Support to programme execution on SESAR architecture and on Strategic deployment planning and monitoring
HORIZON JU Coordination and Support Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA7-2
- Programme
- Digital European Sky Industrial Research 02
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- April 1, 2025
- Deadline
- September 16, 2025
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €14,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €2,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €7,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 2
- Keywords
- HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA7-2HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02
Description
The proposals will contribute to the following expected outcomes in support of the SESAR 3 JU:
- Consistent SESAR architecture design (including when necessary, modelling) across the programme.
- Future Common Project regulations support the deployment of those strategic deployment objectives (SDO) elements that require a synchronised and harmonised roll-out at European level.
- Involvement of ATM workforce through their professional staff in the deployment planning activities, training, and engagement to gain social acceptance of the changes envisaged by the SDOs.
- Focus should be paid on facilitating the market deployment of priorities (i.e., SDOs) by a critical mass of early movers.
- In doing that, the project should support the SESAR 3 JU in the coordination at technical level of all entities involved in deployment at European level (e.g., EASA, SDM, EUROCAE, EDA, CNS Programme and Network Managers):
- Supporting S3JU in securing that Governing Board members are well informed at strategic level about the status of prioritised deployment activities defined in the European ATM Master Plan.
- The European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) of European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and its supporting standardisation framework is fully aligned with priorities and timelines of the Master Plan.
- SES instruments work hand-in-hand (as from RP4) to promote investments on SDOs.
- ATM functionalities within the scope of SDOs requiring global harmonisation are recognised in the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) as priorities for global harmonisation fostering the necessary adaptation of the global regulatory framework.
The scope covers deployment activities on the ATM Master Plan and the support to SESAR architecture activities (i.e., architecture modelling framework and support).
Regarding the support to SESAR 3 JU in the management of the SESAR architecture (e.g., common taxonomy maintenance, content integration analysis, etc.), the scope covers the following activities:
- Upon the explicit request of the SESAR 3 JU, maintain architecture modelling methodology and framework and extend it if justified by programme needs (e.g., supporting the cyber risk assessment of supporting assets).
- Monitor SESAR architecture modelling, consistency / coherency analysis of architectural information, etc., applying the methodology defined and agreed during DES IR1 call activities under project AMPLE-3, and documented in the SESAR project handbook.
- Monitor and report SESAR architecture progress at programme level, as the architecture modelling point of contact, within each SESAR 3 JU programme management team through monitoring and consolidation of each SESAR Solution architecture.
- Support to SESAR 3 JU on monitoring the progress of the R&I programme on key dimensions of the ATM Master Plan such as trajectory based operations (TBO), dynamic airspace configuration levels, automation levels, etc.
- (At the request of the SESAR 3 JU), contribute to maturity gates (as prioritised by SESAR 3 JU) to confirm that performance benefits and architecture progress are not only robust enough, but also aligned to the ATM Master Plan vision (i.e., performance ambitions and benefits, new service delivery model and target architecture), etc.).
On the deployment dimension, this includes supporting the SESAR 3 JU to report on deployment activities in both industrialisation and implementation. To achieve the expected outcomes, the activities to be performed under the leadership of the SESAR 3 JU will focus on the following areas:
- Main activities:
- Support the SESAR 3 JU for the elaboration of the annual strategic deployment monitoring report, covering both voluntary deployment (e.g., by early movers associated to SDOs) and mandatory (e.g., regulated by Common Project CP1) deployment activities in both industrialisation (i.e., standardisation and regulation/certification) and implementation. This report should also establish a clear link and capture synergies with the implementation of the performance scheme and the mechanisms in place to monitor related investments (e.g., Performance Review Body (PRB) annual reports).
- Encourage market uptake of SESAR Solutions throughout the European network, provide support in updating the SESAR Solutions catalogue and the SESAR 3 JU website, regarding links to deployment, as a communications and dissemination tool.
- Support market uptake through deployment guidance (e.g., focusing on the human dimension of SDOs, etc.). Support on CBA activities in support of market uptake (e.g., keeping consolidated SDOs CBAs updated and deep-dive on some deployment actions when necessary to support market uptake) developing the required material for supporting decision makers. This may include network impact assessment activities, running integrated simulation on multiple SESAR Solutions, duly replicating observed real world operational environments to assess the impact that they could have at network level.
- Support SESAR 3 JU in maintaining the links between standardisation and regulatory needs (and corresponding enablers) and the European ATM standards coordination group (EASCG) and the European UAS standards coordination group (EUSCG) rolling plans.
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- Additional support activities (on the request of the SESAR 3 JU):
- Support (at the request of the SESAR 3 JU) other ad hoc strategic planning and monitoring activities (e.g., airspace architecture study-type activities, definition of future common project proposals where and when mandated, update of SRIA, etc.).
- Support the alignment of the ICAO aviation system block upgrade with the evolution of the European ATM Master Plan.
- Support preparation for performance impact plans on future reference periods (at national and ECAC levels).
- Support to a potential ATM Mater Plan update campaign.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions:
2. Eligible Countries
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
This call is subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in subsection 2.5 of the BAWP 2024-2025
Weighting per criteria in additions to the general award criteria:
Excellence: 40%
Impact: 40%
Implementation: 20%
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
The evaluation committee may be composed partially of representatives of EU institutions and agencies (internal experts).
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
The following exceptions apply.
1) A funding rate of 70% applies to all beneficiaries (regardless of their legal status).
2) Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programmefor Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under theResearch and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025).
3) Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional dissemination obligations:
- beneficiaries must make proactive efforts to share, on a royalty-freebasis, in a timely manner and as appropriate, all relevant results with the other grants awarded under the same call;
- beneficiaries must acknowledge these obligations and incorporate them into the proposal, outlining the efforts they will make to meet them, and into Annex I to the grant agreement.
4) Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional exploitation obligations:
For the purpose of complying with the objectives set in Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085, the SRIA and the European ATM Master Plan,
- beneficiaries must make available for reuse under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions all relevant results generated, through a well-defined mechanism using a trusted repository;
- if the purpose of the specific identified measures to exploit the results of the action is related to standardisation, beneficiaries must grant a non-exclusive licence to the results royalty-free;
- if working on linked actions, beneficiaries must ensure mutual access to the background to and to the results of ongoing and closed linked actions, should this be necessary to implement tasks under the linked actions or to exploit results generated by the linked actions as defined in the conditions laid down in the biannual work programme and in the call for proposals.
Beneficiaries must acknowledge these obligations and incorporate them into the proposal, outlining the efforts they will make to meet them, and into Annex I to the grant agreement.
5) Grants awarded under this topic will be linked to the following actions:
Call HORIZON-SESAR-2022-DES-IR-01
Call HORIZON-SESAR-2022-DES-ER-01
A collaboration agreement is required.
The integration of a gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) into R&I content is not a mandatory requirement.
The maximum project duration is 36 months.
Call documents:
Application form templates
Standard application form (HE CSA) - please note that only Part A of this template is applicable for this call. For Part B, see below.
SESAR 3 application form (CSA) - Part B - this application form specific for this call is available in the Submission System.
Evaluation form templates
Standard evaluation form (HE CSA) - will be used with the necessary adaptations based on specific award criteria (see BAWP, Annex III, section 2.5).
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
Additional documents:
SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking Multi-Annual Work Programme (MAWP) 2022-2031
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 12. Missions
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2025 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
SESAR 3 JU Call Helpdesk [email protected]
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
Research Enquiry Service – ask questions about any aspect of European research in general and the EU Research Framework Programmes in particular.
National Contact Points (NCPs) – get guidance, practical information and assistance on participation in Horizon Europe. There are also NCPs in many non-EU and non-associated countries (‘third-countries’).
Enterprise Europe Network – contact your EEN national contact for advice to businesses with special focus on SMEs. The support includes guidance on the EU research funding.
IT Helpdesk – contact the Funding & Tenders Portal IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.
European IPR Helpdesk assists you on intellectual property issues.
CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk and ETSI Research Helpdesk – the European Standards Organisations advise you how to tackle standardisation in your project proposal.
The European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for their recruitment – consult the general principles and requirements specifying the roles, responsibilities and entitlements of researchers, employers and funders of researchers.
Partner Search help you find a partner organisation for your proposal.
Latest Updates
Call HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02 has closed on the 16-09-2025.
39 proposals have been submitted for a total EU grant requested of around 315 MEUR.
The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA1-1 | 2 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA2-1 | 2 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA3-1 | 5 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA3-2 | 5 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA4-1 | 2 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA4-2 | 2 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA5-1 | 3 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA5-2 | 3 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA5-3 | 3 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA6-1 | 4 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA6-2 | 4 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA6-3 | 2 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA7-1 | 1 |
HORIZON-SESAR-2025-DES-IR-02-WA7-2 | 1 |
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in February 2026.
SESAR 3 Q&A Document has been updated with new questions and answers
Disclaimer
As regards enquiries related to the submission of proposals sent to [email protected], SESAR JU cannot guarantee to provide an answer in time shortly before the call deadline. Therefore, we invite to submit your enquiries at least 2 weeks before the deadline.
The amended SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking Bi-Annual Work Programme (BAWP) 2024-2025 is now published and the document link has been updated under the call conditions
SESAR 3 Q&A Document has been updated with new questions and answers
SESAR 3 Q&A Document is now available under ‘Topic conditions and documents’