This call falls under the thematic area innovation’s targeted projects programme that addresses gaps in the innovation portfolio, business plan, and/ or strategic agenda, and covers issues not or inadequately covered by the main annual innovation call. The annual open calls in 2022 and 2023 failed to provide a) any viable waterborne mobility projects evaluated as excellent by external evaluators (call topic 1), b) additional support for transport operators of RIS countries to support the digitalisation of their mobility services (call topic 2). The topics are standalone and should be applied separately.
Given the targeted project’s programme is a pilot mechanism, awardees will be closely monitored through the implementation process until the successful closure of their project.
Topic 1 – Sustainable & efficient waterborne transportation
EIT Urban Mobility plays a vital role in the uptake of innovations that enable efficient and sustainable transport in urban areas. Inland waterway and close-to-shore waterborne transportation is a competitive alternative to road and rail transport that has, to date, been underrepresented in our annual Business Plan and project portfolio. Waterborne mobility can offer an environment-friendly alternative in terms of energy consumption, noise and pollution emissions. It also reduces congestion in the city road network and promotes more urban liveable cities by freeing-up land space. Historically, European cities growth, cultural centres, and economic exchanges were built around inland and coastal waterways.
Traditional waterborne freight and passenger mobility has various shortcomings, ranging from dependence on hydrocarbon combustion, pollutant discharge, waterway fouling, and lack of modern docking and loading infrastructure. These issues have been compounded by high-energy cost/consumption, inefficient technologies, and a lack of trained manpower impeding the re-adoption of new sustainable and efficient waterborne solutions to utilise Europe’s free water highways.
EIT Urban Mobility is therefore looking for a project consortium of up to no more than three partners to develop and demonstrate in a real-life setting an innovative solution that promotes an efficient and sustainable use of urban inland and close-to-shore waterways.
This call is focused on strategic objectives SO1 and SO3 of the EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Agenda (SA) 2021-2027.
Topic 2 – Democratisation of large-scale ICT solutions for smaller public transport authorities in financially-constrained RIS cities
EIT Urban Mobility plays a vital role in promoting a modal shift to public transportation and reducing the reliance on private cars. Digitalisation can help public transport operators to improve regularity, quality, and safety as well as adapt mobility services to the demands of personalisation and the adoption of micro-mobility and geofencing. For instance, digital technologies can gather and analyse data on traffic patterns, and public transportation usage, to optimise traffic flow, reduce congestion and pollution, and improve the overall experience of public transport. Moreover, they can improve the access to information for citizens, making it easier for them to plan their trips and buy tickets, find the best routes and choose the most suitable transportation mode.
Cities in the Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) face difficulties more pronounced than other parts of Europe, including high urbanisation, outdated infrastructure, and poor connectivity between regions. An ageing transportation fleet, dominated by low-cost, high-polluting vehicles, with a strong car ownership mentality exacerbates the problem (EITUM Strategic Agenda 2021-2027). Often the tools that exist to support cities in digitalisation and visualisation of their own public transport needs and operations are currently dominated by technology multinationals that often do not offer solutions at price points that RIS cities can afford. As such often smaller RIS cities are excluded from tools and know-how that larger, richer cities have come to depend. Adaption of existing off-the-shelf solutions to specific context of RIS cities would cost even more.
For Europe, overreliance on a limited number of corporate technology providers can lead to dependency on proprietary systems, and “lock-in” for cities. Additionally, these companies often rely on extractive business practices, leading to a loss of revenue, skills development, and economic growth in the regions in which they operate, transferring profits to low tax havens.
EIT Urban Mobility aims to support smaller public transport authorities in financially constrained RIS cities to access digital solutions and systems by selecting a project in which a public transport authority works with (a) competent local technology business (s) offering innovative, flexible, and adaptable ICT solutions at a lower cost. The call aims to democratise access to complex mobility systems and as such may make recourse to open-source software as core building blocks.
This call is focused on strategic objectives SO3 and SO4 of the EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Agenda (SA) 2021-2027.
Call Main Features
| Call for Proposals Main Features1 | |
| Key dates of the call calendar | Call opening: 22 February 2023 Call closing (submission of completed application): 27 April 2023 at 17:00 CET. Eligibility and admissibility check: first week of May 2023 Evaluation of proposals: May 2023 Communication of results: latest end May 2023 Tentative start of the projects: latest 01 June 2023 |
| Total estimated EIT Funding allocated to this call and co-funding rate | Two projects will be selected, one for each topic. For topic 1, Total EIT funded contribution to the budget is up to € 300,000. For topic 2, Total EIT funded contribution to the budget is up to € 250,000. For both projects, the co-funding rate of minimum 33% is mandatory. Additional co-funding will be positively assessed. |
| Project duration | This call is open to proposals with a project duration of nine months (until February 2024). |
| Submission portal | The PLAZA submission portal will be available as of 22 February 2023. |
| List of documents to be submitted | Application form available on the PLAZA submission portal Optional: letter(s) of support of demonstration enabler(s) |
| List of documents to take into consideration | Call Manual: Business Plan 2023 – 2025 AMENDED-VERSION (Updated on 17/04/2023) Strategic Agenda 2021-2027 Guidelines for Applicants Eligibility of expenditure List of KPIs Appeal procedure Project Implementation Handbook Template of the Financial Support Agreement Horizon Europe Grant Agreement (specifically articles 16 and 17) |
| Short summary of the topics to be addressed | Topic 1 – Sustainable & efficient waterborne transportation Innovation in waterborne transportation is identified as a current gap within EIT Urban Mobility’s Innovation project portfolio. EIT Urban Mobility is therefore looking for a project consortium of no more than three organisations that can develop and demonstrate in a real-life setting a solution/product/service that enables the uptake of efficient and sustainable urban waterborne transportation. Topic 2 – Democratisation of large-scale ICT solutions for smaller public transport authorities in financially-constrained RIS cities EIT Urban Mobility aims to support smaller public transport authorities in financially constrained RIS cities to access digital solutions and systems by selecting a project in which a public transport authority works locally with (a) competent local technology businesses offering innovative, flexible, and adaptable ICT solutions at a lower cost. |
| Evaluation criteria | For the Strategic & General Fit Evaluation: Contribution to EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Objectives Alignment to call specific requirements Potential to achieve expected outcomes and impacts For the proposal evaluation: Excellence, novelty, and innovation, Impact and financial sustainability, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation |
Info sessions and contact details
Guidelines for Applicants, recorded webinars and contact details are available to guarantee the maximum support to the applicants during the proposal’s preparation process. You can register to the webinar here.
EIT Urban Mobility has developed the Guidelines for Applicants with the aim to assist all potential applicants during the proposal preparation and submission processes. The Guidelines for Applicants is published on the Call webpage and provide a full set of information and instructions to prepare and submit a proposal to this call.
To help applicants with the preparation and submission of their proposals, EIT Urban Mobility will host one information session in February 2023.
| Type of event | Topic covered | Date and time (CET) | Access to platform |
| Webinar info session | Explanation of call content, financial aspects, submission and evaluation procedures. | 07 March 2023 | Zoom |
In parallel to the call information sessions, all applicants may contact EIT Urban Mobility to resolve any concerns or doubts on the general/technical procedures and call content via the below channels:
| Type of contact | |
| Legal, Financial, Administrative and general procedures | pmo@eiturbanmobility.eu |
| Innovation area | Judith.schuermans@eiturbanmobility.eu |
