The potential EU funding calls for game developers 2018-2019

1. Grants

1.1 Creative Europe Funding for video game development

To who:Any game developer developing a video game concept or project presenting
- high level of originality, innovative and creative value, cultural diversity and enhanced Europe’s cultural identity and heritage compared to existing mainstream works;
- high level of commercial ambition and extensive cross-border potential able to reach European and international markets.
How much funding is available:
- between EUR 10.000 and EUR 150.000 for developing a concept or a project (activities to the point that the concept leads to a playable prototype or trial version) for a Video Game of highly innovative and creative narrative storytelling games designed for commercial exploitation for PCs, consoles, mobile devices, tablets, smart phones and other technologies.
What is the funding rate:
- 50%
Other key requirements (tbc):
- The applicant has to:
  - be a European video game production company
  - have been legally constituted for at least 12 months prior to the date of application
  - be established in and owned by nationals from countries participating in the MEDIA sub-programme
  - must prove it has produced a previous video game that has been commercially distributed during two calendar years preceding the publication of the Call for Proposals
- Furthermore, the applicant must
  - prove it has produced a previous video game that has been commercially distributed during two calendar years preceding the publication of the Call for Proposal.
  - be developing a narrative storytelling game, not a puzzle, memory, sports, racing, running, rhythm/dancing/singing, social, quiz, party, versus-fighting, word or spelling, number or mind game.
  - be developing a game, no promotional material, multimedia art, interactive animation, development tools etc.
  - own the majority of rights related to the submitted project
- No requirements for platform or expected distribution method, but in all cases the game must be intended for commercial exploitation.
Deadline: Spring 2019
For more information visit: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/
creative-europe/actions/media/development-video-games_en

1.2 Horizon2020

In this summary RIA refers to a Research and Innovation Action, IA to an Innovation action and CSA to a Coordination and Support Action.

EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

To who: A game developer focusing ground-breaking games disrupting existing markets or shaping up new ones.
How much funding is available: a lump sum of EUR 50.000 in phase 1 and EUR 0.5 and 2.5 million EU contribution in Phase 2
Other key requirements:
- At least one SME
- Only applications from for-profit SMEs established in EU Member States or Horizon 2020 associated countries
- No concurrent submission or implementation with another SME instrument phase 1 or phase 2 project
Upcoming deadlines:
- Phase 1:
  - 03 May 2018 17:00:00
  - 05 September 2018 17:00:00
  - 07 November 2018 17:00:00
  - 13 February 2019 17:00:00
  - 07 May 2019 17:00:00
  - 05 September 2019 17:00:00
  - 06 November 2019 17:00:00
  - 12 February 2020 17:00:00
  - 06 May 2020 17:00:00
  - 02 September 2020 17:00:00
  - 04 November 2020 17:00:00
- Phase 2:
  - 10 January 2018 17:00:00
  - 14 March 2018 17:00:00
    23 May 2018 17:00:00
  - 10 October 2018 17:00:00
  - 09 January 2019 17:00:00
  - 03 April 2019 17:00:00
  - 05 June 2019 17:00:00
  - 09 October 2019 17:00:00
  - 08 January 2020 17:00:00
  - 18 March 2020 17:00:00
  - 19 May 2020 17:00:00
  - 07 October 2020 17:00:00
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/
h2020/topics/eic-smeinst-2018-2020.html

ICT-25-2018-2020: Interactive Technologies

To who: Game developers experienced in working in the field of AR/VR as well as a background in building platforms and enhancing interactions between individuals.
For what:
- Coordination and support action (CSA): Interactive Community Building
  - building a platform to gather and share knowledge, algorithms and tools for the development and use of new interactive technologies. This may include the development of a dedicated open operating system
  - providing broad access and technical support for the platform as well as promoting its existence and establishing links with other existing platforms
  - supporting research and development teams in the integration of their tools into the platform
- Research and Innovation action (RIA): Future interaction
  - Better exploiting opportunities offered by multi-user interactions, researching and developing technologies augmenting human interaction in groups within both professional and private contexts.
  - Or developing future interactive systems offering higher quality experiences, for instance through systems which are mobile, support additional senses, have higher accuracy or incorporate bio or environmental sensors.
How much funding is available
- CSA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 3 million
- RIA: Contribution from the EU between EUR 2 and 4 million
What is the funding rate:
- CSA: 100%
- RIA: 70%
Deadlines:
- CSA 17/04/2018
- RIA 14/11/2018
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/
h2020/topics/ict-25-2018-2020.html

ICT-26-2018-2020: Artificial Intelligence

To who: Game developers experienced in building platforms who ideally also have worked with Big Data or are knowledgeable about Cybersecurity.
For What:
- Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
  - Building a European AI on-demand platform
  - provide access to knowledge, algorithms and tools for building a European AI on-demand platform
  - Defining sustainable processes and structures for building a European AI on-demand platform (governance, access, business models, licensing, etc.) as well as developing a suitable software infrastructure (APIs and tools to aggregate existing tools and algorithms and to make them easily deployable in applications, as well as to access data and computing resources)
  - Filling important technology gaps through challenge-based and/or user-driven research and innovation efforts
  - Research and innovation efforts expected from this action will have strong synergies with the platform building (providing user requirements, guiding its development, exploiting its resources, and contributing to its content)
  - Putting in place a comprehensive service layer to facilitate the use and uptake of the platform both by end-users and researchers
  - Developing a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for AI including ELSE
  - (Ethical, Legal, Socio-Economic) aspects, taking into account and building on relevant initiatives and strategies (e.g.: Big Data PPP, Robotics PPP, AIOTI , CPS (CyPhERS), cybersecurity cPPP)
- How much funding is available:
  - Contribution from the EU of up to EUR 20 million
- What is the funding rate:
  - RIA: 70%
- Deadlines:
  - 17/04/2018
- For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
  opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-26-2018-2020.html

ICT-11-2018-2019: HPC and Big Data enabled Large-scale Test-beds and Applications

To who: Game developers experienced in working with large data sets / big data as well as a background in building platforms.
For what:
- Innovation actions (IA): Scope a
  - development of large-scale HPC-enabled industrial pilot test-beds
  - supporting big data applications and services by combining and/or adapting existing relevant technologies (HPC / BD / cloud)
  - handle and optimize the specific features of processing very large data sets
  - handle massive amounts of diverse types of big data coming from a multitude of players and sources
- Innovation actions (IA): Scope b
  - development of large-scale IoT/Cloud-enabled industrial pilot test-beds for big data applications
  - combining and taking advantage of relevant technologies (Big Data, IoT, cloud and edge computing, etc.)
  - develop industrial pilot test-beds addressing data flows from a very large number of distributed sources (such as sensors or IoT applications/infrastructures and/or involving remote data storage/processing locations)
  - address the relevant networking connectivity and large-scale data collection, management and interoperability issues
- How much funding is available:
  - Scope a: Contribution from the EU of EUR 12 – 13 million
  - Scope b: Contribution from the EU of EUR 15 – 18 million
- What is the funding rate:
  - IA: 70%
- Other key requirements:
  - proposal shall describe the data assets available to the test-beds and, as appropriate, the standards it intends to use to enable interoperability
  - pilot test-beds should provide, via the cloud, simple secure access and secure service provisioning of highly demanding data use cases for companies and especially SMEs
  - show how proposed activities will be industrialized and have impact on the competitiveness and leadership of European industry
- Deadlines:
  - Scope a: 17/04/2018
  - Scope b: 17/11/2018
- For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
  opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-11-2018-2019.html

ICT-12-2018-2020: Big Data technologies and extreme-scale analytics

To who: Game developers experienced in working with large data sets / big data as well as a background in building platforms.
For what:
- Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
  - developing new big data analytics methodologies addressing industrial and/or societal challenges
  - architectures for collecting and managing vast amounts of data
  - system engineering/tools to contribute to the co-design of secure federated/distributed systems (to involve all stakeholders/technology areas)
  - methods for extreme-scale analytics, deep analysis, precise predictions and decision making support
  - novel visualization techniques
  - standardized interconnection methods for efficient sharing of heterogeneous data pools, seamlessly using distributed tools and services
- Coordination and support action (CSA)
  - ensure coordination between the different existing activities in HPC/BD/Cloud technologies, including Public-Private Partnerships, digital innovation hubs, and relevant national and regional initiatives
How much funding is available:
- RIA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 3 – 6 million
- CSA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 1 million
What is the funding rate:
- RIA: 100%
- CSA: 100%
Deadlines:
- 17/04/2018
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-12-2018-2020.html

ICT-13-2018-2019: Supporting the emergence of data markets and the data economy

To who: Game developers experienced in building platforms who ideally also have worked with Big Data or are knowledgeable about Cybersecurity.
For what: Innovation actions (IA)
- setting up and operating platforms for secure and controlled sharing of “closed data”
- Proposals shall address one or both of the following sub-topics:
  - Personal data platforms
    - develop privacy metrics that are easy to understand for data subjects and contribute to the economic value of data by allowing privacy-preserving integration of independently developed data sources
    - preserve utility for data analysis and allow for the management of privacy / utility trade-offs, metadata privacy, including query privacy
    - ensure respect of prevailing legislation and allow data subjects and data owners to remain in control of their data and its subsequent use
    - Industrial data platforms
    - enable and facilitate trusted and secure sharing and trading of proprietary/commercial data assets with automated and robust controls on compliance (including automated contracting) of legal rights and fair remuneration of data owners
  - Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
    - securing privacy of personal data and/or confidentiality of commercial data
  - Coordination and Support Action (CSA)
    - Support the emergence of a data economy by ensuring SME inclusion, entrepreneurial support and trust-building, address the data skills gap. The CSA action shall liaise with and complement related initiatives, and shall support and work in collaboration with the platforms under ICT-13
    - In line with the Communication on ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market, promote standardization, interoperability and policy support in the field of data and federated/networked computing systems.
- How much funding is available:
  - IA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 4 – 6 million
  - RIA: Total budget: EUR 10 million – No intel given on sensible scope for singular proposals
  - CSA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 3 million
- What is the funding rate:
  - RIA: 100%
  - IA: 70%
  - CSA: 100%
- Deadlines:
  - RIA & CSA: 17/04/2018
  - IA: 28/03/2019
- For more information visit: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
  opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-13-2018-2019.html

ICT-15-2019-2020: Cloud Computing

To who: Game developers experienced with cloud services who are also knowledgeable about Cybersecurity.
For what:
- Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
  - New modelling techniques and mechanisms to compose and coordinate resources across heterogeneous clouds, including micro local clouds, private enterprise clouds, aggregated and hybrid cloud models facilitating interoperability and data portability between cloud service providers. Guaranteed privacy, security and identity are essential.
  - Edge computing (fog computing) technologies that integrate the limited memory, storage and computation of fog nodes that are closer to where data are generated into the cloud architecture and allow to make intelligent decisions when moving computation from the edge to the cloud, while taking into account the network capabilities as well as the security and/or sensitivity of data.
  - Efficient, coordinated, robust, secure and service agnostic management of the set of resources brought by combining cloud, IoT, Big Data and fog computing.
  - Development of novel collaborative (sharing) scenarios and innovative service execution approaches that allow the dynamic allocation of cloud services to improve performance, and facilitate automatic discovery and composition of cloud services at IaaS, PaaS and SaaS levels (Infrastructure, Platform and Software as a Service).
How much funding is available:
- RIA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 3 – 5 million
What is the funding rate:
- RIA: 100%
Deadlines:
- 28/03/2019
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-15-2019-2020.html

ICT-28-2018: Future Hyper-connected Sociality

To who: Game developers willing to develop new community building enabling solutions for for their games
For what:
- Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
  - c) Support of new Social Media initiatives, and transition to peer-to-peer federated social networks based on smart decentralised architectures
    - creation of an open decentralised platform exploiting the added value derived from data aggregation and data analytics, exploring possible applications of blockchain technologies and enabling the development of innovative services and novel forms of distribution of media content
    - research and innovation on open API, interface design, content production, consumer/prosumer business models including crowd-sourcing models for identification and rewarding of user generated content, open management and portability of profiles, gaming and art aspects
    - develop and pilot solutions with a large existing community of citizens, and consortia may include inter alia partners from media, social media, distributed architectures, security and blockchain developers
    - contribute to the understanding of information cascades, the spreading of information and the identification of information sources, the openness of algorithms and users’ access to and control of their personal data
    - “Social Networks of Objects”, integrating latest European advancements on smart objects, big data, autonomous systems, real-time geolocation and augmented/virtual reality
- Innovation Actions (IA)
  - a) Content verification – Development of intermediary-free solutions addressing information veracity for Social Media
  - b) Secure Data Ecosystem – Creation of media and social media data business and innovation ecosystem
    - ensure privacy and secure sharing, as well as fair trade of federated media relevant data produced by media, social media and operators from other industrial sectors across Europe
    - address the necessary technical, organisational, legal and commercial aspects of data sharing/brokerage/trading to enable data-driven services
- Coordination and Support Action (CSA)
  - d) Support of Social Media ecosystem community building
    - between different Social Media actors such as developers, designers, users of all ages, artists, entrepreneurs, researchers, at European and national level, also linking to important international initiatives
    - dynamic app-based tool for community-mapping and an analysis of a future hyper-connected society, considering societal, economic, educational, legal and community-based self-regulation aspects
How much funding is available:
- a: Contribution from the EU of EUR 2,5 million
- b: Contribution from the EU of EUR 5 million
- c: Contribution from the EU of EUR 5 million
- d: Contribution from the EU of EUR 1 million
What is the funding rate:
- RIA: 100%
- IA: 70%
- CSA: 100%
Other key requirements:
- c) should be carried out by multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial consortia (technologist, sociologists, artists, etc.)
- b) involvement of non-media sectors is considered critical to achieve volume and variety of data sets comparable with the ones of leading content aggregators
Deadlines:
- 17/04/2018
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-28-2018.html

ICT-32-2018: STARTS – The Arts stimulating innovation

To who: Game developers willing to experiment with playful internet of things.
For what:
- Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
  - Lighthouse pilot in ‘art-inspired interactive human-centred environments’ created by digital objects and novel media, like IoT, augmented reality or social media. The pilot will explore how these digital objects and media can lead – via artistic exploration – to novel experiences and new models for creativity and thereby to unexpected solutions for challenges in the city, in the home or for mobility.
  - Lighthouse pilot in ‘art-inspired urban manufacturing’ driven by de-centralised digitally-enabled production systems and co-creation in urban environments. The pilot will explore how digitally-enabled small-scale production/manufacturing systems and networks combined with artistic exploration and creativity in design and process – can revive the social, ecological and economic urban space and lead to unexpected products and services in an urban environment.
How much funding is available
- RIA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 8 million
What is the funding rate:
- RIA: 100%
Deadlines:
- 17/04/2018
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-32-2018.html

ICT-33-2019: Startup Europe for Growth and Innovation Radar

To who: Clusters supporting game developers
For what:
- Innovation Actions (IA)
  - Connecting local tech startup ecosystems and supporting cross-border activities:
    - among the 4-5 startups ecosystems connected by each project, at least half of them will be located in less developed ecosystem
    - develop a single online entry point to each one of the ecosystems and connect them to the Startup Europe one-stop-shop
    - connecting tech entrepreneurs with e.g. potential investors, business partners, accessing skills and services helping startups soft land in new international markets
    - stimulating partnerships between scaleups and corporates with a view to procurement, mergers or acquisitions
    - support SMEs, startups and scaleups, wherever situated in Europe, to access public procurement opportunities across borders
How much funding is available:
- IA: Contribution from the EU of EUR 10 million
What is the funding rate:
- IA: 70%
Deadlines:
- 28/03/2019
For more information visit: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/
opportunities/h2020/topics/ict-33-2019.html

2 Equity and loan funding

The European Union has number of different loan and investment instruments. Most of these instruments are targeted for financial intermediaries providing funding for companies. If you are looking for an investment or loans, you can find your local financial intermediaries trough this portal. The same portal also provides information about direct loans from European Investment Banks for big corporations.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/funding-grants/access-to-finance/search/en/