Deadline: 26-Apr-24
The European Commission has announced applications for Scalable Cities Action Grant to support the replication of Smart Cities and Communities measures implemented through Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) projects.
European Commission has set out a clear aim for SCC projects to deploy wide-scale, innovative, replicable and integrated solutions in the areas of energy, transport, sustainability, inclusion, citizens, and ICT.
Scalable Cities represents 18 Smart Cities and Communities projects funded by Horizon 2020 (H2020) two Horizon Europe projects and their 124 cities piloting innovative approaches and solutions to create more inclusive, resilient, and smart cities. Scalable Cities aims to accelerate and intensify the collaboration among SCC projects and promotes the replication of best practices and innovative technologies and services.
The Scalable Cities Action Grant financially supports cities and ad-hoc partnerships that seek to replicate measures that have been successfully implemented through Horizon 2020 SCC projects.
Objectives
- The objective of the Scalable Cities Action Grants is to promote the replication of innovative approaches and solutions tested in Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) projects funded under Horizon 2020 in other cities and to stimulate the sharing of the knowledge gained in these projects. It provides financial support to cities and ad-hoc partnerships that wish to replicate approaches and solutions that were successfully implemented in the SCC projects.
- The present fourth call for proposals addresses the following three two priority topics: a)positive energy districts and b) e-mobility.
- This call seeks to:
- Initiating the development of positive energy districts (PED) in the local context and/or tackling the technical, spatial, regulatory, legal, financial, social, and economic challenges of ongoing PED development projects and/or offering mentoring and knowledge exchange on PED development, or;
- Support and promote e-mobility solutions through the replication of successfully piloted solutions among SCC projects.
- This call targets cities and related partners (e.g. local energy agencies, construction agencies, civil society organisations, research institutes, NGOs, SMEs) from consortia involved in completed and ongoing Horizon 2020 SCC Lighthouse projects and/or any external cities and local stakeholders interested in replicating specific actions from Horizon 2020 SCC Lighthouse and Horizon Europe smart cities’ projects.
Funding Information
- The minimum total envelope available for the present call for proposal is 120 000 EUR. Ideally, this funding will be allocated to different project 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.
- A project’s budget will be granted according to the principle of efficient use of resources. Eligible costs will be daily fees, subcontracting or other costs within the lump sum of EUR 450.
- Lumps sums offer beneficiaries the flexibility to use them for any expense that contributes to the objectives of the Call and the expected results of the project. In the application process applicants must describe the deliverables they plan to produce with the requested grant.
- Projects should have a maximum duration of up to 9 months (no extensions will be granted).
Eligible Activities
Through the present Call for Proposals, the Scalable Cities Action Grant is seeking to fund actions in line with the following two strands:
- Strand 1 – Positive energy districts
- Positive energy districts (PEDs) embody a holistic approach for accelerating the energy transition and integrate local, renewable energy production in urban environments. PEDs are energy-efficient and energy-flexible neighbourhoods or groups of buildings which produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions and actively manage an annual local or regional surplus production of renewable energy. PEDs require various technological solutions for managing energy demand, flexibility and sharing, as well as supporting legal frameworks, integration with the existing energy systems, high level of energy efficiency of buildings, integration with public infrastructure and transportation and complex stakeholder coordination processes, including active citizen engagement to enable behavioural changes.
- Many SCC projects have piloted a range of innovative solutions for PED development, including ICT applications, stakeholder engagement processes, business models, urban planning and design strategies, legal and regulatory frameworks, governance models, etc.
- The type of activities that can be supported under this strand are those geared towards (i) initiating PED development in the local context; or (ii) tackling the technical, spatial, regulatory, legal, financial, social, and economic challenges of ongoing PED development projects.
- Moreover, this strand aims to facilitate mentoring between the H2020 Smart Cities and Communities (SCC) project cities that have developed (or are currently developing) PEDs or PED strategies and other cities willing to learn from and replicate their work.
- The following activities represent a non-exhaustive list of examples that could be funded under this strand:
- Replication of any of the Scalable Cities project solutions that relate to PEDs or preparatory work for such replication (e.g., preliminary feasibility studies, preparation of procurement documentation to purchase technical or ICT equipment, software, etc).
- Activities for deploying tools and approaches to optimise local energy management in a neighbourhood/group of buildings.
- Development of city-wide strategies for planning and coordinating PED development, incl.,action plans for municipal staff, guidelines for engaging local stakeholders, engagement campaigns, methodologies for data gathering and monitoring, etc.
- Workshops and other activities with local stakeholders to strengthen cooperation to develop a new or support an existing PED (new regulations and capacity-building activities for private developers, co-creation activities with inhabitants, etc.).
- Mentoring activities between SCC cities and other cities on the topic of PEDs.
- Activities related to coordination or governance mechanisms to steer the development and implementation of a PED or a series of PEDs;
- Plan and/or implement citizen engagement activities with a focus on PEDs.
- Capacity development activities for municipal staff working with PED coordination, planning and strategies.
- Strand 2 – E-mobility
- The transport and mobility services must be embedded in wider smart and sustainable city strategies aimed at a fair and decarbonised mobility for all citizens.
- Many SCC projects have piloted a range of smart mobility solutions, including electric vehicles, ICT applications, e-mobility as a service, smart data sensors and real-time data platforms, as well as urban planning and traffic control strategies, legal and regulatory frameworks incentivizing sustainable commuting, etc.
- The type of activities that can be supported under this strand are those geared towards promoting e-mobility solutions through the replication of successfully piloted solutions among SCC projects.
- The following activities represent a non-exhaustive list of examples that could be funded under this strand:
- Activities that support large scale adoption of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure including e-Mobility as a Service (eMaaS) solutions, public transportation fleet electrification, charge point operator platforms and software, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charging systems (example projects: CityxChange, Remourban, IRIS, Sharing Cities);
- Actions, including preparatory measures like feasibility studies and cost-benefit analyses, aimed at developing a demand management system for efficiently handling the charging demand of electric vehicles (example project – MatchUP project)
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals can be submitted both by individual legal entities or by consortia. To be eligible for the Scalable Cities Action Grants, lead applicants and, where applicable, co-applicants must comply with all the following conditions:
- Political commitment: A letter of commitment signed by an authorised political representative of the municipality benefiting from the Action Grant needs to be attached to prove support for the application. In case the applicant is not a municipality itself, the letter should still be signed by the municipality to demonstrate their commitment for a close cooperation with the applicant.
- Type of eligible applicants: Local authorities or municipalities as well as other legal entities who 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 a country identified as Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their outermost regions as well as associated countries.
- 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 approved by or submitted to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. Alternatively, the city needs to demonstrate the existence of an equivalent plan with targets as ambitious as the 2020 European Energy and Climate targets.
- The Scalable Cities Action Grant welcomes and prioritises applications to implement activities in small (up to 100.000 inhabitants) and medium (up to 300.000 inhabitants) sized cities.
For more information, visit European Commission.
