The Third Open Call Round
Applications for the Third CommuniCity Open Call
2024-2025
Open Call launches 10th September 2024
The third CommuniCity Open Call launches September 10th aiming to award at least 62 pilots with grants to support the development and piloting of tech-driven solutions. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2024. Following this, expert juries nominated by participating cities and NGOs will carefully evaluate the applications. In December, the winning applicants can begin piloting technological solutions in their respective cities and can continue their experiments until May 2025. The CommuniCity project will grant each winning team a minimum of €12,500 Eur grant to support their solution development and pilot implementation efforts.
The evaluation criteria and the detailed assessment process are described in the Call for Applications documents which will be published in parallel with the open call launch. The evaluation criteria will be similar to previous rounds except the role of Artificial Intelligence will be highlighted in order to unleash the full potential of Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) – a set of standardised tools that facilitate data sharing and collaboration between cities.
Fueling Innovation with support from CommuniCity
Once the assessment of applications has been finalised and the winning teams selected, the experimentation phase is launched in December 2024. Each of the host cities has the responsibility to ensure that the pilot activities are carried out in accordance with CommuniCity objectives, in addition to addressing the locally identified needs and legal requirements. During the piloting phase which can take up to 6 months, the CommuniCity Consortium partners will provide the piloting teams with various levels of support to ensure they deliver their solutions in an agreed manner, within the budget and in due time. It is expected that all the pilots are finalised by the end of May 2025.
Prospective applicants for the upcoming CommuniCity Open Call can reference the application process from the second round for general guidance. The core principles and evaluation process remain very similar for the third round. While more detailed information will be released this summer, the application documents and city-specific challenges will be published on September 10th, aligning with the opening of the call.
Third round of open call expands the pilots across the Europe
Building upon the success of the previous rounds, the third CommuniCity Open Call expands its reach by awarding up to 62 piloting teams. While the initial rounds of open calls focused on a relatively small group of participating cities, this final round of CommuniCity Open Calls fosters a broader and more ambitious initiative by inviting all the interested European Cities and NGOs to join the open call. Nevertheless, the core concept will remain the same: the overall objective is to find technology-driven solutions to bridge the digital divide and enhance the well-being of marginalised communities.
The CommuniCity Consortium is seeking new cities and NGOs to join in the upcoming Open Call. The aim is to tackle social, economical and urban challenges identified and presented by these cities. Besides getting valuable help for solving these city-specific challenges, participating cities and NGOs gain valuable expertise in co-creation methodologies and future technologies including machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, the participating cities are supported with step-by-step guidance for successful agile piloting, ensuring a smooth and efficient process. The CommuniCity Consortium seeks to finalise participating city recruitment by the end of April to ensure a smooth rollout of the upcoming open call.
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Increased societal uptake of new technologies and knowledge-based solutions, achieved through better understanding of societal needs and higher societal acceptance.
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Increased place-based innovation and experimentation, through testing of up to 100 innovative new solutions in partnership with cities and local communities, research and industry, drawing on local characteristics and strengths.
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Increased innovation capacity across Europe, through new models of co-creation and exchange of good practices and learning from experimentation, so that innovative solutions are shared and adapted to the needs of local communities.
City Challenges:
Amsterdam
Helsinki
Porto
Replicator City Aarhus
Replicator City
Breda
Replicator City
Prague
