction and spin-out creation.

6. Funding Synergies & Financial Leverage

• Combination possibilities:

- EIB & EIF security-tech windows (InnovFin, InvestEU) to scale manufacturing post-project.

- EIT Digital / EIT Manufacturing for market launch services.

- Regional ERDF/Interreg funds for localisation and job creation in Cohesion regions.

• STEP Seal holders enjoy simplified fast-track access to national promotional banks (KfW, Bpifrance, CDP, etc.) that earmark co-investment to STEP priorities.

7. Scale, Uptake & EU-Wide Impact Potential

• 2-year project horizon fits urgent civil-security needs; alignment with public procurement of innovation (PPi) and Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) instruments enables immediate post-grant deployment.

• Mandatory end-user involvement ensures early Technology Readiness, reducing the “valley of death” between R&D and procurement.

• EU-level dissemination through the Funding & Tenders Portal and the EU Security Research Event (SRE) provides unparalleled visibility compared with national programmes.

8. Call-Specific Added Value

• 50 % budget minimum for SMEs + ≤ 15 % for non-SME/RTO partners guarantees SME leadership and IP retention, a design rarely offered by national schemes.

• STEP focus on “digital technologies & deep-tech” positions beneficiaries for future Protective Security Authorisations common across Member States, lowering market fragmentation.

• Lump-sum model means no actual-cost audit risk, an important attraction factor for first-time Horizon participants.

9. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants

• Position proposal as a cross-border “sandbox” where at least two EU public buyers validate the tech under real conditions, paving the way for a coordinated procurement (Art. 39 Public Procurement Directive).

• Embed a standards work-package aimed at drafting a CEN Workshop Agreement—this scores on impact and speeds market uptake.

• Plan interoperability pilots with EU infrastructures (EU-LISA systems, Galileo PRS, GovSatCom) to demonstrate strategic-autonomy value and attract additional DEFIS/EUSPA funding.

• Leverage the STEP Seal to negotiate matching private investment during the grant negotiation phase, signalling higher exploitation credibility to evaluators.

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By exploiting the full breadth of EU-wide instruments, regulatory coherence and market size, beneficiaries can turn a 2-year Horizon-funded prototype into a commercially deployed, standards-compliant solution adopted across multiple EU jurisdictions—an outcome unattainable through purely national funding channels.