GALACTICA, which aims to demonstrate the viability of new industrial value chains regarding the textile and aerospace sectors based on advanced manufacturing across the EU, launches today the second Call for proposals, with a total budget of 1.64 M€ to support European SMEs.

The Call for proposals is addressed to the EU and UK SMEs and startups that plan to develop innovative solutions that could be part of cross-sectoral and cross-border value chains with two different funding lines: Pioneer Acceleration and Orbital.

AEI Tèxtils (coordinator), Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA) and ATEVAL are the Spanish partners of this project, which is made up of 10 European partners and cofunded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

The development of new industrial value chains is crucial to increase the competitiveness of textile and aerospace industries. GALACTICA project aims to upgrade and transform the industrial manufacturing value chains using advanced manufacturing as a cornerstone for the European textile and aeronautics sectors, allowing them to unlock their full potential through new cross-sectorial applications and value-chains.

Taking this into account, GALACTICA launches its second Call for proposals that consist of two different types of funding instruments, in the form of lump-sum vouchers:

• Pioneer Acceleration voucher will support the exploration of new cross-sectoral value chains with focus on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Each Pioneer Acceleration voucher will have a maximum budget of 20k€ per project and we expect to fund around 22 projects.
• Orbital Projects voucher aims to support the demonstration of new cross-sectoral value chains connecting the different sectors of GALACTICA with initial market tests of the products and services developed. Each Orbital Project will have a budget up to 100k€ and we expect to fund around 12.

The Call has a total budget of EUR 1,64 M€ to provide financial support to innovative projects from European SMEs.

The Pioneer Acceleration projects will support the exploration of new cross-sectoral value chains feasibility with a focus on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as a mechanism for testing and validating the technological innovation concept, connecting two or more sectors (aerospace, textile and advanced manufacturing).

Selected projects will receive a lump-sum up to 20k€ each voucher for the Pioneer Acceleration.

The interested SMEs or start-ups willing to submit a project proposal can apply now for this voucher as a single SME, although consortiums are also welcome.

Orbital Projects are GALACTICA’s primary mechanism to support innovative technical demonstrations and integrations in new value chains. Support will focus on developing functional prototypes and their market testing facilitated by integrating non-technological innovations like agile and lean start-up methodologies for speeding up the market launch.

GALACTICA aims to select twelve projects who will receive a lump-sum support up to 100k€ per consortia, with a maximum of 60k€ per SME. Eligible consortia must be composed of two SMEs from at least two different sectors.

Deadline for applications: 30th March 2022 at 17h CET.

On February 10th, the GALACTICA team will organize the second call for proposals info-day in Brussels with presentations about the GALACTICA project, the call details, the submission procedures and the evaluation information. This presential event will also host the second matchmaking session, where SMEs will be able to find potential partners to apply together in the call for proposals, find technologies and meet potential technology providers.

If you are interested you can apply for a travel voucher till 20th January.

Apply now at:  https://calls.galacticaproject.eu/.

The GALACTICA consortium launched on 12th January a 2nd call for experts with proven expertise in the textile field to evaluate proposals submitted under the upcoming GALACTICA call for Pioneer Acceleration and Orbital projects.

If you are interested in the GALACTICA 2nd Call for external experts, please register and send your application to https://calls.galacticaproject.eu/.

The registration is open from 12th January 2022 until 16th February 2022, 17.00 CET.

GALACTICA project is a cross-regional partnership across eight EU countries that involves eight innovation clusters from advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and textile industries, one investor network, and one business incubator and accelerator.

The project will foster the creation of unidentified or unexplored market opportunities for existent and new companies in developing latent and emergent value chains. It will overcome information and market failures by gathering together companies from diverse industrial sectors, R&D organizations, clusters, and bringing to life a set of tools, instruments, and triggering initiatives that will create a basis for establishing new value chains across textile and aerospace industries.