Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Digital Europe Programme is the first EU programme that aims to accelerate the recovery and drive the digital transformation of Europe.
Worth €7.6 billion (in current prices), the Programme is a part of the next long-term EU budget, (the Multiannual Financial Framework), and it covers 2021 to 2027. It will provide funding for projects in five crucial areas: supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, and ensuring the wide use of digital technologies across the economy and society.
The Programme is fine-tuned to fill the gap between the research of digital technologies and their deployment, and to bring the results of research to the market – for the benefit of Europe’s citizens and businesses, and in particular SMEs. Investments under the Digital Europe programme supports the Union’s twin objectives of a green transition and digital transformation and strengthens the Union’s resilience and strategic autonomy.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The action is divided in three objectives, each to be achieved through a separate work strand:
Objective 1: Technical inter-connection of existing LDTs: Connecting data platforms and LDTs from cities and communities that already have a LDT in place, in order to create an EU “federation” of LDTs.
Objective 2: Creation of LDTs based on common needs: Developing open-source pilots of LDTs services, based on shared needs of cities and communities that already have a local data platform and/or a LDT and want to expand them with new real-life use case services.
Objective 3: Adding new complex AI-based tools to the LDTs toolbox: Complementing the EU LDT toolbox launched under WP2021-22 with additional complex AI-based and innovative services (e.g., for adaptable multi-sector considerations, advanced simulation and modelling approaches including bottom-up self-organised models).
These objectives will be implemented through three work strands by a single project that will provide cascading funding to the third parties through a single call.
Detailed Call Description
Building on the Data Space for Smart Communities and the EU Local Digital Twin (LDT) Toolbox, both supported by the WP 2021-2022, and in synergy with the action “Developing CitiVerse” (see 2.3.2), the main objective of this action is to consolidate existing results and move towards an ecosystem of mature and networked LDTs across the EU to help cities and communities achieve economies of scale when developing their data platform and LDT services.
The selected proposal will manage a community of projects selected by cascading funding mechanism. The work of these projects will be implemented through three main work strands:
Work strand 1: Connect existing LDTs at EU level and lay down the foundations of an EU LDT ecosystem. When connecting LDTs, and their related data sets, projects should align with the smart cloud-to-edge middleware platform Simpl to achieve interoperability and make use of horizontal services available under the Digital Europe programme such as the Smart Communities dataspace blueprint, the EU data cloud infrastructure and the EU LDT toolbox.
Work strand 2: Launch new pilot LDT services based on common needs of cities and communities to enhance interoperability and collaboration. The services should be tested in real-life conditions and expand the EU LDT ecosystem by making use of and contributing to the development of the EU LDT toolbox catalogue. The pilots should include at least the following activities:
- designing real life use cases based on open and interoperable data sets across sectors. The use of these data sets should follow requirements of the data space for smart cities and communities’ blueprint;
- building and deploying the pilot services on LDT platforms at city/community level with real use case data;
- defining roadmaps for making available the LDT-based services on the EU LDT toolbox catalogue.
Work strand 3: Add new complex AI-based components to the forthcoming EU LDT toolbox to address the needs of cities/communities:
- Develop and deliver new AI-based services to create simulations, predictive models and forecast in a variety of sectors and use cases amongst which the New European Bauhaus, public services and communities’ resilience;
- Develop and deliver solutions for designing, optimising, and testing urban policies in dynamic complex environments with several interwoven sectors (e.g., traffic volume and pollution levels). AI classical optimization may be complemented with self-organised bottom-up solutions that will offer the necessary adaptability and robustness;
- Develop and deliver new complex AI-based services related to citizen’s engagement, with or without the use of eXtended Reality technology to address aspects of the New European Bauhaus initiative and implement a sustainable, democratic and citizen-centric CitiVerse.
To maximize the scale-up and reusability of the new services, these should be designed in such a way that they can be adopted by different maturity levels LDT architectures.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
The funding rate is 100%.
Maximum grant amount: €20.000.000 per project
One single project will be founded.
Within the open call for cascading grants, the selected project should ensure that at least 85% of the budget is allocated to the cascading funding. The indicative duration of the action will be 42 months.
The grant will be a budget-based mixed actual cost grant (actual costs, with unit cost and flat-rate elements). This means that it will reimburse ONLY certain types of costs (eligible costs) and costs that were actually incurred for your project (NOT the budgeted costs).
Thematic Categories
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
Eligibility for Participation
- Legal Entities
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
- non-EU countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein):
- listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (list of participating countries)
Consortium composition
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) and which complies with the following conditions: minimum 3 independent entities from 3 different eligible countries.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy
Directorate of Research and Innovation
Eleana Gabriel
Telephone: +357 22 691918
Email: egabriel@dmrid.gov.cy