From silos to diversity – small-scale bio-based demonstration pilots

PRIMARY Open Call for proposals will be submitted digitally through the opencalls.fund platform at https://opencalls.fund/open-call/primary. All the documents needed for the application (PRIMARY Open Call Kit) can be found on the PRIMARY website, on the section dedicated to the Open Call (https://primary-project.eu/open-call/). Interested Applicants should visit the PRIMARY website for any updates and the FAQ section available in the opencalls.fund platform (https://opencalls.fund/open-call/primary/faq).

Submissions received through any other channel will be automatically discarded.

Documents required in subsequent phases will be submitted via dedicated channels (e.g. via email or via the opencalls.fund platform), which will be indicated by the PRIMARY consortium in the contracting phase.

In case multiple versions of the same application are submitted, only the last version will be evaluated. All the previous ones will be discarded.

Throughout the entire process, the confidentiality of applicants' identities and the contents of the proposals will be rigorously upheld. Any details pertaining to the proposed solution will be handled with the utmost discretion.

By applying to PRIMARY Open Call consortia automatically accept the terms and conditions of the Open Call as described in the Open Call Kit.

Evaluation:

After the PRIMARY Open Call is closed, an eligibility check process will be carried out by the PRIMARY Monitoring Committee to discard non-eligible applications. Following the eligibility check, a remote evaluation will be done by carefully selected external reviewers. Each proposal will be reviewed by two (2) external evaluators with specific specific experience and academic, technical and/or industry knowledge surrounding agriculture, bioeconomy, biodiversity, circular economy and sustainability.

The evaluators will have to evaluate each proposal under the specific evaluation criteria:

Alignment

Excellence

Impact

Value

Organizational capacity and sufficiency

All award criteria have the same weight. Each award criterion can be scored from 1 to 5 with a threshold of 3 points in each category, and a minimum of 15 points in total.

PRIMARY Open Call will accept the submission of proposals from consortia of local and regional actors, including at least one technical partner (process operator, partner testing/applying/validating the technology/process) and at least one partner from the public (e.g., public body, university) or the private sector (e.g., primary producers, cooperatives, start-ups, SMEs, NGOs), that are active in the sustainable valorisation of agricultural residues. Selected consortia will receive funding to pilot, adapt, and validate processing solutions and business model blueprints within the PRIMARY framework, focusing on underutilised feedstocks and innovative bioeconomy processes. The supported projects are expected to demonstrate technical feasibility, economic viability, and replicability of integrated value-chain solutions under real rural conditions, contributing to the wider deployment of PRIMARY solutions across Europe.

The Open Call will fund 6-9 sub-projects (consortia of 2-3 parties) with the maximum grant budget to be €150,000 per sub-project for consortia of three (3) parties and €100,000 per sub-project for consortia of two (2) parties. The total amount of the Open Call will reach at maximum €900,000.00.