Deadline: 31-Aug-22
The European Commission (EC) is seeking proposals for its Scalable Cities Action Grant to support the replication of measures already successfully tested in Smart Cities and Community projects.
The objective of the Scalable Cities Action Grants is to promote the continuity, knowledge-transfer and replication of innovative approaches and solutions from Smart Cities and Communities (SCC01) projects. It provides financial support to cities and ad-hoc partnerships that wish to replicate measures that were successfully implemented through SCC projects to facilitate the transition towards climate neutrality.
The first and present call seeks to improve and optimise cities’ internal governance structures and support cities in developing innovative financing concepts and mechanisms to engage private investors.
The Scalable Cities Action Grant financially supports cities and ad-hoc partnerships that wish to replicate measures that were successfully implemented through SCC projects to facilitate the transition towards climate neutrality.
The Scalable Cities Action Grant is implemented in collaboration with the European Commission and CINEA. The EC has set out a clear aim for Scalable Cities to deploy wide-scale, innovative, replicable and integrated solutions in the energy, transport, and ICT areas and to trigger large-scale economic investment with a view to transforming the market.
Strands
- Strand 1– Preparation of replication actions in the field of systemic change of local governance structures
- Strand 2 – Define financing mechanisms and attract investors
Funding Information
- The indicative budget to be awarded in the period 2022 to 2024 is EUR 900 000 to fund around 20 to 30, each with a duration of between 6 and 12 months.
- The maximum grant amount is EUR 50 000.
- Applicants may submit proposals that have higher overall budgets, but the action grant may in no case exceed EUR 50 000 per project. In this case, applicants have to co-finance the difference.
- The total envelope available for the present call for proposal is 155.000 EUR. Ideally, this funding will be allocated to different funding categories:
- Small projects – Below to 15.000 EUR each;
- Medium projects -Between 15.000 – 30.000 EUR each; and
- Large projects – between 30.000 and 50.000 EUR.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals can be submitted both by individual legal entities or by consortiums. To be eligible for the Scalable Cities Action Grants, lead applicants and, where applicable, coapplicants must comply with all the following conditions:
- Political commitment: A letter of commitment signed by a political representative of the municipality that will benefit from the Grant needs to be attached to prove support to the application. The letter should also commit the municipality to close cooperation with the applicant, in case the applicant is not the municipality.
- Type of eligible applicants: local authorities or municipalities as well as other legal entities who can support local authorities with the implementation of the actions (i.e. civil society organisations, municipal owned companies, municipal agencies, private companies, universities and other non-profit organisations).
- Country of eligible applicants: Be located in the European Union or in a country eligible for the Horizon 2020 SCC projects;
- Existence of energy and climate plans: the applicant local authority or the city represented by the applicant (in case the applicant is not a local authority) must be a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors, with a current SECAP or SEAP accepted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. Alternatively, the city needs to demonstrate the existence of a similar plan with targets as ambitious as the 2020 European Energy and Climate targets.
For more information, visit https://smart-cities-marketplace.ec.europa.eu/scc-action-grant
