Deadline: 12-Oct-22
The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce the proposals for Grassroots Sports Programmes and Infrastructure Innovation.
Scope
- Grassroots sports is a traditional and slowly evolving area. Society in general and individuals’ needs and preferences regarding sports, however, change more rapidly. Indeed, participation figures highlight a growing mismatch between the provision of opportunities for sports via traditional sports organisations and the demand for sports from individuals. The way in which sports associations and clubs are organised and their lack of innovation prevents them from bridging this gap. This project will challenge parties outside the traditional sports structure to propose innovative solutions to bring sports supply into line with individuals’ demand at all levels, and provide a sports innovation ecosystem to make it possible for new ways of playing sports to be offered to the general public faster.
- In order to produce a working innovative ecosystem for grassroots sports organisations, two things are needed: new, soft programmes offering sports in new ways, and a flexible sports infrastructure able to host different sports at a single location.
- This preparatory action aims to identify and test multiple promising innovations in both categories. To achieve this, innovation challenges will be organised that select and reward promising innovations by any interested party (institution, company, start-up, individual(s) or other parties), which can be introduced and tested over a substantial period (minimum six months). The funding will be invested in soft programmes and new (small) sports infrastructure.
Funding Information
The available call budget is EUR 1 945 500.
Outcomes
The expected outcomes of this preparatory action should include:
- the development of new forms of practices as well as soft programmes to promote it;
- better integration of new ways of practicing sport and physical activity in the offer of traditional sport federations and organisations;
- an increased participation of young generations to sport;
- the development of light sport facilities, which directly complement the previous expected results.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible, 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)
- Be an organisation active in the field of sport (such as a sport federation or club), with legal personality (public or private body), which regularly organises sport activities and competitions and has activities in Europe, a European dimension or European impact.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3vyL29J