Funding-FAQ

Frequently asked questions about ODINE call

Here you find the answer to the most asked questions regarding to

Open data
Submission and evaluation
Costs, payments, and legals
Timetable
Miscellaneous

If you have further questions that aren’t answered here, please email us call@opendataincubator.eu

Open data

What is your definition of open data?

Open data is understood as ‘data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and sharealike’

For more, see the ODI’s video and associated guide.

Can I use data that are not open data in my proposal?

Yes. The call focuses on open data, however, does not mean that your product cannot use other types of data. In fact, sometimes combining closed and open datasets is a very successful strategy.

A panel of external reviewers will decide if open data plays a central role in your business proposal.

Do I need to deliver the outcomes of the project as open source or open data?

No, it is not mandatory to deliver your outcomes or enriched dataset as open data. Yet it is strongly encouraged to follow an ‘open by default’ culture and this is reflected in the application scoring.

Is crawling or scraping web data considered open data?

In most cases, no. This depends on the licence of the source and in most cases it won’t be an open licence.

Can my business model be based on selling data?

Yes, but only under particular circumstances. For example, products/services on top of open data can follow a freemium model. You can also consider value-added services such as a service level agreement.

Is OpenStreetMap considered open data for ODINE?

Yes. The specific requirements of the licence are here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

If our project uses public domain ebooks from resources such as Project Gutenberg, is it in line with the definition of open data?

A good guideline for licences is here http://opendefinition.org/licenses/nonconformant/:

Project Gutenberg License: Used on Gutenberg’s ebooks of public domain texts. It is non-open because it restricts commercial use. Note that the license only applies if you continue to use the Gutenberg name – if you remove the licensing information and any reference to Project Gutenberg then the resulting text is open.

If you follow this guideline, we will consider it open data.

Submission and evaluation

Is it possible for the same SME to apply with more than one project?

We only allow a SME to submit one (1) proposal during a round. Any further submissions in the same round will be automatically withdrawn. However, it is possible to resubmit a proposal or to submit a new proposal in subsequent rounds.

If the project is not selected, is it possible to submit it again with the necessary improvements in another round?

Yes. You can improve and resubmit your proposal at a later round. If you submit more than three times we reserve the right to ignore it. The one proposal per round restriction still applies.

How do I know if I am an eligible SME?

You need to register your company on the EC Participate Portal. Then, you can use the self assessment tools to verify whether your company is an SME following EU’s latest definition.

There is a user guide for the self assessment tool and you can also find the latest definition of SME in this document. If you have troubles locating the SME self assessment tool, please read the instructions on pages 16 to 18 of the user guide). Here is the link to “register your organisation”

Can individuals apply to ODINE?

Yes, however, they need to be registered on the EC Participant Portal, too.

Which countries are eligible to submit proposals?

Only companies legally established, or in the case of individuals, legally entitled to work in any of the following countries are eligible for the ODINE call:

EU 28 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom
H2020 associated countries: Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands, Ukraine.

There is no cap on the number of SMEs from a country to submit proposals or being awarded.

Any specific domain or sector?

No, projects can cover any domain or sector.

Does ODINE offer a pre-proposal check?

ODINE does not assess any proposal idea prior or after a submission has been made. We are happy to answer general questions about the scope and format of the ODINE call via email, Twitter, or in our Information Days, but we cannot make any statement about the feasibility or value of a proposal. Independent evaluators will assess these aspects.

How can I submit an application?

You must register at our submission platform. Follow the guide to fill in the required forms with necessary information. You can submit your proposal for review after all the forms are validated.

What happens to my proposal if I missed a deadline for evaluation?

The ODINE open call is a standing call starting from 1st of May 2015 until 31st of August 2016, so you can submit your proposal any time before that.

For each round of evaluation, we will take all the proposals submitted before that starting date and select the best ones to fund. If you submit on or after the evaluation starting date, the proposal will be considered in the next round of evaluation.

If you submit an application, you will be notified within a month since the cut-off date. The following table should give an overview of the overall schedule.

Round	Deadline for submissions	Invitation to the interview	Interview	Final results notification	Negotiation	Incubation
1	30.06.2015	13.07.2015 – 14.07.2015	20.07.2015- 21.07.2015	31.07.2015	01.08.2015- 31.08.2015	01.09.2015 – 29.02.2016
2	31.08.2015	14.09.2015 – 15.09.2015	21.09.2015- 22.09.2015	30.09.2015	01.10.2015- 31.10.2015	01.11.2015 – 30.04.2016
3	31.10.2015	16.11.2015- 17.11.2015	23.11.2015- 27.11.2015	30.11.2015	01.12.2015 – 31.12.2015	01.01.2016 – 30.06.2016
4	31.12.2015	22.01.2016	27.01.2016- 29.01.2016	02.02.2016	02.02.2016- 29.02.2016	01.03.2016 – 31.08.2016
5	29.02.2016	14.03.2016- 15.03.2016	21.03.2016- 25.03.2016	31.03.2016	01.04.2016 – 30.04.2016	02.05.2016 – 31.10.2016
6	30.04.2016	16.05.2016- 17.05.2016	23.05.2016- 27.05.2016	30.05.2016	01.06.2016 – 30.06.2016	01.07.2016 – 31.12.2017
7	30.06.2016	18.07.2016- 19.07.2016	25.07.2016- 29.07.2016	31.07.2016	01.08.2016 – 31.08.2016	01.09.2016 – 29.02.2017
8	31.08.2016	19.09.2016- 20.09.2016	26.09.2016- 29.09.2016	30.09.2016	01.10.2016 – 31.10.2016	01.11.2016 – 30.04.2017

Invitations to interviews and interview days are subject to minor changes depending on the number of applications received in each round. All other deadlines are fix and non-negotiable.

Can I submit a second proposal if I already have an accepted project, or after finishing it?

You cannot receive funding for a project more than once. Each SME can receive funding from ODINE only once.

Can I submit an application if I’m already receiving funds from another European accelerator program or European project?

Yes. However, the work you plan to carry out as part of your ODINE project cannot receive double funding. Synergies with other sources of funding, including other Horizon 2020 projects, are encouraged as long as the grants are used for complementary, not overlapping purposes.

How many projects will be funded?

We expect around 50-75. It depends on how much each proposal gets funded. The total amount allocated for funding all projects is €5.5m.

Will I know the name of the evaluators?

The names of the evaluators will be published at the end of the ODINE project (October 2017).

14. What feedback will I receive?

The ODINE evaluation runs in three phases:

first you submit and receive a notification after the deadline has passed which confirms your application.
then you receive an email in which we tell you if you have been shortlisted for an interview. The reasons for this decision are disclosed in follow-up communication.
once ODINE has come up with a list of companies that are considered for funding (pending negotiations), you receive the final result, including qualitative feedback. Depending on the outcome the feedback will take the following form:
1. If your application is declared not-eligible, you will receive the reason why. The eligibility criteria are listed in the guide for applicants. Typical examples of reasons for rejection are: exceeding the page limit, not answering critical questions, forgetting to sign or upload the declaration of honor etc.
2. If your application is not shortlisted for the interview phase, you will receive the comments and suggestions of the two independent evaluators who reviewed your application. In some cases, there will also be an additional summary of our decision, elaborating on the main reasons.
3. If you have been invited to an interview, but unfortunately have not been selected, you will receive the same type of feedback as under 3.2. In this case you should always expect a short summary of our decision, including comments of the interview panel.
4. If you have been invited to join ODINE, you will receive the same feedback as under 3.3.

Final notes:

Applications are reviewed by independent experts with an open data and entrepreneurship background. A good application will be able to convince both evaluators without assuming that they must have deep knowledge of a particular sector or domain to appreciate your idea. This model is common to many other incubators and accelerators.
Quantitative feedback are not the primary decision making tool in ODINE. We use scores to shortlist companies for interviews and not as a closed formula that would lead to a definitive ranking. We believe qualitative feedback is the best way to help companies improve and we’d be happy to take any suggestions on board on how to make it even more useful.

Costs, payments, and legals

What is the maximum funding per project?

ODINE will not fund more than €100 000 per project. There is no minimum amount.

What are the eligible costs for the project?

A cost is eligible for the project if it complies with each of the following rules:

incurred by your company in connection with your project
incurred by your company during the project
identifiable and verifiable in your accounts
compliant with national law
reasonable, justified, in accordance with sound financial management (economy & efficiency)
indicated in the budget you submit with your application

Please consult the Horizon 2020 annotated grant agreement for more details.

How are the payments scheduled?

Projects officially start with the contract’s signature and have three milestones at month 2, 4 and 6. The sixth month marks the end of the project. Payments are scheduled as follows:

30% at contract’s signature
All declared and accepted costs after successful completion of the milestone agreed for the 4th month
All declared and accepted costs after the completion of the milestone agreed for the 6th month (i.e., project ends successfully).

Does ODINE take any equity or owns the intellectual property as a return to fund my project?

No. ODINE will not take any equity of the SME. All intellectual property produced in the project will belong to the applicants and SMEs.

Are you sharing any information about a rejected proposal?

We do not publish or share rejected proposals. Some aggregate Information regarding rejected proposals including number of submission, acceptance rates, country of origin, sectors, etc will be published.

Are you sharing any information about an accepted proposal?

We will not publish or share the proposal itself. However, we work with media partners that communicate the project’s scope, relevance, and impact. As part of ODINE you are expected to share and contribute to the open data ecosystem.

Is sub-contracting allowed?

Yes, as long the subcontractors come from an eligible H2020 country (see #5 on the “About Submissions” section).

Who verifies the completion of milestones?

All milestone are signed off as complete by one or more mentors, ODINE, and potentially further advisors that support the startup.

9. Is ODINE funding subject to the ‘de minimis‘ rule?

ODINE grants to SMEs are not state aids, therefore, they do not count for the ‘de minimis’ rule calculation.

Miscellaneous

Through which channels does ODINE broadcast news or related call information?

We will broadcast our news through various channels, including our website, mailing list (you can subscribe to our mailing list on our website), Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,Google+ and advertisement on the Guardian’s microsite.