EIT launches EU Solar Academy call

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has launched the invitation to submit a proposal for the European Solar Academy activities

The EIT in agreement with the European Commission (DG GROW), as part of the Single Market Programme (SMP COSME), is launching the Call SMP-COSME-2024-EIT-EUSOLARACADEMY. 

The invitation is launched in accordance with the EIT’s 2024 Work Programme and will be managed by the EIT, following the signature of the Contribution Agreement  between the European Commission (DG GROW) and the EIT on 1 December 2023.  

This invitation concerns the direct award to one or more KIC Legal Entities for the European Solar Academy activities (the topic of the ‘action’) in order to support the upskilling and reskilling, by education and training providers in EU Member States, of workforce in the field of solar photovoltaic technologies, with a strong focus on employees in EU SMEs.

The main conditions, objectives, activities, expected impact and available budget for the EU Solar Academy are defined in 'the invitation to submit a proposal for the European Solar Academy activities' as in the respective templates.

The single topic of the invitation belongs to the following type of action: Single Market Program Project grants

This invitation is launched and the EIT financial contribution will be determined based on the criteria and processes, and in line with the following decision of the EIT Governing Board (GB):

• Decision 43/2023 of the EIT Governing Board on adopting the EIT Budget and Establishment Plan for the financial year 2024 (Ares(2023)8669589)
• Decision 42/2023 of the EIT Governing Board on the adoption of the on the Final Single Programming Document (2024-2026) of the EIT (ref. Ares(2023)8668848)

Call documents:

EIT application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

• Corrigendum - Invitation to submit a proposal for the European Solar Academy activities
• Invitation to submit a proposal for the European Solar Academy activities.
• Logical Framework (Annex 1 in the Invitation to submit a proposal for the European Solar Academy activities)
• Application Form (Part A and B) (SMP COSME)
• Detailed Budget Table (SMP COSME)
• SMP COSME annotated Application form – part B (RTF)

Additional documents:

• EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda 2021-2027
• EU Financial Regulation
• Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
• Model Grant Agreement 
• Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
• Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
• Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Question 1: How many grant agreements will be signed in case more than one proposal is submitted?

As indicated in the Invitation, in case more than one proposal is received from the KIC Legal Entities, all eligible proposals will be evaluated. The proposals will be checked against the formal requirements (admissibility, eligibility, operational capacity) and then evaluated by an evaluation committee against the award criteria (assisted by independent (an) external expert(s)).

The successful (i.e. the best ranked) proposal will be invited for grant agreement preparation, therefore, only one grant will be awarded.