Supported under the Horizon Europe Cluster 4 – Industry call HORIZON-CL4-2022-TWIN-TRANSITION-01-06 – ICT Innovation for Manufacturing Sustainability in SMEs (I4MS2) (Made in Europe Partnership) (IA), the WASABI project has launched its second open call to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing SMEs. Running from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2027 with a total budget of €8.9 million, WASABI has allocated €1.5 million through cascade funding mechanisms to support SMEs in the manufacturing sector.
WASABI focuses on human–AI collaboration through Digital Intelligent Assistant (DIA) solutions applied in the manufacturing domain. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), WASABI enhances workers’ cognitive abilities, accelerates knowledge acquisition and transfer, and contributes to safeguarding jobs. Many European SMEs and mid-caps face uncertainty in allocating resources to sustainability-related activities due to unpredictable costs; WASABI addresses this by making AI-driven conversational assistants accessible, affordable, and manageable. In doing so, it helps SMEs meet sustainability goals, increase technological and operational innovation capacity, and strengthen their competitiveness and leadership in global markets.
Through the second open call, manufacturing SMEs will have the opportunity to integrate AI-based digital assistant solutions into their production processes to improve both their processes and products. Selected projects will also be able to commercialize their solutions via the WASABI White Label Shop (WWLS). Each solution is defined as an “experiment”, and at least 10 consortia are expected to be funded. Each experiment involves a manufacturing SME developing, applying, and testing a conversational AI-based Digital Intelligent Assistant in its own processes or products, followed by distributing the solution via the WASABI marketplace.
Applications can be submitted online through the WASABI Evaluation Management System (EMS) platform starting 7 August 2025, with the deadline on 9 October 2025 at 17:00 CEST. Proposals are accepted only in English.
Key Dates
- Call Opening: 7 August 2025
- Call Deadline: 9 October 2025, 17:00 CEST
- Eligibility Check: 10 October 2025
- Proposal Evaluation: 13 October – 9 November 2025
- Final Ranking & Decisions: 16 November 2025
- Results Announcement: 17 November 2025
- Contracting Process: 17 November – 1 December 2025
- Project Implementation: 2 December 2025 – 2 December 2026
Applications must be submitted by consortia (individual applications are not eligible). Each consortium must consist of 2 or 3 legal entities and meet the following conditions:
- At least 1 SME from the manufacturing sector (mandatory).
- At least 1 Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) or European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) (mandatory). The current list of EDIHs in Türkiye can be found here.
- Optionally, 1 ICT solution provider SME may join if the manufacturing SME lacks sufficient in-house IT capacity.
- The consortium coordinator must always be a manufacturing SME.
The total budget allocated for this call is €1,522,250, and funding will be provided under the Lump Sum model, simplifying financial reporting:
- Up to €125,000 per project,
- Up to €60,000 per consortium partner,
- At least 85% of the funds will go to SMEs,
- Funding rate: 60% for for-profit entities (e.g., SMEs), 100% for non-profit entities (e.g., DIHs/EDIHs).
All submitted proposals will undergo an eligibility check based on the information provided at submission. Proposals failing to meet the criteria will not be evaluated. Applicants are therefore strongly advised to carefully review the Guide for Applicants and ensure compliance with all requirements. More detailed information about the project and the call, as well as the FAQ document, Guide for Applicants, and proposal template, are available on the official WASABI project website.