Two new calls in July to fund innovative projects: Here are the themes

Recognizing bots that spread fake news online, protecting data sent by space satellites, ensuring anti-counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products, protecting communication systems of self-driving vehicles: these are some possible cases of application of industrial research and experimental development that Cyber 4.0 is preparing to co-fund, with two new calls for innovative projects, totaling 5.1 million euros, in the 2023-25 biennium.

The new package of support, reserved for the development of high “ Technology readiness level” (Trl) solutions to be proposed by startups, innovative SMEs, medium and large enterprises, was presented at the first Cyber 4.0 Forum in Rome last June 6-7. Promoted to direct innovation to the market and make it an operational tool for business development, the initiative focuses on four areas of interest: core cybersecurity services, aerospace, automotive, and healthcare.

Each, in particular, has three research strands: Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, cryptography and applications (Core area); critical asset protection, secure satellite communication protocols, satellite data exploitation (Space area); data protection, secure technologies for telemedicine, anti-counterfeiting in pharmaceuticals (Health area); and vehicle security, software and charging station security, personal safety (Automotive area).

The first of the two calls will be launched in July, with a total value of 2.5 million euros, while the second will start in January 2024 (value 2.6 million euros). Each tender notice will remain open for 45 days, and each project subsequently eligible for co-funding can receive a maximum amount of €400,000.

The intensity of the grant will vary depending on the type of activity (industrial research or experimental development) and the size of the company. The duration of the projects will be 12-18 months, with closure by September 2025.

The research and innovation funding activity is part of the institutional mission of Cyber 4.0, a highly specialized national center of expertise on cybersecurity, which has already issued two similar calls for proposals for a total value of 2.2 million euros, in the two-year period 2021-23. Recipients, 15 projects with a total budget of about 7 million, involving 29 companies, 80 percent of them innovative SMEs and startups, in the four target areas.