Lessons Learnt from the EuHubs4Data Open Calls for Experiments

As the main aim of the EUHubs4Data project is to set a European federation of Big Data DIHs, the project is based on the premise “global catalogue, local offer” ensures access to SMEs (including start-ups) in their respective regional ecosystems to a global catalogue of data sources and federated data-driven services. The EUHubs4Data Open Calls aimed to attract European companies to use the federated catalogue of data-driven services and datasets to promote and validate Big Data cross-border experimentation.  

Open Call #3 received proposals from 23 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. 

The EUHubs4Data project concluded its third and last Open Call #3, which received 100 proposals submitted with 97 eligible proposals according to the eligibility conditions set out and evaluated by external experts.

From the geographical point of view, Open Call #3 received applications from 23 different countries and beneficiaries from 9 other countries, which increases the numbers of Open Calls 1 and 2, which reached applicants from 22 and 21 countries and beneficiaries from 7 different countries in both open calls. The EUhubs4Data programme has offered support to SMEs from 15 countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden) throughout the 3 open calls.

Considering the balance of participation, the country with the highest number of applications was Spain with 24 applicants, which is translated into 24% of applicants of Open Call #3. Likewise, Spain was the country with the highest number of selected beneficiaries with 5 experiments selected for funding. However, the Open Call #3 received 6 or more applications from 7 countries, which shows that, except Spain, participation has been more balanced than in previous open calls.

Going back and analysing statistics from the previous open calls, there are some observations that can be taken in consideration on the achievements and success of EuHubs4Data open calls:

• The participation in Open Call #3 has reached 100 applicants, which shows a growth compared to the 93 and 78 applications from Open Calls #1 and #2, respectively.
• In Open Call #3, 50% of applicants stated that they knew about the open call thanks to a direct contact of an EUHub4Data partner, which indicates the active work of DIH partners of the consortium involved in the communication of the open call.
• EUHubs4Data open calls has reached SMEs from a wide number of countries, 22 in Open Call #1, 21 in the open Call #2 and 23 in Open Call #3. Also, SMEs from 15 countries have entered to the EUhubs4Data programme over the course of the 3 open calls. The 15 countries are: Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden.
• The actions carried out by project partners (e.g. inclusion of new DIHs offering services or dissemination actions) has helped to balance participation of applicants per countries over the course of the three open calls. For example, Open Call #3 received 6 or more applications from 7 different countries.
• Some countries (as Romania and Czech Republic in Open Call #2 and Slovakia, Portugal and Latvia in Open Call #3) experienced big increases in the number of applicants in a certain open call, which is directly explained by the participation of DIHs from this country only in this concrete Open Call.
• Although the number of services selected from different DIHs was limited for the applicants up to 5 different services from 3 different DIHs, the preferred combination of applicants has been 2 Services from 2 DIHs.
• The selection of services from the different DIHs has shown a wide dispersity at all the EUHubs4Data open calls. Some DIHs reached a wide selection of services while other DIHs where even not selected by any applicant.

The statistics provided in these blog can act as lessons learnt for hubs involved in EuHubs4Data and the future of the federation to reach relevant findings for the offering of EUHubs4Data catalogue of federated services. The federation can consider these to have a better overview of: (i) which services are more attractive for SMEs; (ii) how to better describe the services in the federated catalogue; or (iii) how to disseminate the catalogue to increase service visibility through SMEs.

Check our infographic!