European Programme Cosme

Call for Proposals

The call for proposals COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” has been published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme.  

The aim of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, is to support projects related to market uptake of creative and novel products, services, techniques or processes, which feasibility has already been demonstrated but due to existing difficulties have not yet penetrated the market. It seeks to shorten the time-to-market of innovative solutions, remove obstacles to wider application of creative solutions, create or enlarge markets for related products (or services) and finally improve the competitiveness of European companies in world markets. Moreover, there is an important potential to replicate the innovations not only in participating SMEs but also across the supply-chain while generating important spill-overs.

The general objective of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, is to reinforce the competitiveness of the European SMEs active in the design-based consumer goods area. By encouraging the market uptake of new and creative solutions in the design-based consumer goods area, the action aims at multiplying the effects of foreseen solutions by mobilizing a wide market uptake and reaching a critical mass and self-sufficiency during the project duration or in the short/medium term. The measure therefore seeks to bridge the gap between research and innovation on the one hand and market on the other hand by supporting scale-up, market replication and/or first application of projects related to novel products, services, techniques or processes. By doing so, it will limit to a large extent the residual risk and will contribute to stimulating competitiveness among EU SMEs of the targeted value chains.

The specific objectives of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, are:

- to increase creativity and innovation capacities of SMEs and therefore improve their overall competitiveness.

- to multiply the impact of the project’s solutions and mobilize a wide market uptake of new technologies and creative solutions by removing barriers to market penetration;

- to bridge the gap between research and technological demonstration and prototyping on the one hand and commercialization on the other.

The priorities of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, are:

- catalyzing new applications of “state of the art” technologies mixed with creative solutions responding to new customer needs;

- promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, use of design and creative solutions, including by use of digital technologies,

-  implementing innovative business models;

- responding to current and future market trends (e.g. demand for customized or personalized products and services, increasing consumers’ interaction and involvement, demand for sustainable products and processes, etc.),

- addressing societal challenges.

The expected impact of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, are represented by an increased turnover resulting from additional sales and/or cost savings and an entry in the new markets/increase in market share

The budget earmarked for funding the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme is 4,000,000 euro.

The deadline for submitting proposals in the framework of the current COS-2015-DESIGN-2 “Design-based consumer goods” call for proposals, published by the European Commission in the framework of the Cosme Programme, is 14 April 2016.   

Further information on the current call for proposals is available on the Cosme’s web site at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/cosme/topics/10052-cos-2015-design-2.html.