The second phase of the national strategy for AI addressed emerging markets: embedded artificial intelligence, edge computing, trust technologies for the explicability and reliability of algorithms and the development of energy-efficient AI. The call for projects “Technological maturation and demonstration of embedded artificial intelligence solutions” was launched in this context. The closing date, initially scheduled for October 5, has been postponed to January 16.
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:
Track A: The deployment of solutions based on embedded AI in industrial products and processes of all sectors
This track targets collaborative projects that should result in a demonstrator implementing AI in 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.
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 embedded or edge machine learning models on particularly advanced hardware architectures, especially neuromorphic.
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 indicated 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 before the application for assistance is submitted (the date of eligibility of the expenses corresponds to the day after the date of receipt of the complete application by Bpifrance, in accordance with the schedule of collections 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 projects;
- 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 documented 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 ability to carry out the project and to ensure the deployment or industrialization of the solution developed, if necessary
Be able to demonstrate the environmental benefit of the project via, among other things:
- the estimated reduction of the ecological footprint brought by the developed solutions (reduction of energy consumption, inputs…);
- the knowledge of the energy consumption of the product developed within the framework of the project (algorithms and components) expressed in a credible and measurable way.
Proposed aid for economic activities
The aid can be up to 60% in the form of a grant for component A and up to 75% for component B.
