Proposal Submission
Proposal submissions are solely via the online form on the PoliRuralPlus Knowledge Hub available at https://www.poliruralplus.eu/open-calls/enhance-call/.
The proposal contains two parts:
- Part A: Administrative Form - This section is designed to collect essential information about your entity and designated contacts for technical and contractual matters. Please provide accurate and complete details to facilitate smooth communication throughout the application and project implementation process.
Note: During the application and contracting process, applicants will be required to submit documentation verifying the legal status of their organisation as well as beneficial ownership information, in accordance with EU regulations and financial transparency requirements.
- Part B: Technical Description - Part B is the narrative part of the proposal and must be uploaded as a single PDF document using the provided template. It includes three sections corresponding to the evaluation criteria:
- Objectives – Describe the context in which JackDaw will be validated, the expected use case(s), and how these align with the Enhance Call objectives.
- Impacts – Outline the expected results, benefits for stakeholders, and how feedback will contribute to improving JackDaw and its adoption across Europe.
- Implementation – Provide a realistic work plan, timeline, and budget allocation, including the expertise of the team involved.
The total length of Part B must not exceed 8 pages, including the cover page. Any content beyond this limit will be disregarded during the evaluation process.
Proposal Evaluation
Proposals will be assessed based on their alignment with the objectives of the call, expected impacts, and quality of implementation. The evaluation procedure follows the approach used in Horizon Europe, using a scoring scale from 0 to 5, where 5 represents the highest level of excellence.
Evaluation Criteria
Objectives (0-5 points)
- Clarity of the proposed validation use case(s) and activities for JackDaw.
- Relevance of the chosen validation context to the objectives of the Enhance Call.
- Innovative or original aspects of how JackDaw will be applied and tested in practice.
Impacts (0-5 points)
- Quality and significance of expected validation feedback for improving JackDaw.
- Extent and diversity of stakeholder engagement (e.g. policymakers, SMEs, NGOs, citizens).
- Potential for replicability or transferability of results to other European contexts.
Implementation (0-5 points)
- Coherence and realism of the proposed validation activities, including timeline and milestones.
- Soundness and justification of the proposed budget.
- Competence and relevant experience of the applicant.
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Funding Principle
- Successful applicants will receive financial support of up to €25,000 per project, provided as a lump sum contribution.
- It is expected that approx. 7–15 projects will be funded under this call.
- Proposals requesting amounts above €25,000 will be considered ineligible.
- The maximum cumulative support per single legal entity across all PoliRuralPlus open calls remains €60,000. Applicants who have already reached this ceiling are not eligible for further funding.
- Subcontracting or transfer of financial contribution to third parties is not permitted.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to ensure the integrity and impact of the PoliRuralPlus project, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Type of entity: Any type of legal entity (e.g. SME, NGO, public authority, research organisation, self-employed natural persons) can apply, provided they have the operational and financial capacity to carry out the proposed activities.
- Single applicants only: Consortia or joint submissions are not permitted for this call. Each application must be submitted by one legal entity
- Eligible countries: Applicants must be legally established in an EU Member State or an Associated Country as outlined by the Horizon Europe rules.
- Third parties: Subcontracting or transfer of financial contribution to third parties is not permitted.
- One proposal per applicant: Only one proposal will be accepted for funding per applicant. In case of multiple submissions, only the last one received (based on system timestamp) will be evaluated, with all others declared ineligible.
- Non-beneficiary clause: Organisations that are current PoliRuralPlus beneficiaries or their affiliated entities are not eligible to apply.
- Declaration of honour: Applicants must declare their eligibility and absence of conflict of interest in the online application form.
- Language: English is the official language of the PoliRuralPlus open calls. Submissions and deliverables in other languages will not be evaluated. Supporting documents must also be in English, except for the document proving the legal status of the organisation.
- GDPR compliance: Any project involving personal data must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to ensure privacy and protection.
- Deliverable obligations: Applicants commit to produce obligatory deliverables as outlined in Chapter 6 of the Guidelines for Applicants.
- Proposal page limit: The total length of Part B (Technical Description) must not exceed 8 pages, including the cover page. Excess pages will be disregarded during evaluation.
Payment Schedule
- The financial support will be disbursed in two instalments:
- Prepayment (upon contract signature): 30% of the lump sum.
- Final payment (after acceptance of the deliverables): 70% of the lump sum.
For more information please visit https://www.poliruralplus.eu/open-calls/enhance-call/ and download Call for Proposal and Guidelines for Applicants.
JackDaw GeoAI Chatbot
The Enhance Call is dedicated to testing and validating JackDaw, the flagship technological tool developed within PoliRuralPlus.
JackDaw GeoAI Chatbot: https://www.poliruralplus.eu/services/
JackDaw is an AI-powered chat agent designed for spatially contextualised conversations. It addresses challenges in rural and urban development where traditional language models struggle with location-specific queries.
Users interact with JackDaw by selecting a location on a map and submitting a natural language query. The system analyses the query, determines necessary spatial and temporal parameters, and retrieves relevant data from available sources. The enriched spatial context is then integrated into AI-generated responses, which may be presented as text, tables, charts, maps, or dashboards.
JackDaw combines natural language processing with geospatial intelligence, enabling smarter, data-informed decision-making for regional development, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
Under this call, applicants are expected to:
- Apply JackDaw in real-world contexts across Europe,
- Collect structured user feedback on its functionality and usability,
- Demonstrate its added value for decision-making and communication.
Other PoliRuralPlus tools are not in scope for this call.
