Open Call Analysis: AIoD OC1

AIoD OC1 – Private Sector: Integrate Your AI Solution into a European and Open AI Platform

Funding for SMEs and research organisations with mature AI products to integrate, validate and deploy their solutions within the AI-on-Demand Platform, Europe’s open AI ecosystem built under the Digital Europe Programme.

About AIoD OC1 – Private Sector

The AI-on-Demand Platform (AIoD) is a pan-European infrastructure designed to accelerate the adoption of trustworthy, ethical and transparent AI. Built as a collaborative ecosystem rather than a static catalogue, it provides a Marketplace, a Business Navigator, DevOps tools and access to high-performance computing resources to organisations of any maturity level. The platform operates under European values (open-source principles, vendor independence, interoperability and full regulatory compliance) and connects businesses, researchers and public entities with AI assets across all EU member states.

The AIoD OC1 – Private Sector is the first of two open calls under the DeployAI Financial Support to Third Parties Programme. It targets AI Providers (SMEs and research organisations) with AI products at TRL 7 or above, calling them to fully integrate their solutions into the AIoD Platform, bring clients onto the platform, serve as beta-testers and develop real-world deployment use cases with an AI Adopter of their choosing.

The call follows a three-stage funnel approach:

Stage 1 – Pitch & Select (September 2026, 1 month): Up to 50 AI Providers are selected to attend webinars about the AIoD Platform, refine their Technical & Business Proposal, provide feedback on the platform and pitch their solution at an in-person industry event.
Stage 2 – Integration (October–December 2026, 3 months): The 20 selected AI Providers fully integrate their solutions into the AIoD Platform using its core components, implement their business models, bring customers onto the platform and serve as beta-testers. They also submit a sub-project proposal to deploy their solution with a specific AI Adopter of their choosing.
Stage 3 – Deployment (January–April 2027, 3 months): The 10 selected consortia (AI Provider + AI Adopter) implement the sub-project, deploy the AI solution in a real-world context and develop a use case to promote the platform.

Each stage is competitive, only the top-ranked participants advance, and funding is disbursed in lump sums upon completion of each stage’s milestones. The total programme budget for this call is €1.5 million, distributed across up to 80 funded proposals across the three stages.

The call also identifies seven featured challenges that illustrate the types of AI solutions the platform is looking to integrate:

AI-Driven Forecasting for Grid Flexibility.
Predictive Maintenance for Energy Infrastructure.
Smart Healthcare Insights Generation.
Kubernetes-Enabled Real-World AI Solutions.
AI-Builder Pipeline with NER+KG.
Logical Reasoning and Memory Pipeline.
AI-Builder Database Refactoring.

Why Apply to AIoD OC1 – Private Sector?

AI Providers can receive up to €60,000 in equity-free funding, disbursed in three lump sum payments tied to stage progression:

€5,000 upon completion of Stage 1 (Pitch & Select).
€35,000 upon completion of Stage 2 (Integration).
€20,000 upon completion of Stage 3 (Deployment).

AI Adopters, who join at Stage 3 as consortium partners, can receive up to €15,000.

Beyond funding, selected participants are enrolled in a structured eight-month programme providing training and boost towards reaching the European market.

Applicants retain full ownership of their intellectual property rights throughout and after the programme.

Who Can Apply?

Eligible applicants for Stages 1 and 2 are single legal entities: startups, SMEs or research organisations (RTOs or academia). For Stage 3, applicants must form a consortium led by the AI Provider that completed Stages 1 and 2, in partnership with at least one AI Adopter.

To be eligible, organisations must be legally established in an EU Member State or a DIGITAL Europe associated country with a valid VAT and PIC number. Entities from countries subject to EU restrictive measures are not eligible.

Additional technical eligibility requirements:

The AI product must be at TRL 7 or above.
The solution must be delivered in a containerised format (e.g. Docker or equivalent), ensuring portability and smooth integration with the AIoD Platform.
Applicants must be registered on the AIoD Platform and Business Navigator prior to submitting their application.
The solution must demonstrate generalisability, open standards and interoperability, actively avoiding vendor lock-in.

Each applicant may submit a maximum of one application. Only the last submission will be considered in the event of multiple submissions.

How to Apply to AIoD OC1 – Private Sector

Applications must be submitted exclusively via the F6S platform, using the official application link. No other submission method is accepted.

The complete application consists of:

The application form on F6S.

The Technical & Business Proposal.

The Ownership Control Declaration.

All documents must be in English and submitted in PDF format. Incomplete applications will be disqualified. Prior to submission, applicants must create their AIoD Platform account and list their company profile under Business Navigator.

Important dates

Applications open: 8 April 2026
Submission deadline: 8 June 2026 at 17:00 CEST
Eligibility and technical check: 8–30 June 2026
Application evaluation: 1–31 July 2026
Winners announcement: by 10 August 2026
Programme implementation: 1 September 2026 – 30 April 2027

Proposal Requirements

The Technical & Business Proposal must demonstrate:

The AI product’s technical readiness (TRL 7+), containerisation approach and deployment requirements.
Differentiation, innovation and scalability of the solution, including EU27 market readiness.
Added value and alignment with the AIoD Platform, specifying which core platform components will be used.
A Business Model concept showing how the AI Provider will bring clients onto the platform and generate traction.
An integration roadmap detailing how the solution will be embedded into the AIoD ecosystem.
Team capacity and expertise to deliver the proposed plan and scale beyond the pilot.
An ethics self-assessment questionnaire, included in the proposal template.

Evaluation and Selection Process

The call follows three separate evaluation moments, one per stage. Evaluation for Stage 1 is carried out by an external expert evaluation board. Evaluations for Stages 2 and 3 are conducted jointly by the Internal Evaluation Committee and relevant stakeholders, incorporating both written proposals and live pitching sessions.

For Stage 1 Evaluation, applications are scored on a scale from 1 to 10 across four criteria: Tech/Solution Concept, Team Skills & Expertise, Implementation Plan and Ambition & Scalability. Each criterion has a minimum threshold of 6 out of 10, while the overall minimum threshold is 18 out of 30.

In case of equal scores, tie-breaking is applied in the following order: highest score on C1, then C3, then C2; if the tie persists, priority is given to projects led by a woman coordinator.

Evaluation for Stage 2 scores 50% on the revised Technical & Business Proposal and 50% on the Stage 1 pitching session. Evaluation for Stage 3 scores 40% on the sub-project proposal, 30% on the degree of platform integration achieved in Stage 2 and 30% on the Stage 2 pitching session.

Additional Support Beyond Funding

Beyond funding, selected participants are enrolled in a structured eight-month programme that includes technical mentoring throughout all stages, full integration support with the AIoD Platform and its core components, access to AIoD’s Marketplace and Business Navigator, EU27 market readiness validation and participation in up to three in-person industry events across Europe.

Final Thoughts on AIoD OC1 – Private Sector:

AIoD OC1 – Private Sector is a structured acceleration programme designed for AI companies and research organisations with mature, deployable products looking to integrate into and scale through a pan-European AI infrastructure. The three-stage competitive funnel means that progression is not guaranteed, but each stage delivers funding and programme access independently of the next.

The call is particularly relevant for organisations that already have a containerised, market-ready AI product and are looking for a validated pathway to EU-wide deployment, platform visibility and real-world use case development.