Call for projects: "Technological maturation and demonstration of embedded artificial intelligence solutions

Call for projects: “Technological maturation and demonstration of embedded artificial intelligence solutions

29 novembre 2021

Launched as part of the France 2030 plan and the new phase of the national strategy for artificial intelligence, the call for projects “Technological maturation and demonstration of embedded artificial intelligence solutions” is open until October 5, 2022. Focus on its objectives and selection criteria.

Objectives of the call for projects

This call for projects aims to support hardware and software innovations related to embedded AI applications, from their design to the demonstration of their effectiveness in real-life situations. It is composed of two distinct components:

1) Strand A: The deployment of solutions based on embedded AI in industrial products and processes of all sectors

This track targets collaborative projects that should lead to a demonstrator implementing AI within an embedded system dedicated to a clearly identified use case within a 2 to 3 year timeframe.

The aim of the work must be to validate the integration of new technological offers in final products or processes with a view to bringing them to market. Projects must demonstrate the ability to integrate upstream and downstream of the value chain, hardware and software, and thus have the effect of promoting the adoption of new technologies within the application industries.

2) Track B: Technological maturation of hardware architectures and platforms dedicated to embedded AI

This track targets individual or collaborative projects that should lead, within 3 to 5 years, to the validation of the application of machine learning models in embedded or edge applications on particularly advanced hardware architectures, especially neuromorphic ones.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, a project must :

be complete in the administrative sense and be submitted on time, in the required format, in electronic form via the Bpifrance platform
meet the objectives and expectations set out in paragraph 2 and satisfy the constraints indicated, particularly with regard to the amount of the expenditure base;
relate to work carried out in France and not committed prior to the submission of the application for assistance (the eligibility date of the expenditure corresponds to the day after the date of receipt of the complete application by Bpifrance, in accordance with the schedule of surveys indicated on the cover page);
be composed solely of partners eligible to receive public aid (in particular, the partners must be up to date with their tax and social security obligations, not be subject to the recovery of aid declared illegal or incompatible by the European Commission, and not have the status of “ company in difficulty” within the meaning of the European regulations on State aid)

Selection criteria

The selection of the best projects is based on the following criteria:

innovative nature and added value of the products or services developed

Relevance to the objectives of the call for proposals;

existence of a structured collaboration or a diffusion effect within a sector or an ecosystem, in particular for the companies involved;
economic benefits for the national territory, quantified and supported in terms of jobs (increase, maintenance of skills, etc.), investments (strengthening of industrial sites, increase in R&D, etc.), development of technological assets (patent, intellectual property, etc.), development of a sector or anticipation of economic or societal changes;
the quality of the economic model, the business and financial plan presented, and the consortium’s capacity to carry out the project and to ensure the deployment or industrialisation of the solution developed, if necessary;

Be able to demonstrate the environmental benefit of the project through

the estimated reduction of the ecological footprint brought by the developed solutions (reduction of energy consumption, inputs…);
knowledge of the energy consumption of the product developed as part of the project (algorithms and components) expressed in a credible and measurable way.