OPEN CALL 1 IS CLOSED!

6G-XR Platform and Network Enablers

CALL INFORMATION

Project full name: 6G eXperimental Research infrastructure to enable next-generation XR services 
Project Grant Agreement number: 101096838 
Call identifier: 6G-XR-OC1 
Call title: 1st 6G-XR Open Call – Platform and Network Enablers 
Feasibility check deadline: 31 October 2023 @17:00 CET 
Final Submission deadline: 27 November 2023 @17:00 CET
Information Webinar on Open Call 1:  29 September 2023 @11:00 AM CET (View the recording here!)  
Notification of the result: December 2023
Start of the Experiment: January 2024
End of the Experiment: June 2024

CALL DOCUMENTS

The purpose of the open call is to address identified gaps in the 6G-XR infrastructures and targets the development and extension of the four research infrastructures to make them ready for advanced experimentation in upcoming project open calls for experimentation. In particular, the project is looking for 1) networking, computing enablers; 2) XR enablers; 3) RAN enablers; and 4) Sustainability enablers for local green energy, controlling energy sources and charging/discharging, energy measurement and optimization solutions in terms of the following implementations. A more detailed description of the topics can be found in the 6G-XR Open Call 1 Information Document.

  1. Automated IP network measurement system 
  2. Edge discovery API 
  3. Holographics API 
  4. CAMARA QoD implementation over Open5GS 
  5. Fab Lab digital twin environment
  6. Advancing Heterogeneous XR Capture Systems 
  7. XR fusion 
  8. Wireless Connectivity for XR Sensors 
  9. Encoding solutions optimized for Point Cloud/Volumetric Video compression 
  10. Low-latency or scalable streaming protocols and methods for XR 
  11. QoE assessment models and methods for XR experiences 
  12. XR Interaction and Collaboration Software Modules and APIs 
  13. Multi-sensory communications and interactions
  14. End-to-end slicing with RAN resource sharing
  15. RAN or Sustainability enablers for local green energy, controlling energy sources and charging/discharging, energy measurement and optimization solutions

The 6G-XR 1st Open Call Information Webinar slides can be downloaded here.

Download the 6G-XR OC1 info webinar slides

AVAILABLE FUNDING

Open Call Project durationMax funding (€)No of projectsTotal funding (€)
6G-XR-OC16 months60.0008  480.000 € 

For the implementation of the third party project, a total lump sum of the awarded amount will be paid upon the completion of the project. No advance payments will be made. Budget categories that are accepted include: Personnel costs; Travel costs; Overhead (indirect) costs – 25% of total direct costs. 

The payment of the total amount will be made once the project activities have been performed completely, the deliverables and final report have been reviewed and accepted by the 6G-XR project and a final decision on the approval of the third party project and deliverables has been issued.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

  • The proposal is submitted by a legal entity established and based in one of the EU Member States or a Horizon Europe Associated country. The targeted organisations in this Call are:
    1. SMEs;
    2. Industry;
    3. Research/scientific organisation;
    4. Academia.   
  • The proposal is submitted by a single party. The submission of proposals by consortia is not eligible.
  • The proposer CANNOT BE AFFILIATED TO ANY OF THE CONSORTIUM PARTNERS OF THE 6G-XR PROJECT. 
  • The proposal complies with the type of activity qualified for financial support:
    1. Personnel costs for development of software and equipment;
    2. Travel costs;
    3. Overhead costs (25% of the direct costs).  
  • The proposal is submitted in English.  
  • The proposal is submitted through the official Open Call Submission Tool on the 6G-XR website providing all the required documents (completed proposal template and declaration of honour).  
  • The proposal has been submitted within the deadline. Late proposals will not be admitted. 
  • The proposal complies with the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) regarding all personal data that might be included in the proposal. 

FEASIBILITY CHECK

The open call proposers are encouraged to contact the 6G-XR consortium and share their intentions in order to verify the feasibility of their proposals to be implemented in the scope of the project. The feasibility check will be carried out by the 6G-XR consortium partners acting as Mentor organisations with the support of other partners as needed. The description of the experimental facilities in Section 2 of the OC1 Information document provides insights of the state and targets of each of the facilities and hence proposals should adhere to those targets. 

Initial feedback will be provided for the proposed planned activities. In order to receive feedback, a description of planned experiment (sections A, B, C and J of the proposal template) must be submitted through the 6G-XR Open Call Submission Tool on the project’s website by the designated deadline (Tuesday, 31 October 2023 at 17:00 CET).  Actual feasibility check of the proposal will be conducted after the submission deadline.

SUBMISSION

Proposers must apply ONLY through the 6G-XR Open Call Submission Tool available here below. In order to submit your proposal, please complete the online form and attach the required documents (Proposal Template and Declaration of Honour).

CONTACT INFORMATION

Important information is already included in the available Open Call 1 documents (Information Document, Proposal Template, Declaration of Honour, Draft Third Party Agreement). Please review thoroughly these documents as well as the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Open Call 1 page.  

If the answer to your question cannot be found in the documentation, you can send your question to the following email address: [email protected]. In case your question refers to technical details of the offered research infrastructure, you can send your question to the same email address [email protected], clearly mentioning which infrastructure the question relates to. 

Questions can be sent at the latest 7 calendar days before the submission deadline.

Sept 25th

Application process starts

Sept 29th

Information Webinar OC1

Oct 31st

Feasibility check deadline

Nov 27th

Final Submission deadline

Jan 2024

Start of the experiment

Jun 2024

End of the experiment

F.A.Q. – Frequently Asked Questions

The 6G-XR Open Call 1 is open to all legal entities established and based in one of the EU Member States or a Horizon Europe Associated country. The targeted organisations in this Call are (i) SMEs; (ii) Industry; (iii) Research/scientific organisation; (iv) Academia.

The maximum amount that can be requested per project is EUR 60 000. A breakdown of costs is required in the proposal template, where you should list the allocation of budget among the available budget categories: personnel, travel and indirect costs. A total lump sum of the awarded amount will be paid upon the completion of the project.

The proposer should apply through the online submission tool available on the Open Call webpage by filling in the online form and uploading 1) the completed proposal template and 2) the signed declaration of honour. Please follow the guidelines provided in the proposal template on how to fill in each section.

Please note that in the draft proposal that will be submitted for the feasibility check, at least sections A, B, C and J of the proposal template should be fully completed.

No, only single entities are entitled to apply.

6G-XR foresees the selection of around eight projects for the 1st Open Call.

The proposer should use the proposal template and fill in at least sections A, B, C and J. The proposal should be submitted through the online submission tool (please select ‘Feasibility Check’ under the tab ‘Stage’). The 6G-XR partners will review the feasibility of the proposed project idea and provide feedback on whether it is possible to implement the proposed project considering the available 6G-XR research infrastructures. The proposer should include the observations received during the feasibility check in section E of the proposal template.

Please note that in order to make a final submission, you have to select ‘Final Submission’ under the tab ‘Stage’. If you have submitted your proposal under the ‘Feasibility Check’ option, it will not be considered as a final submission and will not be evaluated. 

Please be aware that the partner responsible for the feasibility check will NOT review draft proposals or propose any changes to the proposal. The partner will only give feedback on the feasibility of the proposed project idea. The feasibility check does not provide a commitment that the proposal will be selected.

Based on the current planning, you can start your project as soon as the evaluation and third party agreement signature procedure are completed (tentative: January 2024). The project should be finished by June 2024.

Please, see section 13 of the Third Party Project Agreement template. As the 6G-XR Project has defined the terms of the Third Party Project Agreement template, the wording of the Agreement must be strictly followed.

Agreement: “The Background is the property of the Party that provides the material or information.” Comment: This means that the Third Parties remain the owners of their own Background.

Agreement: “Results shall be owned by the Party whose employee(s) generated such Results, or on whose behalf such Results have been generated”.
Comment: This means that the Third Parties shall own the results they produce.

Agreement: “Notwithstanding any ownership or Intellectual Property Rights in the Results/ Deliverables of the Third Party(ies), the Third Party(ies) agree to grant a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable and unlimited right of use with the right to modify and for sub-licensing to Consortium Partners and their Affiliates for the implementation of the 6G-XR Project with regard to all Results achieved by the Third Party in the course of the work according to this Agreement and to the Background of the Third Party(ies) related to these Results”.
Comment: This covers the implementation of the 6G-XR Project.

Agreement: “If Consortium Partner(s) or their Affiliates need to use the Results and/or the related Background of a Third Party for use or commercial exploitation of their own Results of the 6G-XR Project , each Third Party shall grant a non-exclusive, transferable right of use with regard to Third Party Results and related Background royalty-free conditions.”
Comment: for the Background, this covers “related Background”. In addition, this covers only those limited situations where the consortium partners need to use the related Background for use or commercial exploitation of their own Results of the 6G-XR Project.

Agreement: “The Third Party(ies) acknowledge and agree that the Results/ Deliverables will be integrated by the Consortium Partners (or by the Third Party itself, if specifically agreed between the respective Parties) into the test networks of the Consortium Partners. The Results that will be achieved with this kind of integration shall belong to the Consortium Partner creating/ generating the Result.”

In case the answer to your question cannot be found neither in the available Open Call 1 documents (Information Document, Proposal Template, Declaration of Honour, Draft Third Party Agreement), nor in the Frequently Asked Questions, you can send your question to the following email address: [email protected].

For technical details related to the offered infrastructures or topics, you are kindly requested to clearly mention in the subject line the exact topic (title and number) or infrastructure that you are referring to.