Urban Mobility has gone through unexpected and momentous changes in 2020. COVID-19 ripped through our nations and cities bringing individual, community and societal upheaval and turmoil. Density and proximity, the very two things that makes our cities the economic, cultural, intellectual, political, and innovative beating hearts of our society, were also the weakest points when faced with a new and deadly threats
Wise medical advice led to lockdowns that inevitably saved millions of lives while freezing personal mobility. Who we are today, how we relate to each other, and how we perceive and move around our cities has changed. Maybe forever. EIT Urban Mobility was privileged to play a small role in Covid Response Initiatives. Inclusive logistics projects protecting the elderly and vulnerable were rolled out in Budapest touching thousands. New ruggedised rickshaws were designed for handicapped and reduced mobility passenger in the hilly cities of Bergamo and Bilbao. As road space was taken back for public space, citizens in 5 cities were able to design and manufacture their street furniture for their own public spaces. New nanotech sprays covered the surfaces our buses and metros, to ensure we got home safely.
It has been unforgettable year that has shaped our thinking on where EIT Urban Mobility needs to go. We learned we could move fast and innovate at pace. We learned that the right thinkers and doers are there – you just need to find them. We learned that innovation can be financial beneficial and contribute to sustainable growth.
In 2021, we launch a call for the Innovation Programme 2022 focused on our City Challenge Areas. This year we will focus on four simple areas: Active Mobility, Sustainable Logistics, Energy and Mobility and Future Mobility. We expect great things from our own EIT Urban Mobility community and hubs. Moreover, having seen how our community responded to COVID with rapid, agile, and impactful projects – we expect more. Higher. Faster. Better. And as the saying goes “Don’t tell me how it cannot be done. Tell me how it can”.
We look forward to receiving your applications for inclusion in the Business Plan 2022.
Main features of the call (aim and segments)
The overall purpose of the Innovation Programme is to take innovative ideas, improves them, and puts them into practice. EIT Urban Mobility aims to ensure safe urban transport, provide better data exploitation, increase modal shift, drive take-up of active transport, promote community self-help, and facilitate behavioural change.
By emphasising market-oriented business solution, innovation, can provide valuable evidenced based data from demonstrations and living labs to support regulatory, policy and behavioural changes to improve urban life quality.
From over more than 250 urban mobility challenges identified by European cities, a grouping of 9 “Challenge Areas” were identified and refined over 6 months open discussion with core EIT Urban Mobility partners and a wider public audience.
For the Call for Proposals 2022, four challenge areas will be supported directly by Innovation: Active Mobility, Sustainable City Logistics, Future Mobility and Mobility & Energy. Additionally, there is one restricted area for the continuation of existing projects. Other Challenge Areas may be included in proceeding annual Calls for Proposals or addressed by other EIT Urban Mobility thematic areas.
Call summary
First Call for Proposals for Innovation for BP 2022 – 2024: Main Features
| Dates | Call opening: 19 March 2021 Call closing: 18 May 2021 Eligibility and admissibility check: End of May 2021 Evaluation of proposals: June 2021 Communication of results: Beginning of July 2021 |
| Budget allocation | Up to 7.7 million EUR |
| Link to submission portal | PLAZA platform – OPEN NOW! |
| List of documents to be submitted | Application form available on the PLAZA platform |
| List of documents to take into consideration | Business Plan 2022 – 2024 first call for proposals for Innovation EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Agenda 2021-2027 (link below) Call Guidelines for applicants (link below) Appeal Procedure (link below) Eligibility of expenditures (link below) List of KPIs (link below) Monitoring and reporting (link below) Frequently Asked Questions – First Calls for BP2022-2024 (link below) Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement |
| Short summary of the topics to be addressed | Active Mobility Active mobility is regular physical activity undertaken as a means of transport. It includes travel by foot, bicycle and other vehicles which require physical effort to get moving. The expected outcome would be higher levels of use of active mobility in target demo cities. Future Mobility The expected outcome would be new services and disruptive technologies which have the potential to reshape the ways in which we live, work, and move within the city. Sustainable City Logistics The expected outcome would include new vehicles, new procurement / purchasing models, new consolidation solutions, new hub services, new production models (e.g. so that goods are produced “close-to-home”), new software solutions for optimising freight, new solutions for managing loading/unloading etc. Mobility and Energy Increased use of cleaner fuelled vehicles. The measure implemented should have the potential for replication and scaling in other European contexts. Continuation Proposal from BP2021 Existing proposals from EIT Urban Mobility Business Plan 2021 requesting a full 12-month or short 3-month extension into BP2022 are NOT required to complete a CfP2022 proposal on the PLAZA system. |
| Evaluation criteria | For the Strategic Fit evaluation: Contribution to attaining mandatory EIT Core KPIs, Fitting with BP 2022 Call Challenge Area under which the proposal was submitted, and Provides additional EIT UM specific KPIs. For the full proposal evaluation: Excellence, novelty, and innovation, Impact and financial sustainability, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation, including sound financial management. |
Find all the information about this call below!
Supporting documents:
NEW! Additional document:
Contact details
| Type of contact | |
| General/technical | call2022@eiturbanmobility.eu |
| Innovation | innovationcall2022@eiturbanmobility.eu |
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