ERA-NET COFUND Smart Cities and Communities (2014 - 2019)

Smart Cities and Communities have been identified as key to achieving the energy efficiency targets for 2020 and 2050. The main objective of this ERA-NET COFUND is to stimulate successful practice and facilitate replicability within Smart Cities and Communities implementation projects and also across projects in order to achieve a technological shift in the current energy system and provide smart and integrated solutions for technology, government and society.

The ERA-NET COFUND Smart Cities and Communities is a joint effort of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe and the Smart Cities Member States Initiative. The European Commission supports the ERA-NET COFUND by H2020 Funding.

Smart Cities Implementing Projecs

Following call topics are defined:

Smart integrated urban energy and transport systems
Smart tools and services for integrated urban energy and transport systems
Smart data, big data
Smart governance and smart citizens

Austria (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie/FFG), Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey participate in the ERA-NET COFUND.

A total amount of joint public national/regional funding of 18,5 Mio. Euro (3,2 Mio. Euro for Austrian Participants) will be provided. The European Commission will co-fund national/regional budgets by up to 50%.

Condititions for participation

Project consortium consisting of at least three eligible applicants from at least three participating countries.
Project consortium address at least one cal. topic
Projects with specific ambition for implementation, but invites the combination with strategic and applied research activities
Implementation is mandatory:
- pre-implementation
- implementation
- post-implementation
- Time schedule 2014 - 2019

Dates

Call open: December 11th, 2014
Pre-proposal deadline: March 17th, 2015
Invitations for applicants to submit full proposal: May 2015
Full proposal deadline: September 15th, 2015
Funding decisions announced: December 2015
Start of projects: December 2015 - March 2016
Project Running Time (3 years): approx. 2016 - 2019

For more information please visit the JPI Urban Europe website.

Additional activities within the ERA-NET COFUND

Work towards a joint call with China:
- A structured and systematic approach towards a joint call with China on smart city research will be developed making highest use of existing relations, activities and experience of European Funding Agencies with Chinese partners in order to develop a joint call with China.
Align national R&D funding with structural funds:
- The realisation of smart cities measures requires large investment volumes. Thus, the combination and clustering of different financing instruments is necessary. In line with the new "smart specialization" strategy of the EC, the proposed additional activities should encourage alignment of RTDI funding and structural funds.