Minutes of meeting – OTELLO proposal to the HORIZON-INFRA-2026-TECH-01-01 call submission discussion

25th February 2026

Strategies for Improving the Proposal:

• Correct all the shortcomings from the previous evaluation, especially for criteria 1 (excellence) and 3 (implementation)
• Emphasize the importance of Otello for the FCC-ee project
• Improve the proposal in areas related to innovation, industry, and technology transfer
• Potentially include additional tasks/activities to strengthen synergies between different communities and work packages
• Reduce the number of small beneficiaries and reorganize the consortium structure to address implementation concerns
• Strengthen synergies between work packages to improve overall coherence and appeal

Key Action Items:

• Paolo to contact the new CERN Director of Research (Gautier Hamel de Monchenault) to ensure CERN's strong support for Otello
• Rebecca to set up an Indico link to upload materials and a central link for Otello proposal preparation documents
• All work package coordinators to ask their team members if they are still on board by next week
• Paolo, Daniele, and Giovanni to look into small beneficiaries that can be combined
• Paolo to create a Doodle poll to identify the best time for a bi-weekly meeting
• Submit OTELLO before deadline

Upcoming Dates:

• March 10th: Horizon Infra 2026-01-01 call opens
• Early March: Confirmation needed from all current beneficiaries on their continued participation
• March 12th (tentative): Next meeting