IT4LIA AI Factory provides HPC resources at a European level through two main channels: European calls and Italian calls. This is a concrete opportunity for SMEs, startups and companies that want to develop artificial intelligence solutions and need advanced computing power to do so.
In this article we focus on the access pathway through the European calls, outlining the process stages, available packages and expected timelines from application submission to actual access to supercomputing resources.
Alongside this, the calls are also accessible to research centres, universities and researchers: this pathway will be covered in a dedicated article.
The Access Journey: Seven Stages
One of IT4LIA’s defining features is its continuous support throughout the entire access journey. This is not simply a computing infrastructure: IT4LIA provides a dedicated expert team that supports every organisation from the first information request through to service delivery, helping to identify the most suitable call, structure the proposal and navigate the evaluation stages. The process is structured in seven steps:
- Online information request – The entry point is the IT4LIA AI Factory website, under the What can we do for you section.
- Orientation call – An online meeting with the IT4LIA expert team to assess computing resource and service needs. At the end, the user receives a shared report indicating which call to apply to and which priority services are recommended. (Indicative duration: 7–10 days)
- Technical assessment call – An online meeting to receive general information about IT4LIA and be directed towards the expert team, or towards Training, Matchmaking or Startup Ecosystem services.
- Call application – The user submits an application to the European call with the support of IT4LIA experts. (Indicative duration: 5–20 days)
- Evaluation – Eligibility and access criteria are verified by the IT4LIA consortium.
- Service delivery – Access to HPC resources and the IT4LIA services.
- Final report – All selected projects are required to submit a final report at the end of the project.
Available Packages: Playground, Fast Lane and Large Scale
Through IT4LIA it is possible to access 50% of the AI Factory’s overall capacity via the European calls, primarily aimed at industrial users under the AI for Industrial Innovation call. Three levels of access are available:
The IT4LIA expert team supports users in choosing the most suitable package for their needs, jointly assessing the project’s scale, required resources and level of technological maturity.
The calls target industrial organisations — particularly SMEs and startups — looking to leverage AI and supercomputing resources for innovation. The project must demonstrate a clear industrial innovation character and must not be feasible on less powerful computing infrastructures. Importantly for businesses: data and models generated remain the property of the beneficiary, and SMEs and startups may exploit the results commercially.
Eligibility Criteria
IT4LIA supports users from the very start, helping to assess eligibility before submitting an application. To access the European calls, the following criteria must be met:
- Be an industrial organisation (company, SME, or startup)
- The Principal Investigator (PI) must be an employee of the applicant organisation, with a valid contract at the time of application and for at least 3 months after the end of the allocation
- Activities exclusively for civil purposes
- Valid VAT number and PIC
- Compliance with the AI Act
- No double European funding
- Eligible countries include EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries (including Norway, Switzerland, Israel, the United Kingdom, and others).
How Proposals Are Evaluated
IT4LIA supports users through every stage of the evaluation, which is structured across three levels:
- Eligibility check – Formal verification of requirements.
- Technical Assessment – Analysis of dataset adequacy, data management approach, computational workflows and software environments. The consistency and proportionality of the requested resources relative to the project’s objectives and maturity level are also assessed.
- Expert Evaluation (Large Scale only) – Innovation (how far the work goes beyond the state of the art) and impact (the project’s industrial and broader socio-economic potential) are evaluated. Playground and Fast Lane proposals that pass the Technical Assessment are granted access directly, subject to resource availability.
Access Timelines
Thanks to IT4LIA’s structured process, the time from application submission to HPC resource access is short and predictable:
- Playground and Fast Lane: approximately 7 days
- Large Scale: approximately 20 days
The Final Report
All selected projects are required to submit a brief final report at the end of the project. The report must describe the results of porting and benchmarking activities or model training outcomes, any issues encountered and the solutions adopted, as well as the project’s energy consumption during supercomputer usage. Dedicated templates are available for each package.
As an exception, SMEs and startups are not required to make actual results public (e.g. trained AI models). Where intellectual property constraints apply, it is sufficient to justify the limitations and submit a version of the report suitable for public dissemination.
