AI-on-Demand Open Call 1 – Private sector

Objectif

AIoD OC1-PrivateSector aims to accelerate the integration, market uptake, and real-world deployment of mature European AI solutions within the AIoD Platform, strengthening the EU AI ecosystem and driving trustworthy AI adoption across sectors.

The selected AI Providers are called to be showcased in the Marketplace, Business Navigator and specific industry Events, and to be integrated with the core components of the AIoD Platform, deploy their products in AI adopters of their choice and serve as beta testers to the AIoD Platform.

Critères d'éligibilité

Eligible applicants for the AIoD OC1-PrivateSector are:
● For Stage 1 and Stage 2: Single Legal entities, which can be either startups, SMEs or research organisations (RTOs or academia).
● For Stage 3: Consortia of legal entities, led by the organisation that implemented Stages 1 and 2, in partnership with a legal entity acting as AI Adopter (businesses, institutions, associations, organisations). The leading partner (AI Provider) will be responsible for the technical developments, the other member(s) (AI Adopter) will be the end user(s) responsible to facilitate the deployment of the specific solution and validate the technical developments. Applicants that were not successful in Stage1 or Stage 2 will not be eligible for Stage 3.

Eligible entities for funding under this Open Call must be legal entities established in:
• European Union Member States, with a valid VAT and PIC number.
• DIGITAL Europe associated countries

Technologies clés

Trustworthy, ethical, and transparent AI

Typologie de consortium

AIoD OC1-PrivateSector will follow a three-stage funnel approach, ensuring that only the most relevant and promising applicants advance to the next phase.

In Stage 1 - Select & Pitch (from 1 September 2026 to 30 September 2026), up to 50 AI Products (TRL>=7) will be selected from the initial pool of eligible applicants based on technical readiness, business potential and relevance of the AI Solution for AIoD Platform. AI Providers will receive 5.000€ to: i) refine
their business concept and alignment with AIoD Platform’s Vision and Objectives, ii) refine integration details with AIoD Platform; iii) give initial feedback about the AIoD Platform; and iv) pitch their solutions at an in-person industry event (September 2026), gaining visibility through AIoD Platform channels.

A smaller group of 20 AI Products will be selected during the same pitch event and will progress to

Stage 2 - Integration (from 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026). In this stage, they will receive €35,000 in support to fully integrate their solutions into the AIoD Platform using the core components of the Platform, with guidance from mentors (DeployAI Consortium partners). They will be expected to implement their business models and bring customers onto the AIoD Platform, while serving as their beta-testers and providing active feedback to the Platform and actively helping identify problems and suggest improvements.

To proceed to Stage 3, they must submit a sub-project to deploy their solution into one (1) specific AI Adopter of their choosing, who will also receive funding as described below. By the end of Stage 2, a second industry event will be held, during which results of integration will be showcased and sub-projects will be pitched.

Based on the robustness of the business model, the outcomes of the AIoD Platform integration (number of customers brought into AIoD Platform, etc) and the quality/relevance of the implementation Plan, 10 sub-projects, will be selected to Stage 3 - Deployment (from 15 January 2027 to 15 April 2027).
Sub-projects must be led by AI providers participating in Stage 2, in consortium with AI adopters, and will receive financial support of up to 35.000€: €20.000 for AI Provider and €15.000 for AI Adopter.

These results will be showcased in a final public event and transformed into Use cases to promote the Platform.

The maximum contribution for AI Providers is 60.000€, to be paid in form of lump sums, as and if they progress through the Stages: 5.000€ (Stage 1) + 35.000€ (Stage 2) + 20.000€ (Stage 3). The maximum contribution to AI Adopters, to be included in Stage 3, is 15.000€.