Integrated Surveillance mechanism: Regional Cable hubs
Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions · Grant topic
Summary
A Polish company can use this call for R&D.
Funds public or private legal entities to analyse and demonstrate private situational data integration for Regional Cable Hub security.
- Who can apply
- Companies can lead: SME, large company, startup, public body, other.
- Amount
- €3,940,000Indicative budget
- Deadline
- 19 Nov 2026 01:00 CETin 26 days
- Status
- Openopened 14 Jul 2026
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.
Description
Expected Outcome:
• A consolidated reference on private situational data relevant for submarine-cable security A structured description of the main categories of private situational data and actors relevant for submarine-cable security, including their sensitivity profile, typical usage, and the key legal, regulatory and commercial constraints affecting possible access by Regional Cable Hubs.
• Interoperability and data fusion pathways for multi-source, multi-basin use Clear conclusions on the main interoperability and data fusion challenges and feasible solutions (e.g. common data models or ontologies, interoperability layers, translation and fusion layers), including indications on which approaches are realistically applicable across multiple providers and sea basins, and how they can remain extensible to accommodate new data sources and actors over time.
• A proof-of-concept demonstration showing how selected private situational data can be accessed, integrated and processed within a Regional Cable Hub–type environment, together with a practical demonstration of the situational-awareness outcomes that such integration can produce. This includes evidence on the achievable levels of spatial precision, timeliness, coverage and reliability under pilot conditions, as well as identification of the constraints that limit performance.
• Partnership models and recommendations for EU follow-up A concise set of partnership models through which Regional Cable Hubs could obtain or use private situational data (e.g. service-based, data-sharing, or hybrid arrangements), with associated requirements for their viability and compliance, an assessment of their expected impact and limitations on situational awareness, and recommendations for possible EU-level guidance, support measures or follow-up actions.
Objective:
The situational data that could contribute to improved awareness of threats to submarine cables (e.g. sensor feeds, maritime or satellite surveillance data) are subject to complex and heterogeneous governance conditions. These conditions may vary across cable systems, operators and sea basins, reflecting differing ownership structures, contractual arrangements and applicable regulatory or security frameworks. As a result, there is currently limited clarity on how such data could be accessed, combined and used in a structured manner to support cable-security objectives.
The Pilot Project aims, through analytical work and targeted pilot activities in non-operational settings, to determine how private-sector situational data relevant to submarine-cable security could support the functioning of Regional Cable Hubs, as envisaged under the EU Action Plan on Cable Security and currently under implementation at Union level (established under the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) Call 9).
In view of the preparatory nature of the action, proposals are encouraged to build on relevant experience and capacities developed in related Union initiatives on submarine cable security, including by entities involved in the establishment of Regional Cable Hubs.
Scope:
The Pilot Project will combine interaction with the range of concerned private actors related to cable security and analysis with small-scale pilots to explore the full process of accessing and using such data:
• Map the landscape of situational data held by private actors relevant to submarine-cable security, sources and type of such data (cable-related telemetry, sensor feeds, satellite and maritime-surveillance data, underwater-drone outputs and other emerging modalities); identify their technical characteristics (e.g. real-time, proprietary formats, latency, frequency), ownership, confidentiality profile, availability, usage patterns and the legal, contractual, security or other applicable constraints governing their access.
• Assess the feasibility of accessing and integrating such data into a Regional Cable Hub, by first examining the commercial, organisational, regulatory and security conditions under which private actors could interface with Cable Hubs, and then analysing the technical implications of such cooperation, including the requirements for data ingestion (such as APIs, gateways, pipelines, authentication and security controls) and the maturity and limitations of existing commercial or open platforms that could support this integration and subsequent data fusion.
• Analyse interoperability and data fusion challenges across multiple providers, diverse data sources and different sea basins, including whether harmonisation of formats, frequencies and semantics is needed; the potential role of common data models, taxonomies or ontologies; the feasibility of using interoperability and fusion layers; and how these approaches could remain future-proof in light of evolving sensors and emerging sources of data; and finally how interoperable data can be fused to generate coherent situational awareness.
• Assess the quality and limitations of the situational awareness generated from these data sources. Determine the realistic contribution that private-sector monitoring and situational data can make to submarine-cable security by evaluating the spatial precision, timeliness, coverage, reliability and confidence that can be achieved when such data is combined within a Regional Cable Hub, while also identifying the technical, regulatory and commercial limitations that constrain the level of situational awareness attainable under different data-access and integration scenarios.
• Design and carry out pilot or proof-of-concept demonstrations (e.g. using sample datasets, synthetic data or sandbox integrations with selected providers) to test and validate key assumptions on data access, integration, interoperability and situational-awareness outputs, and to refine the practical feasibility of the proposed cooperation models.
• Produce a consolidated assessment of feasible partnership models between Regional Cable Hubs and private holders of cable-relevant monitoring and situational data, setting out the key commercial, contractual, technical and regulatory requirements for such arrangements, evaluate the extent to which they can enhance the situational awareness achievable for submarine-cable security, and identify gaps where further EU-level policy guidance, standardisation or supporting measures may be needed.
Who can apply, in detail
- Applicant types
- SME, Large company, Startup, Public body, Other
- Purpose
- Research and innovation
- R&D relevance
- 3 of 3
- Poland eligible
- Yes
- Country limit
- EU Member States including OCTs, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein; activity-location and ownership restrictions apply.
- Region
- Any
- Consortium
- Unclear
- Readiness level (TRL)
- —
- Topics
- Submarine cable security
- Situational awareness
- Data interoperability
- Multi-source data fusion
- Regional Cable Hubs
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026
Conditions
Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.
- Applicant restriction
- Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must be legal entities (public or private bodies) established in an EU Member State (including OCTs) or EEA country (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein).
This covers applicants in beneficiary/affiliated-entity roles; separate restrictions also apply to participation by other entities in any capacity.
- Applicant restriction
- Entities established in eligible EU/EEA countries must not be directly or indirectly controlled by a third country other than an EU Member State or EEA country; ownership/control declaration is required.
- Application restriction
- Part B has a 70-page maximum; evaluators will not consider additional pages.
- Consortium required
- Yes
- Eligible geography
- Participation in any capacity (beneficiary, affiliated entity, associated partner, subcontractor) is limited to entities from eligible countries; project activities, including subcontracted work, must take place in eligible countries.
- Eligible geography
- Activities should normally take place in EU waters or airspace of eligible countries; neighbouring or international areas may be used when necessary for implementation.
- Eligible project scope
- Pilot analysis and small-scale demonstrations of how private-sector situational data relevant to submarine-cable security could support Regional Cable Hubs, including data mapping, access/integration, interoperability/data fusion, assessment of resulting situational awareness, pilots/proof-of-concept, and partnership models.
- Other condition
- Award criteria are Relevance (40 points), Quality (40 points), and Impact (20 points).
These are maximum criterion weights; separate minimum thresholds and 60/100 overall threshold are recorded in pppa-evaluation-thresholds.
- Other condition
- EU classified information requires security scrutiny and may trigger Security Aspects Letter obligations, clearances, secure handling, and access limits. TRES SECRET UE/EU TOP SECRET material cannot be funded. A grant cannot be signed until at least one consortium beneficiary has facility security clearance when the call’s classified-information rules apply.
Conditional on the project involving EU classified information; not every proposal must handle classified information.
- Other condition
- Extensions are possible when duly justified and made through an amendment.
- Other condition
- Employee personnel costs are limited to salaries, social-security contributions, taxes, and remuneration-linked costs arising under national law or employment terms; they are calculated on actual incurred costs using an annual-personnel-cost/215 daily rate and verifiable day-equivalents.
These are grant cost-calculation/eligibility rules, not a published wage rate or employee entitlement. The call does not publish salary amounts, headcount, or hiring commitments.
- Other condition
- One-stage submission and one-step evaluation. Three award criteria have minimum scores of 21/40 (Relevance), 21/40 (Quality), and 11/20 (Impact), plus 60/100 overall.
Proposals must pass all individual thresholds and the overall score threshold, then compete within the available budget and expected project count.
- Other condition
- The call expects to fund one project and reserves the right not to award all available funds depending on proposals and evaluation.
- Other condition
- Call opened 14 July 2026.
- Other condition
- PPPA-2026-REGIONAL-SUBMARINE-ISM — Integrated Surveillance mechanism: Regional Cable hubs.
- Partner requirement
- Relevant public or private partners may also participate to support the Cable Hub’s technical and operational implementation.
- Expected project duration
- 18 months
Indicative project duration, not a mandatory minimum or maximum; other durations are permitted.
Amounts and costs
- Indicative budget
- €3,940,000
Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.
- Call allocation
- €3,940,000
One project is expected to be funded, but this EUR 3,940,000 is the available call/topic pool, not a guaranteed award or a stated maximum grant amount for an individual proposal.
- Eligible cost
- Budget categories: personnel (A.1 employees, A.2 natural persons under direct contract, A.3 seconded persons, A.4 SME owners/natural-person beneficiaries), subcontracting (B), purchases (C: travel/subsistence, equipment, other goods/works/services), other costs (D; FSTP N/A), and indirect costs (E).
Category list is scoped to this call; individual cost eligibility remains subject to the PPPA Grant Agreement Article 6 and the call-specific conditions.
- Eligible cost
- Budget-based mixed actual-cost grant with actual-cost, unit-cost and flat-rate elements. Only eligible costs actually incurred for the project are reimbursed; unit costs and flat-rates use the grant-agreement calculation methods.
- Eligible cost
- For A.2/A.3 direct-contract natural persons and paid secondments, costs are based on actual contract/secondment costs and must not be significantly different from the beneficiary’s comparable employee costs.
The call requires action assignment, general eligibility, employee-like work conditions, and (unless agreed otherwise) the result of work belonging to the beneficiary; no service/job title or amount is specified.
- Eligible cost
- Equipment costs are eligible on a depreciation basis.
- Eligible cost
- An EU/Euratom operating-grant beneficiary generally may not declare indirect costs for periods covered by that operating grant unless it demonstrates the operating grant covers no action costs.
- Eligible cost
- Free in-kind contributions are allowed but cost-neutral and cannot be declared as cost.
- Eligible cost
- Subcontracting may not cover core action tasks; subcontracted activities must take place in eligible countries. Subcontracting above 30% of total eligible costs must be justified in the application.
- Eligible cost
- Travel and subsistence are actual costs only; travel costs are eligible only in EU and EEA countries.
- Eligible cost
- Non-deductible/non-refundable VAT is eligible, but VAT paid by public bodies acting as public authority is not eligible.
- Eligible cost limit
- 7 percent of eligible direct costs in categories A-D
Flat-rate indirect cost ceiling; volunteer costs and any specifically exempted cost categories are excluded from the base. Beneficiaries covered by an EU/Euratom operating grant may not declare indirect costs for overlapping periods unless they demonstrate that the operating grant covers none of the action costs.
- Funding intensity
- 50 percent of total eligible project costs
EU co-financing rate ceiling; not 50% of the total call pool and not an individual project award amount. Grant parameters and maximum grant amount are fixed in the grant agreement.
- Ineligible cost
- Financial support to third parties is not allowed.
- Ineligible cost
- Volunteer personnel costs are marked N/A for this call.
Personnel and services
Other role
Staff cost the grant can fund
This is a potentially eligible personnel cost category, not a call-advertised job, hiring requirement, headcount, salary, or promise of funding. Costs must satisfy call and grant-agreement eligibility conditions; no role-specific qualification, duration, headcount, FTE, or pay amount is published. For A.4, the call selects the SME-owner/natural-person unit cost and excludes volunteers.
Source documents
Call facts
- Opens
- 14 Jul 2026
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Programme
- Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions · 2021 - 2027
- Call
- PPPA-2026-REGIONAL-SUBMARINE-ISM · Integrated Surveillance mechanism: Regional Cable hubs
- Types of action
- PPPA Project Grants
- Keywords
- EU Action Plan on Cable Security
- Regional Cable Hubs
- Submarine communication cables
- data mapping
- interoperability and data fusion
- recommendations for possible EU-level guidance
- submarine cable infrastructure
- submarine-cable security
- support measures
- Source
- ec.europa.eu
- Checked
- 23 Oct 2026
- Portal updated
- 7 Oct 2026
- Review status
- Partial review
- Reviewed
- 23 Oct 2026
This is a summary of the source page, not the official text. Eligibility, conditions and the submission system are at the source.