Ahead of the launch of Horizon Europe, Venturenomix received the positive news that a Connected Europe Framework (CEF) European Grant application was approved for funding. The CEF Call means that 5 aspiring smart cities in Europe will share €2.2m to create the crucial ‘open data lakes’ to unlock mobility, environmental planning and other impact use-cases to be deployed.

The venture brings together EU cities, universities, innovative SMEs and a pan-EU network who will work together to deliver cutting-edge technology in the smart city sector. Critical to the success of the bid was the underpinning theme of open, interoperable and standardised data that enables the harnessing of historical and real-time data from aspiring smart cities. The collaborative venture has been 12 months in the making and now the project kick-off meeting is complete, funding drawn-down has started and the partners are busy!

Chief Digital Officer at the lead city (Kiel, Germany), Jonas Dageförde, said ““We have been very well looked after in this process of defining a compelling EU grant funding project. This was the first EU R&I grant that the City of Kiel has been involved in and we are delighted that the application was approved for funding.”

Key benefits of the EU Grant secured for the consortium members are:

• 60% of the funding is paid on day one. That means cash-flowing the activities of the partners is simplified.
• The partners received 70% of the costs of the project as a grant that will not have to be repaid. The remaining 30% (match funding) is contributed by the partners.
• Funding will bring together 15 partners across Europe which means every partner will have access to all the expertise they need to further their smart city aspirations.
• The partners spent €20,000 on the upfront consultancy fees (with Venturenomix) to access the grant – a return on investment of >100x! This cost can be accounted for within the grant under the ‘indirect costs’ category – effectively a 25% non-specific overhead allowance. 

For more information, take a look at our short case study about the venture, the partners and the role Venturenomix played.

If you are interested in shaping your own European Grant Project or participating in a collaborative venture, please get in touch.