EDF-2023-DA-MATCOMP-MJR-CBDIN MaJoR Grant Agreement 101167891 - CASCADE FUNDING OPEN CALL 1

MaJoR project, a European Defence Fund Development Action co-funded under grant agreement No 101167891, foresees as an eligible activity the provision of Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) - so called Cascade Funding - as a means to achieve its own objectives.

The CASCADE FUNDING OPEN CALLS of MaJoR project are designed to support SMEs in the defence sector, with plans to conduct two calls for selecting up to 30 entities per call, based on the industries' requirements. In this first call five topics have been defined where each recipient could receive up to EUR 60,000 for participating in a 6-month specific research project.

Overall, the MaJoR project will enhance and demonstrate the benefits of various maintenance, joining and repair technologies through domain-specific demonstrators related to air, land and sea vehicle durability. MaJoR will augment platform development through Cascade Funding Open Calls, allowing SMEs to propose new technologies and services that the consortium can assess and integrate into the project while offering mentoring and training to SMEs.

Proposal applications must be submitted exclusively via the MaJoR Submission Portal.

The proposal must be written in English in all mandatory parts to be eligible. The project description shall not exceed 5 pages as indicated in the Proposal Template. Only a proposal included in the Proposal Template will be reviewed by Evaluators. The evaluation will be performed per topics. Applications submitted by email, post, or any means other the one described above will not be considered.

The assessment of the call will follow transparent evaluation criteria, lump-sum funding modalities, and strict governance procedures in full compliance with the corresponding EDF's Model Grant Agreement.

The eligibility criteria for the applicants and activities of MaJoR CASCADE FUNDING OPEN CALLS are listed here-below and reflect the applicable EDF requirements to topic funding in MaJoR. To be eligible, the applicants must:

1.Be a legal private entity qualifying as Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME). Participation of entities other than SMEs can only be accepted where no SMEs are available to demonstrate the capacity or expertise needed for the project during its lifetime (i..e only in absence of eligible applications submitted by SMEs).

2.Be established in the EU or in EDF associated countries (i.e. 27 EU Member States, Norway or Ukraine) as per Article 6.1 of Commission Implementing Decision of 29.1.2025 C(2025) 568.

3.Comply with ownership control restrictions as per Article 6.2 of Commission Implementing Decision of 29.1.2025 C(2025) 568). 

4.Comply with ethics requirements (Article 7 of EDF Regulation)

5.Comply with security requirements of the call

6.Comply with operational capacity requirements: Applicants must have the know-how, qualifications and resources to successfully implement the projects and contribute their share (including sufficient experience in projects of comparable size and nature)

7.Comply with financial capacity requirements of the call

8.Comply with any other specificity of the call

9.Not have any conflict of interest with MaJoR consortium partners

The applicants are informed that their financial and operational capacity are part of the Selection criteria.

The CASCADE FUNDING OPEN CALL CONDITIONS and any complementary information for applicants are available on the project website at the following links: MaJoR Cascade Funding, and MaJoR Submission Portal.

Contact email: opencalls[at]major-project.eu