StandICT.eu Open Calls - Relation with Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe

Call 1 Closing date 4th January 2021 identified “Health”

as its theme to promote and protect human health and well-being, prevent diseases and decrease the burden of diseases and disabilities on people and communities, support the transformation of health care systems in their efforts towards fair access to innovative, sustainable and high-quality health care for everyone, and foster an innovative, sustainable and globally competitive European health industry. The adoption of eHealth and telemedicine applications demand conformance with standards to help increase interoperability among systems and help safeguard security and privacy.  

Digital Health is an evolving concept and according to the World Health Organization​ (WHO), "digital health, or the use of digital technologies for health, has become a salient field of practice for employing routine and innovative forms of information and communications technology (ICT) to address health needs."

Open Call 2 focuses on Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society,

aims to meet EU goals and priorities on enhancing democratic governance and citizens participation, and safeguarding and promotion of cultural heritage, and to respond to multifaceted social, economic, technological and cultural transformations. Activities will contribute to expanding civic engagement, boosting transparency, accountability, inclusiveness and legitimacy of governance, improving levels of trust and tackling political extremism.

We welcome ICT Standards applications related to Trusted Information which is a timely discussion that requires urgent attention as it threatens the foundations of democracy, business and the entire justice system. Applications that support the Digital Services Act, launched by the European Parliament in December 2020 as well as activities around the automation of disinformation, ID cards,  cryptographic capabilities, AI-enabled automation and more will be welcomed.

Open Call 3 focus topic is linked to Theme 3:  Civil security for Society

Europeans must find ways to sustain European innovative businesses to seek ways to commercialize standards and bring them into new value chains. Standards allow us to go cross boundaries, to fuse together nature-based solutions, this is why innovation in the climate domain is critical to enable the creation of a genuine design of the ecosystem so profoundly important in today’s digital-driven society.

Theme 4 - Digital, Industry and Space

Standards are increasingly seen as a bridge between research, innovation, and the market, and as a means of capturing and disseminating knowledge.

The development of open technical specifications and standards that aim to represent European values and ethics, strengthen the take-up, scalability cross-border and cross-sector interoperability of their technological solutions, as well as decreasing the costs of technical due diligence on the private and public procurers.

Theme 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility

The EU Commission has set a global climate target of net-zero by 2050. The European Green Deal recognizes the importance of standards: “As the world’s largest single market, the EU can set standards that apply across global value chains. The Commission will continue to work on new standards for sustainable grow mt-4 mb-4th and use its economic weight to shape international standards that are in line with EU environmental and climate ambitions”1.

The energy domain is entering an era of considerable changes, mainly driven by two major factors: the energy system becoming consumer-centric and the ongoing digital transformation of the energy sector.

ICT standards may support in promoting digital solutions for climate risks by both promoting the positive potential of digital technologies to reduce CO2 emissions and resource use in other industries as well as reducing the grow mt-4 mb-4ing contribution of ICT to CO2 emissions and material use (particularly rare metals) due to both infrastructure (eg data centre) and ICT Devices 2.

Theme 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Over the past 15 years, ICTs have begun transforming the natural resources sector in an unprecedented way. With agriculture becoming increasingly data-driven, access to timely, accurate information is critical for farmers to make the most of their resources in often changing circumstances. 

Applications may seek to facilitate ICT-centric innovation activities that strengthen national and regional agricultural competitiveness and that could promote and facilitate the development of e-Agriculture policies, strategies and plans, enabling ICT innovation and ICT standards to advance sustainable agriculture. smart agriculture, and disaster-prevention which are key to preserve rural livelihoods and foster community resilience.

Theme 7 - Artificial INtelligence, Data and Robotics

The European Commission effort and investment on AI, Data and Robotics aims at using Industrial Data and responsible and trustworthy Industrial AI to open opportunities for Europe to strengthen its position. Europe can play the pacemaker role because particularly in Europe the required domain know-how is available, and it can rely on a powerful ecosystem of SMEs, big companies, research and technology institutes, and renowned experts.

Theme 8 - Resilience and Green Transition

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to the European Union and to the world. To overcome these challenges, the European Green Deal is Europe's new growth strategy, which will transform the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The European Green Deal aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050, boost the economy through green technology, create sustainable industry and transport, and cut pollution. Turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities will make the transition just and inclusive for all. 

Theme 9 - IoT, Cloud and Edge

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected digital devices, sometimes known as “smart” devices, with its related research encompassing domains like AI, 5G, cloud computing, blockchain, and micro- or nano-systems. What has recently changed is the augmented capabilities of devices, faster communication networks, the standardisation of communication protocols and more affordable sensors and microelectronic devices, which is turbocharging the IoT phenomena.