Calls

Calls

Call for proposals: Innovation Call 2022

EIT Climate-KIC is inviting proposals for new activities due to commence in 2022. Under our strategy, Transformation, in Time, we have worked to engage challenge owners across Europe to map their systems and understand the innovation gaps where greater experimentation is needed to accelerate climate action. This work has led us to define a range of innovation areas where there is an opportunity to take a new approach to breaking through on the toughest climate challenges. Through experimenting with these new approaches, we hope to learn together with you about how to trigger system change and how to achieve our mission of a net-zero, resilient and just society by 2030 – now just nine years away.

This call for proposals sets out ‘positions’ in our innovation portfolio that we are seeking to fill with new commercially viable projects. A ‘position’ refers to a space or area that sits within our wider innovation portfolio where a specific project or innovation activity may sit within. We invite our community, including any new organisations that may wish to join, to prepare proposals for up to 22 months between March 2022 and December 2023 that address one of the identified open positions. There may be multiple projects accepted in any one position, and we may not be able to fill all positions via this call.

Under this call, partial funding is available to support the development of new highly innovative commercial products or services that seek to launch on the market and achieve climate impact through entrepreneurship and commercial means. We aim to support innovators, researchers, scientists, coaches, and experts to join forces in projects that aim to bring innovative solutions to the European market. We will also support existing innovations that may seek to expand into new markets across Europe and require support to do so.

Deadline

Call closes: 18 November 2021

How to apply

  • Read our call guidelines, which contains detailed information about the types of projects we can support via this call for proposals.
  • Join our webinar introducing the call on 27 September – 1 pm CEST – link available in Call Guidelines, Section 3 Call Timeline.
  • Register to pitch your concept to EIT Climate-KIC – link available in Call Guidelines, Section 3 Call Timeline.
  • Submit an application via our online grant management platform Plaza: climate-kic.org*

*Note: the specific Form in Plaza for responding to this Call will be available from 1 October 2021

 

CALL FOR PARTNERING WITH EIT CLIMATE-KIC ON ACCELERATION PROGRAMME ON ADAPTATION & RESILIENCE (A&R) ACCELERATOR IN AFRICA AND ASIA

EIT Climate-KIC is requesting a proposal for the implementation of the A&R Accelerator and further development of their ecosystem related to entrepreneurship in A&R. The A&R Accelerator will provide the support needed by the start-ups in order to build and strengthen their A&R business model, understand their market and generate ecosystem linkages and prepare them to raise early-stage funding. It will be comprised of the following components:

  1. Business building coaching & mentorship – the service provider will provide general business-building coaching and mentorship to participants,
  2. Peer-2-peer Learning Groups – Using the ‘Village Capital’ model for group coaching sessions,
  3. Market & Ecosystem Linkages – Presentations by external organisations to provide guidance on future opportunities for support and routes to growth and investment.
  4. Thematic Guidance with mentor input – Guidance material that ‘signposts’ further thematic resources, case studies and organisations that could be useful in supporting the future development of their businesses (provided by Climate-KIC).

It will be developed in close coordination with EIT Climate-KIC and run from November 2021 to February 2022. It will aim to support up to 15 start-up teams. These teams will be selected in advance by EIT Climate-KIC.

Deadline

Call opening …………..16th September 2021

Call closing …………….. 23rd September 2021

How to apply

  • Read the relevant Call for Proposal document (below).
  • Submit the application form (see link below) before the deadline.
  • In case of queries, you may contact an EIT CKIC representative to discuss the proposal you are preparing (see contact in the Call for Proposal document).

Links to the Call for Proposal and Application Form:

 

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST: A pool of experts to help decarbonising whole countries, regions and systems

EIT Climate-KIC is calling for expressions of interest for experts/organisations to join EIT Climate-KIC and other KIC Community experts to:

  • In partnership and under the orchestration of EIT Climate-KIC, provide strategic advisory services in all aspects of circular economy transition to national Governments (Slovenia, Ireland), Regions (Cantabria), cities, industry players across value chains and systems
  • Work with EIT Climate-KIC to develop detailed workplans and activities under identified programme streams; and
  • Respond to future Calls for implementation of activities that result from the above, as/when opportunities present from either EIT Climate-KIC or from challenge owners engaged in Deep Demonstrations such as the Slovenian government.

The priority focus will be to work on the Deep Demonstration of a Circular, Regenerative and Low-Carbon Economy in Slovenia. To pursue a sustainable future for Slovenia, EIT Climate-KIC and The Slovenian Climate Change Fund are starting a collaboration to prepare the ground through strategic implementation design for planning and rolling out a transition process to place Slovenia on the trajectory for a circular and sustainable future through the Deep Demonstration of a circular, regenerative economy: Decarbonizing Slovenia.

The Deep Demonstration program is a central part of Climate-KICs Transformation, in Time strategy. Deep Demonstrations are intended as a way of showing that a 1.5-degree future is both possible and desirable.

Call to Action

The purpose of this call for expression of interest is to develop a pool of expert organisations and individuals within the EIT Climate-KIC Community to support the work on planning for and then mobilisation towards the decarbonization of Slovenia through the design and implementation of a circular economy. Selected experts will assist the Slovenian Government to progress towards a circular and regenerative transition of Slovenia as a country through the Deep Demonstration of a circular, regenerative economy: Decarbonizing Slovenia program

Deadline

Call opening …………..10th September 2021

Call closing …………….. 10th October 2021

Eligibility

This call for proposals is open for applications to both EIT Climate-KIC partners and non-partner organisations. For full eligibility criteria, please see the Call document below.

How to apply

  • Read the relevant Call to Action & Guidelines (below).
  • In case of queries, you may contact an EIT CKIC representative to discuss the proposal you are preparing (see contact in the Call to Action & Guidelines document).
  • Submit your application as per the Call guidelines instructions.

Call to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

 

EIT Hub Members in MALTA

CALL TO ACTION

EIT Climate-KIC Hub in Malta is launching a call to recruit a new member to participate in EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS): a dedicated programme to accelerate climate innovation across Europe. We are interested in organisations to become official members of the Hub, moving to a more coordinated and fruitful cooperation and increasing the uptake and participation of the Malta ecosystems in EIT Climate-KIC activities.

EIT Climate-KIC RIS Hubs

The EIT Climate-KIC Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) is our flagship initiative active in Southern, Central and Eastern European countries where EIT Climate-KIC does not operate through office structures. It ensures EIT Climate-KIC’s pan-European reach and boosting climate innovation capacity across the continent. All EIT KICs undertake a “place-based” innovation approach and engage local organisations to serve as EIT Hubs in EIT RIS countries and regions. Local organisations are selected through an open competitive selection process, and are designated to function as an EIT Hub for a specific EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community.

EIT RIS Hubs aim to be catalysts for the innovation communities in each country by boosting the innovation ecosystem and working with: cities and regions, social movements and NGOs, policymakers, start-ups and established businesses, youth and professionals, education and research institutions and other relevant organisations across sectoral divides.

EIT Climate-KIC Hubs –whose members can be partners or external organisations—are composed of entities representing the business sector, education, research, governmental or civil society and their primary roles are:

  • Ensure the visibility of the EIT Community and raise awareness of activities and cooperation opportunities for local players representing education, business and research areas, and attracting and facilitating the engagement of new participants in EIT KIC activities.
  • Liaise with the relevant national, regional and local authorities and facilitate the sharing of EIT Innovation Community expertise with them.
  • Co-lead with EIT Climate-KIC the development of the local innovation ecosystem and the creation of solid portfolio of activities to trigger climate action at scale and build a prosperous, inclusive, climate-resilient society with a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

For this, they carry out the following main tasks:

  • Identify and map relevant local stakeholders across the Knowledge Triangle and closely cooperate with them, emphasising local, regional and national authorities.
  • Function as the interaction point between EIT Climate-KIC and local stakeholders.
  • Organise regular events and outreach activities to inform local stakeholders how to get involved in EIT Climate-KIC activities and engage them.
  • Source local talent (students, start-ups, innovators) and enable them to participate in EIT Climate-KIC activities.
  • Cooperate with other EIT Hubs (both internationally – within EIT Climate-KIC – and nationally – cross-KIC) as necessary and regularly participate in EIT Climate-KIC organised meetings and calls to refine EIT RIS strategy and goals further.
  • Provide EIT Climate-KIC with access to local, regional and national authorities and policymakers.
  • Participate in high-level events to present the EIT RIS to relevant stakeholders and networks in Brussels and across Europe.
  • Develop intelligence on EU, regional and national funding instruments and how these can be synergised with EIT RIS.

EIT Climate-KIC Hubs are acting as the main local ‘champions’ in the EIT RIS countries

 

EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub

Malta, with a unique geographical setting, is highly susceptible to climate change and its effects. The Maltese government has identified innovation as one of the key ingredients to not only come up with necessary solutions to climate change but also for catching up with other smaller European Union member states in terms of industrial and academic performance. Malta’s involvement in the EIT RIS helps develop the country’s local innovation ecosystem while boosting its potential to tackle the adverse effects of climate change.

While EIT Climate-KIC has been working since 2010, its activities reached Malta in 2016 when the EIT Climate-KIC Hub was established.

In 2019, the Hub expanded and welcomed two new organisations: Aquabiotech and the current Hub Coordinator, Malta College of Art Science and Technology (MCAST). Together, these entities are working towards implementing strategic programmes in education and entrepreneurship. The Hub is working closely with key stakeholders, including the Ministry for Environment, Climate Change and Planning (MECP) to achieve national environmental and climate targets and boost Malta’s capacity to take on innovative projects whilst creating links among local entities working towards similar climate goals. More information here.

 

Deadline

  • Call opening: Thursday September 9th 2021.
  • Call closing: Sunday October 3rd 2021 at 23:59 CEST.

Events & information sessions:

You may wish to discuss your idea with EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub or EIT Climate-KIC RIS Team before preparing a proposal. If you are unsure who to contact, please email [email protected] or [email protected].

Eligibility

This call is designed to expand the EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub, and it is a one-stage full proposal submission with a two-phase assessment process. Only organisations based in MALTA are eligible to apply under the current call.

How to apply

This call is designed to expand the EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub and it is a one-stage full proposal submission with two-phase assessment process. The proposal form, as provided in Annex 1 and also available in Word format below, is the document that all applicants must use for their proposal. This form will also be used to verify eligible candidates. The form is mandatory and sets out the eligibility and selection criteria which EIT Climate-KIC will apply for the purposes of eliminating ineligible and/or unqualified applicants.

Proposals submitted in any other format than the mandatory Proposal Form shall not be accepted. EIT Climate-KIC may seek evidence at a later date to confirm applicants’ answers.

Proposals can be submitted at any time from the launch of the call until Sunday 3rd October at 23:59 CEST.  

All applications must be submitted via email to [email protected]. Please indicate in the email subject line EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub Extension and your organisation name, following this example format: “EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub Extension [name of organisation]”.

To apply:

  • Read the relevant Call to Action and Guidelines (below)
  • You may wish to discuss your idea with EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub or EIT Climate-KIC before preparing a proposal. If you are unsure who to contact, please email [email protected] or [email protected]
  • All applications must be submitted via email to [email protected]. Please indicate in the email subject line EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub Extension and your organisation name, following this example format: “EIT Climate-KIC Malta Hub Extension [name of organisation]”.
  • All applications should be written in English.

Call to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

 

 

Closed Calls

 

CLOSED: RIS EduEx 2021

Will you help us to put climate and sustainability on skills and educational agendas in new ways?

EIT Climate-KIC invites partners and new collaborators, e.g. civil society organisations, municipalities, research institutions and private actors, to join us in rethinking the future of learning, skills and education in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe to enable a just, resilient and prosperous transition to a net zero carbon economy   that supports both planetary and human health. We want you to experiment with novel educational and learning methodologies to inspire our community and feed into the learning, education, and skills agenda of EIT Climate-KIC.  

These learning experiments, funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS), will focus on developing new methodologies and approaches to education, learning and mindset shifts, for EIT Climate-KIC to expand the horizon on the skills, behaviours, ways of thinking and innovative learning methods needed for sustainable futures in an increasingly complex world.  

CALL TO ACTION

This Call for Proposals provides an opportunity to fund a selected number of experiments, designed and led by entities operating and active in any of the following RIS countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Montenegro*, Republic of North Macedonia*, Serbia*, Turkey*, Ukraine*, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain). 

EIT Climate-KIC will fund up to 5 experiments with up to 12 000 EUR each, for a period from the start of the contract in September until December 31, 2021.  

*These third countries, which are all listed in the European Innovation Scoreboard, will be eligible for the EIT RIS following the successful conclusion of individual Horizon Europe Association Agreements. 

Deadline

Call opening ………….. 14 June 2021

Call closing …………….. 11 July 2021

Events; information sessions (Updated):

  • An Information webinar was held on 23 June at 11:00 CEST. A recording of the session can be found here.
    • The PowerPoint presentation deck, including links, is here.
    • A list of questions and respective answers following the session can be found here.
  • EIT Climate KIC will be hosting an open Q&A drop in session on Wednesday 7th July 2021 between 14:00-14:45 CET. Should you wish to join simply dial into the this link at the indicated time, here.

Eligibility

  • This call for proposals is open for applications from both EIT Climate-KIC partner and non-partner organisations.  
  • EITClimate-KIC will not fund more than one experiment by the same organisation, research group or city.
  • While this call for proposals is opento applications from both EIT Climate-KIC partners and non-partner organisations, eligibility is limited to organisations that are based in a EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) eligible country. Countries eligible to take part in the EIT RIS (2021-2024): 
    • EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.
    • Horizon Europe Associated Countries(these third countries, which are all listed in the European Innovation Scoreboard, will be eligible for the EIT RIS following the successful conclusion of individual Horizon Europe Association Agreements): Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.  
    • Outermost Regions: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain).
  • Important: Successful proposals are expected to be funded by the upcoming Horizon Europe funding framework in 2021.For EIT Climate-KIC partners to be eligible for funding they will be required to accede to the Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.   
  • For the full range of eligibility criteria, please review the Call Guidelines document

How to apply

The call is a 1-stage process: the submission of a proposal followed by assessment and decision outcome.

To apply for this Call:

  • read the relevant Call to Action and Guidelines (below)
  • Email your application (available as a Word document below) to [email protected]   Submission deadline is Sunday, 11 July 2021 at 00:00 CEST. 

Cal to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting documents:

 

CLOSED – Call for problem holders, scaleups and SMEs working for Water Scarcity in Southern Europe

EIT Food, EIT Climate, EIT Manufacturing and EIT Digital joint forces to face the real challenges around water scarcity

Together with other EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) – EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Digital, EIT Manufacturing – and partners –Athena Research Centre and Bioazul – EIT Food leads a multiannual and multidisciplinary Programme designed to alleviate water scarcity in Southern Europe. We work together considering water scarcity as a thematic field from agrifood to manufacturing.

The overarching objective of the Programme Finding innovative solutions for water scarcity in Southern Europe (from now on the Water Scarcity Programme or the Project) is to ease the transition to a water-saving economy and to contribute, in the long run, to reduce Europe’s water consumption, wastage and pollution. This will be achieved by targeting different stakeholders, from policymakers to business, industry leaders and citizens, through various actions:

  • The Body of Knowledge is a group of top-class experts working together to build knowledge around water scarcity, policy and financing tools.
  • The InnoWise Scale activities will support up to 20 scale-ups working on innovative solutions to tackle specific case studies related to water scarcity, through tailored mentoring and training, and the possibility of competing for different prizes, including the implementation of demo sites (foreseen in 2022).
  • The Water Academies are sectoral and technical seminars that will stimulate a learning environment and promote the adoption of water-saving technologies, sharing the latest findings and good practices in different sectors.
  • Outreach activities are designed to engage with people to become agents of change and walk towards a water-saving economy.

The Programme will be implemented in several countries across Europe, focusing on Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Malta, and Spain.

 

Call to Action

CALL FOR PROBLEM HOLDERS WORKING FOR WATER SCARCITY IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

EIT Food together with EIT Climate-KIC, EIT Digital and EIT Manufacturing are looking for three private companies, association of companies or cooperatives, or public entities working on one of these sectors – i) food & beverage, ii) agriculture and iii) utilities & infrastructures- to participate as “demo-holders” willing to host in their facilities demonstration activities conducted by selected SMEs/scaleups with disruptive solutions for efficient water management. The EIT community will support these entities in finding innovative solutions fitting their needs.

Deadline

  • Call opening Monday April 26th 2021
  • Call closing Tuesday June 1st 2021 at 23:59 CEST

How to apply

Entities willing to collaborate as problem holder must outline a case study in their application form. The problem holder must present a dossier (max. 2 pages following Annex 1 questionnaire) in which the following information will be included:

  • Context about the industry.
  • Problem/challenge they want to solve or improvement they want to make. Parameters they need to consider, such as water quality (pollutants, solids, conductivity), water efficiency, water recovery, etc.
  • Why they need to address one or several points: compliance with legislations (which one, why they are not compliant, timeline), costs-effectiveness, reputation, etc.
  • Type of solution they need.

The dossier attached to Annex 1 (in pdf format) shall be sent via e-mail to the Project Manager by 01.06.2021 at 23.59 CEST:

Decision Communication

Selected applicants will be notified between the 7th and the 11th of June. Note that the first event will be shortly after notification, so applicants must be ready for a quick reaction.

Call to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting information:

FINDING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR WATER SCARCITY IN SOUTHERN EUROPE | EIT Food

EIT Water | EIT Food

 

CLOSED – CALL FOR SCALEUPS and SMEs WORKING FOR WATER SCARCITY IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

In parallel, the EIT community is looking for twenty scaleups – startups seeing accelerated growth after demonstrating a product-market fit- and innovative SMEs working on new solutions tailored to one or several of the challenges described in the present document for the three sectors: i) food & beverage, ii) agriculture, and iii) utilities and infrastructure. The solution providers can submit their SMART solutions for a maximum of two of the sectorial challenges. Twenty applications will be selected to participate in the Programme, which includes market-oriented training, a 3-months mentoring period, and the possibility to implement a demo site with one of the problem holders at the end of the period.

Deadline

  • Call opening Monday April 26th 2021
  • Call closing Tuesday June 1st 2021 at 23:59 CEST

How to apply

Entities willing to participate in the Programme as solution provider must submit their application via the online platform F6S – LINK before 01.06.2021 at 23.59 CEST. The form to be submitted can be found in ANNEX 2 in the call document.

For inquiries regarding the call for scaleups and SMEs, applicants can contact the Project Manager from EIT Food. EIT Food will not provide new information that has not already been included in this call document, but can assist the potential applicants by explaining the contents.

Decision Communication

Selected applicants will be notified between the 7th and the 11th of June. Note that the first event will be shortly after notification, so applicants must be ready for a quick reaction.

Applicants that are not selected to participate in the InnoWise Scale activities will be offered the possibility to access tailored mentoring for 3 months period by a carefully chosen mentor for the reduced fee of 300 EUR.

Call to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting information:

FINDING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR WATER SCARCITY IN SOUTHERN EUROPE | EIT Food

EIT Water | EIT Food

 

 

CLOSED – HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education

A new initiative to unlock the full innovation potential of higher education institutions (HEIs) by increasing their entrepreneurial and innovation capacity while integrating them into Europe’s largest innovation ecosystem

The initiative is a joint EIT Community activity coordinated by EIT Raw Materials. The pilot call for proposals invites European higher education institutions to design institution-wide action plans that will improve their entrepreneurial and innovation capacity across all institutional levels. By supporting such activities, this new EIT initiative will create systemic impact, empowering HEIs to become regional engines of innovation and foster sustainable growth and jobs across Europe.

23 pilot projects will be selected and implemented over 24 months from July 2021. Each pilot project could be awarded a maximum of €1.2 million, with up to €400,000 for Phase 1 (July−December 2021) and up to €800,000 for Phase 2 (January 2022 – July 2023). Activities can focus on several themes, including:

  • Fostering institutional engagement and change
  • Strengthening partnerships between higher education, business and research organisations
  • Developing innovation and business support services
  • Enhancing the quality of entrepreneurial education
  • Creating and disseminating knowledge

The HEI Initiative: Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education is a key objective for the EIT as part of its new strategy, the EIT Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) 2021-2027. The initiative aims to support higher education institutions with expertise and coaching, access to the EIT innovation ecosystem, and funding, enabling them to develop innovation action plans complementing the needs of individual higher education institutions.

Call to Action

The pilot projects will be selected through a competitive evaluation and selection process. To be considered for selection, the applicant/coordinator must submit an application on behalf of the consortium as a response to this Pilot Call for Proposals. Applications will be assessed against the eligibility criteria and reviewed by independent evaluators against the evaluation criteria.

HEIs must submit their applications on the HEI Initiative Application Portal (www.eit-hei.eu).The deadline for submitting proposals is 25 May 2021, and the selected pilot projects will be announced in June 2021.

Deadline

  • Call opening …………..24 March 2020, 12:00CET
  • Call closing …………….25 May 2021, 23:59 CET

Events & information sessions:

  • Informative webinars for the Pilot Call for Proposals – 2nd and 3rd week April 2021

Eligibility

For full eligibility criteria, please see the Call document.

Applications will be checked for formal requirements by the EIT HEI Project Management Team to ensure eligibility criteria are fulfilled. Proposals will then be evaluated against the selection criteria by a minimum of 3 independent external experts per proposal, and then ranked according to their quality score.

To be eligible for participation and funding, a participant must be a ‘legal entity’. A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the EU Participant Register before submitting their application, in order to get a participant identification code (PIC).

The following organisations are eligible for participation and funding:

  • Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) – HEIs must hold a valid Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) with its affiliated entities (if any) as full or associated
  • Public or private, small, medium or large enterprises (including social enterprises)
  • Research institutes
  • Public bodies at local, regional or national level
  • Intermediary organisations or associations which represent Higher Education Institutions

 

 

CLOSED – Cross-KIC Circular Economy

Strengthening collaboration across EIT Community for a climate-neutral Europe

Transitioning to the Circular Economy is one of the main objectives of European society right now. Moving to more circular economic models promises a much brighter future for the European economy. This will allow Europe to rise to the current and future challenges of global pressure on resources and increasing insecurity of supply. Pumping resources back into productive use, cutting waste and reducing dependence on uncertain supplies is a direct route to improving resilience and competitiveness. By helping to decouple economic growth from resource use and its impacts, it offers the prospect of sustainable growth that will last.

The EIT Community will be one of the key stakeholders ensuring this important objective for European society. This will only be achieved with a coordinated and efficient collaboration among the different EIT KICs (Knowledge and Innovation Community) to ensure a greater impact from the Cross-KIC collaboration.

EIT RawMaterials, EIT Digital, EIT Climate KIC, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing and EIT UrbanMobility have created a Cross-KIC action to strengthen the collaboration of internal and external activities related to the Circular Economy. The Cross-KIC circular action includes two specific calls described below.

 

Calls to Action

Cross-KIC Call on Environmental Technology Verification (ETV)

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) is a tool designed to help innovative environmental technologies access the market. It consists of the verification, on a voluntary basis, of the functional and environmental performance of technology by qualified third parties, through tests of controlled quality. The end product is an ETV Statement of Verification published on the ETV website and used in business-to-business relations. This enables technology owners to document the reliability of their claims and differentiate them from competitors, and it helps technology purchasers identify innovations that suit their needs.

ETV is implemented by accredited Verification Bodies in three technology areas:

  • Water treatment and monitoring (e.g., monitoring water quality, treatment of drinking water and wastewater)
  • Materials, waste and resources (e.g., separation and sorting of solid waste, recycling of materials, end-of-life products and chemicals, biomass-based products)
  • Energy (e.g., renewable energy, energy generated from waste, energy efficiency)

The call is open to any partner and start-up of participating EIT Community (EIT RawMaterials, EIT Climate KIC, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing and EIT UrbanMobility) with a technology included in any of the previously defined areas that has been supported in any ongoing or finished demonstration project.

A webinar defining main aspects of the call and ETV requirements will be organised on 29 April from 10.30 to 12.00 CEST.

Agenda:

  • Short introduction of the Cross-KIC Circular Economy Project and the ETV Support call
  • ETV description: Izabela Ratman (ETV Expert)
  • ETV Secretariat: Martin Pecanka 
  • Questions & Answers 

Click here to register.

 

Cross-KIC Call on Circular SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the economy, steering our economy towards a more circular model. However, their small size means that they face unique challenges on the path to closing loops and improving resource efficiency. 

Some of those unique challenges can be linked to lack of company environmental culture, financial support, adequate legislation, innovation legislation and support mechanisms, information and many others.

The six KICs involved in this Cross-KIC initiative are a diverse set of publicly and privately funded bodies uniquely positioned to tackle the above barriers for the circular economy adoption by SMEs. The overall aim of this call is to enable the joint competencies and capacities of the KICs to help solve a more systemic circularity in an orchestrated effort as well as possible specific approaches towards circularity in SMEs.

Partners of participating KICs are invited to submit an application for the work on the development of an in-depth analysis covering the following topics:

  • Investigation of the current situation regarding Circular Economy and SMEs in Europe considering mainly those sectors covered by the participating KICs.
  • Investigation of main barriers hampering Circular Economy implementation in SMEs and potential measures to overcome those barriers, including EIT Community activities.
  • Investigation and analysis of current activities carried out by participating KICs to support Circular Economy implementation in SMEs and estimation of efficiency.
  • Clear and detailed proposal for both how to improve current support activities and new possible actions considering individual EIT KICs but mainly joint actions from Cross-KIC projects.
  • Clear analysis of how those support activities should be coordinated with other initiatives to avoid overlapping and increase efficiency.
  • The project should create an advisory board composed of relevant experts and SMEs representatives providing advice to the project development.

All existing partners of participating EIT Community (EIT RawMaterials, EIT Climate KIC, EIT Digital, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing and EIT UrbanMobility) are eligible to apply.

 

Deadline (both Calls)

Calls opening …………..1 April 2021

Calls closing …………….. 31 May 2021

 

Eligibility

For full details of eligibility criteria for each Call, please see the relevant Call document.

 

How to apply (both Calls)

These calls are a 1-stage submission process: the submission a full proposal followed by assessment and decision outcome.

 

To apply for any of the three Calls:

  • read the relevant Call to Action and Guidelines 
  • speak to a relevant KIC about the proposal that you are preparing (see contact in the Call to Action and Guidelines documents)
  • submit your application as per the Call guidelines instructions.

 

Cal to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting documents:

 

CEE Community Lab Implementation, 2021 – Coal regions in transition

CALL TO ACTION

This Call is aimed at strengthening the Central & Eastern European (CEE) ecosystem of organizations working towards the transition of coal dependent regions to a zero-carbon economy by addressing one of the main CEE problem spaces/ barriers preventing this transition: the lack of community and trust both on trans-national (CEE) or local level (national, regional). We are especially interested in solutions to the cultural, demographic, historical and sociological challenges blocking the transformation and decreasing active engagement of the impacted groups in co-creation of the just future for them.

Based on 2020 experience of piloting the CEE Community Lab, EIT Climate-KIC plans to focus the thematic scope of the 2021 project on coal regions in transition. The 2020 pilot project proved there are a variety of community experiments happening in CEE as well as the need for scaling initiatives and building the connections needed to create impact. Organizations and leaders often act in isolation and are lacking the capacity and tools to overcome challenges and to build trust in international cooperation. The CEE Community Lab creates a platform to bridge this gap.

The Call aims to identify a Partner or the group of Partners willing to pull together and animate an ecosystem of a portfolio of stakeholders whose engagement would contribute significantly to overcoming blockages of just transition, specifically addressing the lack of community and trust in this space, in following countries: Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia and Czechia.

Deadline

  • Call opening …………..13 July 2021
  • Call closing ……………..18.00hrs CEST, 16 August 2021

Events & information sessions:

 

Eligibility

This Call is open to both EIT Climate-KIC partners and non-partner organisations. The lead Partner (individual application or a consortium bid) is required to be based in an EIT RIS eligible country.

RIS eligible countries are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Montenegro*, North Macedonia*, Serbia*, Turkey*, Ukraine*

*These countries will be eligible for the EIT RIS provided they conclude their Horizon Europe Association Agreement. Eligibility for grant year 2021 requires association to take place before 31 December 2021.

For full information of the eligibility and assessment criteria, please see Special Notices and Requirements (below) and the relevant Proposal Guidelines sections of this document.

 

How to apply

The call is a one-stage process: the submission of a full proposal followed by assessment and decision outcome.

To apply:

  • read the relevant Call to Action and Guidelines (below)
  • speak to a relevant KIC about the proposal that you are preparing (see contact in the Call to Action and Guidelines documents)
  • submit your online application to EIT Climate KIC Business via Plaza (information on access to the Plaza system is included in the Call to Action Guidelines document).

 

Cal to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting documents:

Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus Call for Proposals for Citizen Engagement

The New European Bauhaus initiative (NEB) is an environmental, social, and cultural initiative that complements the European Green Deal and combines aesthetic experience, sustainability, and inclusivity. For this Cross-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community) NEB activity, EIT Urban Mobility will capitalise on existing citizen-centred engagement programmes aligned with the NEB mission. 

The aim of this Cross-KIC NEB Call for proposals is to work on activities where citizens and end-users are not only asked to identify relevant challenges of their city, but also empowered to co-create together potential solutions in an ideation process.

The Cross-KIC group proposes to develop activities in cities and regional areas to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between people across Europe and to create interdisciplinary projects addressing sustainability, quality of experience and inclusiveness. With this approach, some topics have been identified as Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus Challenges for this call:

  1. Green transition through architectural, cultural, and historic sites:

1.1         Natural building materials and energy efficiency, including refurbishment of existing, historic buildings. (EIT Climate-KIC)

1.2         Sustainable alternatives for hardscapes as urban spaces, naturalisation of degraded public areas, green areas, biodiversity, green and blue infrastructures, and urban furniture as assets promoting active mobility, improving citizen well-being, and mitigating heat island effects. (EIT Urban Mobility)

1.3         Urban farming and regenerative agriculture to reduce emissions and foster the relationship between city and farmer. (EIT Food)

  1. Towards circularity and urban resilience:

2.1         Enhancement of public realm, accessibility, and interconnection through active mobility modalities, to mitigate air pollution and improve physical and mental health. (EIT Urban Mobility)

2.2         Circular economy through actions sticking to the principles of the food waste hierarchy and efficient reutilization of bio-products and bio waste, achieving emissions and waste reduction and fostering the second life of products. (Includes tech solutions on safe ‘clean packaging’, smart waste management system). (EIT Food)

  1. Ensuring affordability and accessibility to all:

3.1         Energy communities to ensure comfort living at affordable prices through multi-disciplinary retrofitting teams. (EIT Climate-KIC)

3.2         Universal mobility as a key enabler for social inclusion. Everyone should be able to move freely within cities regardless gender, race, beliefs, or disability (barrier free access). (EIT Urban Mobility)

 

The Call aims to select one proposal for each of the above identified challenge areas, thus awarding seven projects in total. Each successful proposal will be awarded up to 15,000€. The KICs reserve the right to fund more than one proposal under a specific challenge when the number and/or quality of proposals received across the range of challenges do not meet the necessary criteria. Challenges are aimed to be holistic and cross-sectorial, however each challenge will be led by the KIC with the most relevant expertise as indicated in brackets above.

 

Details of Cross KIC NEB Call:

Call document: with all the details available here

List of documents to be submitted:  Application form (available here)

Budget allocation:15.000 EUR per proposal, up to a maximum of 7 proposals

Evaluation criteria                             

  • 30% Overall quality of application   
  • 40% Expected impact of the project  
  • 20% Innovative aspects of the proposal
  • 10% Expertise and previous experience

Based on ranking, the geographical spread within the European Union will also be considered. 

Dates:

  • Call opening: 21 June 2021 
  • Call info session: 1 July 2021 at 10:00 CET (register here )
  • Closing call: 20 August 2021 (23:59 CET)
  • Eligibility and admissibility check: 23 – 24 August 2021
  • Evaluation: 25 – 30 August 2021
  • Communication of results to the participants: 31 August 2021
  • Start of project: 10- 15 September (latest)
  • Finalise project: 25 November 2021 (latest)

Please email your proposal:

 

Call for Matchmaking Innovation Event with a focus on RIS countries

EIT Climate-KIC launches Matchmaking Innovation Market call 2021 to support systemic challenge-led collaboration and development of local and impactful climate action in RIS eligible countries.

The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) is designed as a long-term initiative to strengthen the national and regional innovation ecosystems of countries that are moderate and modest innovators according to the European Commission regional innovation scorecard. The overarching objective of the EIT RIS is to contribute to the advancement of the innovation performance of these countries and regions by strengthening the capacity of their innovation enablers and actors and linkages among them (such as business accelerators, incubators, start-ups, scale-ups, businesses including SMEs, agencies, educational and research institutions and their infrastructures, etc.) through the dissemination of the Knowledge Triangle Innovation (KTI) approach, the cornerstone of the EIT intervention logic.

This Call is aimed at overcoming one of the main problems in advancing innovation in areas of human activity that have a critical impact on greenhouse gas emissions – cities, land use, materials and finance – and to create climate-resilient communities: replicating effort instead of strengthening what is already on the market. Therefore, we welcome impactful ideas that can partner up with EIT Climate-KIC to lead the transformative change and speed up innovation acceleration in RIS countries. Eligible RIS countries under this Call are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Montenegro*, North Macedonia*, Serbia*, Turkey*, Ukraine* (*These countries will be eligible for the EIT RIS, as long as they conclude their Horizon Europe Association Agreements.)

This Matchmaking Innovation Event is open to all EU-based organisations (including Third Countries that associate with the Horizon Europe programme) interested in bringing forward in RIS countries their innovative products/services in relation to EIT Climate-KICs “Transformation in Time” strategy. By ‘bringing forward’ we mean that they are interested in knowledge transfer, scaling up, contributing to further developing a service/product, finding collaborators to build a new customer base, etc.

Call to action

The Call aims to facilitate an innovation matchmaking market, where members of the community can establish direct relationships between the offers of innovative products/services (Supply), and requests for solutions to challenges and problems (Demand) presented via an Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, in order to identify initiatives and pilots/projects. In this way, developing new project ideas will open new opportunities for future collaboration, helping to generate new business possibilities (see Call guidelines linked below for further information).

Stage 1: Expression of Interest (EOI)

In the first Stage of this Call, proponents submit EOIs as either a Demand or Supply actor to EIT Climate-KIC’s Exaptive platform. The EOI form in Exaptive will collect necessary information about each EOI to then visualise eligible submissions in the platform and, importantly, the possible relationships between them. This platform will be accessible to all proponents before and during the Event.

Submitted EOIs will then be invited to attend the Matchmaking Innovation Market Event, which will be held to interact with proponents and community members to learn more about the innovation offers and requests, the opportunities arising, and to begin shaping possible innovation initiatives and/or pilot projects.

Stage 2: Initiatives and/or Pilot Project Proposals, EIT Grant Support

At the conclusion of the event, attendees and burgeoning project consortia will be invited to submit initiative and/or pilot proposals for EIT grant support. These proposals must be able to demonstrate a clear link between the submitted idea and the Matchmaking Innovation Market event; must be led by an eligible RIS EIT Climate-KIC partner (such as, for example, the challenge-owner – though the consortium may consist of any other organisations). The Stage 2 proposals will be submitted in our grant management system, Plaza.

Further details regarding the Supply and Demand actor roles as well as the possibility to submit a proposal after the Matchmaking event can be found in the call guidelines (linked below).

Deadlines

Call (Stage 1) Opening 2nd June 2021  
Call (Stage 1) Closing UPDATED: 29th June 2021 – 18:00 CET  
Call (Stage 2) Opening 5th July 2021 link to plaza here
Call (Stage 2) Closing 27th July 2021 – 18:00 CET  
     
Expected Start of Action:    
Communication of Decision 6th August 2021 Proponents will be contacted directly. Outcomes will be published at a later stage on www.climate-kic.org.
Start of Pilots 10th August 2021  
     
Events    
Information Session 10th June 2021 – 10:00 CET Link is provided in the call document
Matchmaking Innovation 2nd July 2021 – 10:00 CET The zoom link to the event can be found in the call document.

Eligibility

We welcome impactful ideas that can partner up with EIT Climate-KIC to lead the transformative change and speed up innovation acceleration in RIS countries.

  • Eligible countries
    • For the period 2021-2024, countries eligible for EIT RIS activities are those identified as either “moderate” or “modest” innovator in at least one of the three European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) annual reports issued in 2018, 2019 and 2020

For the second stage: The call for proposals is open for applications to both EIT Climate-KIC partners and non-partner organisations.

How to apply

The call is a 2-stage process: the submission of an EOI and full proposal followed by assessment and decision outcome.

To apply for the Call:

  • read the relevant Call to Action and Guidelines (below)
  • speak to a relevant KIC about the proposal that you are preparing (see contact in the Call to Action and Guidelines documents)
  • All applications should be written in English. Exceptions can be made for supporting documents, where they are requested/can be submitted, such as letters of intent – these documents could be written in one of the official languages spoken in the country from which the application is submitted. You may choose to provide a summary in English
  • Ensure your availability to attend the scheduled Matchmaking Innovation Event – see the timeline above for further information.
  • submit your online EOI application to EIT Climate KIC Business via Exaptive Form (see guidance in Call guideline)

Guidelines

Supporting documents:

 

Cross-KIC New European Bauhaus. Capitalising on existing citizen engagement activities in re-designing the public realm.

On 18 January 2021, the Commission launched the design phase of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative. The NEB is an environmental, social and cultural initiative, aiming to combine at the same time quality of experience, sustainability, and inclusiveness in order to help deliver the European Green Deal. The Cross KIC NEB is led by EIT Climate-KIC and participated by EIT Digital, EIT Food and EIT Urban Mobility. The mission aims at bridging the gap between science and technology on the one hand, and arts and culture on the other, under the scope of sustainability, business promotion through start-ups and citizen education and engagement.

CALL TO ACTION

 This Call addresses climate innovation in public space through citizen engagement. By capitalising on successful activities developed by EIT Climate-KIC on social activation and experimentation, this Call aims at bringing together Cities, regions or affiliated entities to Cities and regions, and social engagement innovators to empower civil society and drive climate action in the light of the NEB initiative.

This Cross-KIC NEB Call will mobilise citizen-driven initiatives and ideas all across-Europe building on the EIT’s ecosystem as Europe’s largest innovation community. The objective is the wider promotion of the NEB initiative across relevant stakeholders in Europe, creating a NEB community with cities/regions, citizens, professionals, entrepreneurs and local associations.

 Deadline

Call opening ………….. Tuesday, June 08st 2021

Call closing …………….. Monday, August 9th 2021

 Events & information sessions:

14 June 2021, 10:00 CEST – Zoom information session – please register HERE

 Eligibility

For full eligibility criteria, please see the Call document

 How to apply

 The call is a 1 stage submission process: the submission of the full proposal followed by assessment and decision outcome.

To apply for this Call:

  • read the relevant Call to Action & Guidelines  (below)
  • in case of queries, you may get in touch with an EIT CKIC representative to discuss the proposal you are preparing (see contact in the Call to Action & Guidelines document)
  • submit your application as per the Call guidelines instructions.

 Call to Action & Guidelines, and Application Forms:

Supporting documents: