NGI Sargasso: Open calls for promoting transatlantic NGI Cooperation

The NGI Sargasso project has opened two parallel calls for proposals to fund NGI-related projects, with a total budget of €800,000. Applications are open until next 31st July 2023, 17:00 CEST / 10:00 CDT

About the NGI Sargasso Project

NGI Sargasso is a project that aims to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet technologies, services, and standards, and contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the internet commons. It focuses on strengthening EU cooperation and strategic partnerships with the USA and Canada in the Next Generation Internet.

The project, that follows a cascade funding scheme (take a look at our last publication about How Cascade Funding Works and discover all the benefits for your organisation), will run 5 open calls proposals to engage teams composed by EU entity and USA/Canada counterpart focused on NGI topics.

NGI Sargasso 1st Open Calls

The NGI Sargasso project has opened two parallel calls for proposals to fund NGI-related projects with a total of €800,000. 500,000€ is for a general call to fund EU-USA/Canada collaborative projects that fall within one of the 10 identified challenges. 300,000€ is earmarked for a specific call launched in partnership with the Government of Canada, to fund projects on Digital Credentials.

General Call: NGI Sargasso General Open Call will support projects lead by Member States and Associated Countries in the field of Next Generation Internet that count with an effective collaboration with US and/or Canadian institutions.
Digital Credentials Call: NGI Sargasso and Canada collaborative call in Digital Credentials will support projects from European Member States and Associated Countries in the field of Digital Credentials that propose an effective collaboration with Canadian companies that are selected within callout run by the Government of Canada in Digitization and Cybersecurity and more specifically from the Digital Credentials’ problem statement.

WHO CAN APPLY?

NGI Sargasso call is open to different types of organizations legally established in an EU Member State or a Horizon Europe associated country, including:

Universities and research centers: academic and research institutions with a focus on developing novel knowledge areas and technologies aligned with the focus of NGI Sargasso.
NGOs and foundations: non-profit organizations and foundations that work under the NGI areas of knowledge and technologies.
SMEs and startups: small and medium-sized enterprises and startups that focus on developing innovative solutions related to NGI Sargasso’s areas of focus.

Twinning with a USA/Canada counterpart, in this case, any type of entity based in the US/Canada is eligible.

It is important to note that the applicant and the USA/Canada counterpart cannot be linked or associated entities or have any other legally binding relation that qualifies them as a company group.

TRL LEVEL

This open call for proposals emphasizes cross-border collaboration with the US and Canada oriented towards the development of novel technologies under open-source licensing. It’s important to understand that this open call is not intended to finance well-mature and market-ready developments. NGI Sargasso focuses on projects that are still in earlier stages of development, prioritizing innovation and advancements rather than solely market readiness.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

To apply to the NGI Sargasso open call, you must follow these steps:

Check the guidelines for applicants to determine if your organization is eligible for the program.
Apply online and answer all mandatory questions (with no exception) at https://cascadefunding.sploro.eu. Applicants must strictly adhere to the form provided by the NGI Sargasso consortium via the Sploro platform, which defines sections and the overall length.
Submit all the requested documents established in the call. The lack of any of the documents will negatively affect the eligibility of the applicant for the evaluation process.
Be aware that certain documents, which will be required for each applicant selected for the program and signing a sub-grantee agreement, may take time to acquire.

Notice that it is possible to submit more than one application to the NGI Sargasso open call. However, each application must be for a different project and must meet all the eligibility criteria and requirements established in the call. Submitting multiple applications does not increase the chances of being selected, and each application will be evaluated independently based on its own merits.

PROPOSAL

The proposals consist of an online form with 3 main sections:

Alignment:
- Background problem that will be solved
- Team behind the project
- Collaborative entities profile in US/Canada
- Challenge rationale and description
Excellence:
- Objectives and the solution proposed.
- Why the proposal is innovative.
- Appropriateness of the solution to sort the problem presented.
Impact:
- How core technologies are enhanced
- Scale-up and exploitation potential of the solution.
- Foreseen activities in dissemination and communication.

A summary of the application form in PDF format can be found here.

FUNDING & PAYMENTS

During the first cut-off date, a maximum of 300.000€ will be for the Canadian collaborative open call in Digital Identities. An additional 500.000€ will be for our general open call in this first cut-off date.

The program offers three types of grants based on the project’s duration. Payments will be disbursed in various stages depending on the project’s duration, contingent upon meeting designated milestones or KPIs and delivering specific outputs.

3-month experiment: up to EUR 50.000 – 2 payments
6-month experiment: up to EUR 75.000 – 3 payments
9-month experiment: up to EUR 100.000 – 4 payments

RELEVANT DATES

USEFUL INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

The NGI Sargasso consortium has recently carried out the first info day and matchmaking event in which you will find more details about the project.

On 5 July 2023 at 16:00 CEST will be the second infoday event, you can register here.

For further questions and clarifications, you may check and address the following ways:

Frequently Asked Questions – General Call [FAQs]
Frequently Asked Questions – Digital Credentials call [FAQs]
Guidelines for applicants – General Call [FAQs]
Guidelines for applicants – Digital Credentials [LINK]

Apart from the NGI Sargasso, there are plenty of Cascade Funding opportunities around. If you want to discover them we have created a dedicated webpage that maps out all available calls. We invite you to check it out and see what is on offer! We also have a free-subscription newsletter to be up to date with all the calls opening.