Valencia, March 2nd, 2026  – Twenty-four European companies will receive €2.4 million in funding after being selected in the first Open Call of the O-CEI Horizon Europe project. Each winner will receive €100,000 in equity-free funding to develop innovative Cloud-Edge-IoT solutions to accelerate the digital transformation of Europe’s energy and industrial sectors.

A Surge of Innovation Across Europe

The first edition of the O-CEI Open Calls, launched in September 2025, got an overwhelming response from the European Start-ups and SMEs: 249 proposals were submitted by applicants from 37 different countries. This high volume of interest underscores the critical demand for an open, federated, and energy-efficient digital backbone across the continent.

The technical competition was particularly focused on key digital transformation drivers, with applicants addressing 33 specific industrial challenges spanning the 8 project pilots. The most selected challenges included:

• Innovative Edge-AI for Energy Management and Decision Making
• Performing Machine Learning training process at the edge
• Dairy product Traceability System based on Distributed Ledger Technologies
• Application of artificial intelligence technology
• Adaptation of AI techniques and flexibility services to various urban and social utilities

Rigorous Selection Process

To ensure the highest quality of integration into O-CEI’s six key domains (Electricity, Agrifood, Mobility, Urban, Telco infrastructure, and Logistics), all submissions underwent a stringent screening process. Following eligibility and scope evaluations, 149 proposals were advanced to external evaluators for in-depth review.

From this highly competitive pool, 24 winners from 13 countries were selected to receive €100,000 in equity-free funding each. Beyond financial support, these companies will enter a comprehensive seven-month program featuring tailored technical and business mentoring to scale their innovative Cloud-Edge-IoT solutions.

A Vision for Energy Flexibility and Digital Sovereignty

“We were happy with the high interest this Open Call generated. Seeing so many interested companies isn’t just a win for the project; it’s a clear sign that the European tech community is ready to step up and accelerate Europe’s digital transformation. The competition was strong, and it is encouraging to see such a wealth of ingenious projects focused on one of our biggest challenges: making energy flexibility a reality for Europe,” stated Prof. Carlos Enrique Palau Salvador, the O-CEI project coordinator (Universitat Politècnica de València).

The list of the 24 winning projects and companies is in the Appendix of this release.

O-CEI Horizon will launch a second session of its Open Calls toward the end of 2026, offering another chance for 8 consortia to join the O-CEI community and contribute to Europe’s digital backbone. The start date and the application criteria will be announced on the project webpage.

About O-CEI

O-CEI (Open CloudEdgeIoT Platform Uptake in Large Scale Cross-Domain Pilots) is a Horizon Europe Innovation Action, uniting 56 partners and 5 affiliated entities from 19 countries. The project is developing an open platform and blueprints for seamless data exchange across six key domains, supporting a marketplace for digital assets like AI models and services to drive energy efficiency across Europe

For more information on the selected projects and future developments, visit the official website: https://o-cei.eu/.