What?

Call identifier: PHABULOuS call

Project acronym: PHABULOuS

Project full name: Pilot-line providing highly advanced & robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form μ-structures

Project grant agreement number: 871710

 

PHABULOuS is the one-stop-shop for free-form micro-optics, taking designs and prototypes to large-scale manufacturing. We have launched our open call to support you with the implementation and integration of free-form micro-optics, to bring your product to volume markets.

This open call aims to support Europe’s early adopters of our pilot line services to move towards volume production of free-form micro-optical components. Do you have a design and/or prototype and are looking to move your development into pilot or large-scale production?

The PHABULOuS value chain consists of Europe’s leading Companies and Research & Technology Organizations allowing for seamless development from early phase proof-of-concept to regulated pilot production. Depending on the phase of the development and market application, a technical team and prime contractor are selected, who will help the companies to verify the technical requirements and support the company by making a design and/or prototype suited for large scale manufacturing.

Up the 3M€ of funding is available to support a minimum of 20 pilot cases / early adopters. They will be selected within the project to implement free-form micro-optical component and integrate that into their product developments with the aim to go towards large-scale production. The exact amount of subsidies per applicant will be decided based upon the type of company (see who) and the three main selection criteria (see process). For each pilot case, also an in-kind contribution from applicant is expected.

When?

The Call was open from 24th January 2022 to 31st December 2023 and is now officially closed.

 

Who?

The Call is open to any European company (start-up, SME, large enterprises) that is looking to integrate free-form micro-optics into their product.

In order to be eligible for this Call, your company will also have to be established in one of the eligible countries. Please check the list of countries in the attached document.

This call targets early adopters for the PHABULOuS Pilot Line Services: companies that preferably already have a design and/or prototype, have a business plan in place and are looking to scale up into pilot production. Companies from any market sector are welcome to apply.

The maximum amount of funding is depending on, amongst other criteria, staff headcount and, either, turnover or balance sheet total (see the COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises). If you are still not sure, please check the User Guide to the SME Definition.

Please also note that the check of the type of company will be complete if your application is selected for funding. The type of company and selection criteria determinate the monetary subsidy, that can be up to 90% of the total cost.

Why?

Free-form micro-optics have the capabilities to revolutionise industries:

  • Automotive lighting perfectly aligned with the design of the car or lighting solutions that provide better energy efficiency, better light distribution, and perfect aesthetics;
  • AR and VR capabilities with better resolution, feeling more realistic yet the device reduced to a size that you don’t even realise you are wearing;
  • Etc.

The power of free-form micro-optics is the ability to create optical shapes in ANY FORM YOU WANT, completely miniaturised for perfect integration, opening up new opportunities for security and branding, optical communications, consumer electronics and more. This can be done with equal or even better specifications than conventional systems – and at lower costs.

This is why PHABULOuS has opened up the one-stop-shop in free-form micro-optics, making this technology now easily accessible to everyone who wants to implement it. Proving a full supply chain of world class in free-form micro-optics specialists, PHABULOuS can take you from design to prototyping and into pilot production for full product lifecycle – including design, modelling, origination tooling and manufacturing services.

Providing a one-stop-shop, PHABULOuS is giving easy access to the full value chain, with proven processes and reducing the lead times from months to weeks. This enables European companies to develop products with a competitive edge, thanks to the reduced costs, reduced energy consumption, and better aesthetics.

With PHABULOuS, the selected Companies will benefit from freedom in design, high flexibility in functions integration and the agility of highly advanced and robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form micro-structures to gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Detailed information about the PHABULOuS services can be found in the Handbook.

Process?

 

Any submitted proposal will be evaluated in the nearest cut-off. All proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Excellence
  • Impact
  • Implementation

Evaluation will be returned approximately 5 weeks after the cut-off date following the submission. All proposals will be evaluated by 3 evaluators, scoring each proposal on each criteria ranging from 0 to 5. The maximum overall score is 15. The standard threshold for individual criteria is 3, and the standard overall threshold, applying to the sum of the three individual scores, is 10. The average of the 3 scores given by evaluators per section and total will be calculated for each proposal. Proposals failing to achieve the threshold score per individual criteria and the overall threshold will be rejected. Proposals will be ranked according to the overall scores in descending order. For further details concerning the criteria, please read carefully the Evaluation Criteria.

The most successful proposals, having passed the evaluation and technical feasibility check, will be contacted by the Pilot Line Front Office (PLFO) to discuss and define a project plan that will be part of the final quotation/offer. After acceptance of the contract a Service Delivery Manager (SDM) will be assigned who is responsible to guide the project and its scheduled deliveries / milestones.

The entire process from order acceptance until the end of service delivery typically takes 6-9 months in the case that your proposal is selected for funding.

How?

The applicants will be supported by the Help Desk and Pilot Line Front Office to prepare their application.

Applications are done through PHABULOuS application portal and resubmissions are possible.

If you are interested in applying to the Call, please follow the steps listed below before submitting your application.

  1. Download & read PHABULOuS Call package
  2. Register through the submission software
  3. Download Application Form from the software
  4. Complete the Application Form, save it as a PDF file (MAX 10 pages), uploaded it and submit it through the submission software

We will accept only applications in English language.

Package

PHABULOuS Call package is comprising of

Helpdesk

If you need assistance with applying to the Call, or explanations about technology offerings and your possibilities with PHABULOuS, please send us your enquiries by email to helpdesk@phabulous.eu . Helpdesk will be active Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 17.00 p.m. CET. We will be happy to help you. We suggest that you check your application ideas well in advance of submission.

Academic (professor, researcher, student), Industries (manufacturers, services providers, engineering, etc.), End users and potential customers, Consultancy, Standards & regulation bodies, Policy makers, Media, etc.

Complaints

Upon reception of the feedback, applicants will have the possibility to submit to the PHABULOuS Evaluation Panel complaints related to decisions of proposal evaluation and selection, if there is an indication that there has been a shortcoming in the way a proposal has been evaluated. The complaint procedure is not meant to call into question the judgement made by the evaluators; it will look at procedural shortcomings and – in rare cases – into factual errors.

Such complaint requests should be raised within 7 working days from the date of the evaluation feedback sent by the PHABULOuS Helpdesk. If a complaint is submitted after that deadline it will be rejected without further examination.

Complaint requests sent by applicants must be:

  • related to the evaluation process;
  • sent by email to PHABULOuS Helpdesk;
  • received within the specified time limit specified.

An initial reply will be sent to complainants no later than two weeks after the deadline for complaint requests. This initial reply will indicate when a definitive reply will be provided.

A complaint committee may be convened to examine the peer review evaluation process for the case in question. The committee’s role is to ensure a coherent interpretation of requests and equal treatment of applicants. The complaint committee itself, however, will not re-evaluate the proposal, but it will examine the admissibility of the complaints, the legality of the actions against which the complaints are launched and factual arguments and claims of the complaints. Depending on the nature of the complaint, the committee may review the evaluation report and individual comments. In the light of its review, the committee will recommend a course of action. If there is clear evidence of a shortcoming that could affect the eventual funding decision, it is possible that all or part of the proposal will be re-evaluated. Unless there is clear evidence of a shortcoming there will be no follow-up, or re-evaluation.

Please note:

  • This procedure is concerned with the evaluation process;
  • The committee will not call into question the judgment of the individual evaluators;
  • A re-evaluation will only be carried out if there is evidence of a shortcoming that affects the quality assessment of a proposal. This means, for example, that a problem relating to one evaluation criterion will not lead to a re-evaluation if a proposal has failed anyway on the other criteria;
  • The evaluation score following any re-evaluation will be regarded as definitive. It may be lower than the original score;
  • Only one complaint request per application experiment will be considered by the committee;
  • All complaint requests will be treated confidentially.