The Third Open Call Round
CommuniCity Open Call for Applications
Third open call expands across Europe
Building on the success of previous rounds, this final phase of CommuniCity Open Calls expands its reach to 17 cities. In addition to the project partner cities of Helsinki, Porto, and Amsterdam, so-called replicator cities have identified their unique challenges aiming to tackle the specific needs of their communities. These replicator cities are Aarhus, Bruges, Brussels, Cuneo, London, Manchester, Matosinhos, Milazzo, Plock, Prague, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Sarajevo, The Hague and Utrecht.
In total, there are 54 challenges presented, all of which are open to all eligible applicants. The application period opens on September 10th and closes on October 31st, 2024, at 17:00 CET. All applications must be submitted via the online application form and in English. Before submitting the application, applicants are advised to review the “Read this first” tips provided by the CommuniCity consortium.
During this final CommuniCity Open Call round, there are four grant providers: Forum Virium Helsinki, Municipality of Amsterdam, Porto Digital, and Open and Agile Smart Cities & Communities (OASC). As a result, there are four sets of Open Call Documents, which are largely similar but may have some minor differences based on national procurement legislation.
Over 60 grants available for tech companies
The final open call has a budget of around €820,000. Selected pilot teams will receive grants of up to €12,500 to develop their technological solutions and conduct real-life experiments in collaboration with residents. The third CommuniCity Open Call aims to award grants to over 60 pilot teams. Pilot teams can submit several applications, but only one application per challenge is allowed. It is also possible for those who participated in the first or second round of open calls to apply for the third one.
Following the closing of the call on 31 October, expert juries from participating cities and NGOs will carefully evaluate the applications. The evaluation criteria and the detailed assessment process are described in the Open Call documents. The evaluation criteria are similar to previous rounds, but with a greater emphasis on the role of Artificial Intelligence to unleash the full potential of Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) – a set of standardised tools that facilitate data sharing and collaboration between cities.
Once the assessment of applications has been finalised and the winning teams selected, the piloting phase is launched in November-December 2024. Each of the host cities and organisations are responsible for ensuring 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 on time. It is expected that all pilots will be finalised by the end of May 2025.
Support available: Matchmaking Tool, Info Events and Manuals
To foster collaboration, the CommuniCity Consortium has set up a dedicated CommuniCity Matchmaking Platform, allowing tech providers, residents, companies, and organisations to find partners. Additionally, the CommuniCity Consortium is hosting three Info Events to provide more details on the third Open Call, the application process, and the piloting phase.
During the piloting phase, teams work closely with pilot host organisations and residents. To facilitate this process, especially the co-creation activities, two CommuniCity Manuals have been developed. The Open Calls Instruction Manual provides general guidelines and real-world examples for organising and conducting open calls for pilot programs. The CommuniCity Piloting Toolkit assists in co-creating solutions at the local level based on agile piloting methodology.
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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.