This webpage is dedicated to listing upcoming calls and funding opportunities for Smart City related projects

With its extensive experience in forming consortia for project funding and its vast network of companies and institutions in Asia, Europe, and North America, Urban Technology Alliance can assist interested organizations in applying for project funding. If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

UTA can help you to get funding. Contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org

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Call Name:

Call Name:

CLIMABOROUGH: Preliminary Market Consultations of Follower Cities

CLIMABOROUGH is launching innovative socio-technical pilots through federated public procurement calls to address key urban challenges. The initiative’s second call for tenders, set to be published in March 2025, will focus on three critical areas: waste and circularity, energy, and mobility. An overall budget of €1.2 million has been allocated to these activities.

• Unique Features:
  • Collaborative approach involving public procurement of innovation.
  • Up to 25 pilot projects aimed at testing scalable solutions for urban challenges.

• Cities Participating in the Second Round:
  • Prijedor (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Pilsen (Czech Republic), Grenoble-Alpes Métropole (France), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Issy-les-Moulineaux(France).

• Target Participants: 
  • Companies, researchers, and solution providers with expertise in waste management, renewable energy, or urban mobility.

• More Information: 
  • CLIMABOROUGH Preliminary Market Consultations

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

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Call Name:

SPACE4Cities Call for Tenders

The SPACE4Cities project, funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, has launched a €2.87 million Call for Tenders to drive innovative, satellite-data-powered solutions for urban resilience and public space management. This initiative is open to companies, researchers, and consortia across Europe who are eager to co-develop cutting-edge solutions that leverage European satellite data for smart city applications.

Challenges

1. Sustainable Mobility Challenge
This challenge calls for innovative solutions using satellite technology to transform urban mobility while reducing CO2 emissions. It addresses issues such as active mobility, public transport inefficiencies, public space and logistics management, accessibility, and drone integration in cities. By leveraging geolocation and earth observation technologies, suppliers are expected to create dynamic, efficient, and sustainable urban transport systems that encourage alternatives to car use and enhance overall mobility management.

2. Climate Resilience Challenge
The focus of this challenge is to improve cities’ ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change through satellite-enabled solutions. It emphasizes addressing environmental risks, managing air quality dynamically, increasing urban greenery, and transitioning to sustainable energy sources. Suppliers are tasked with providing actionable insights that enhance cities’ resilience to challenges like extreme weather, air pollution, and biodiversity loss, while promoting cleaner and greener urban environments.

3. Urban Planning & Management Challenge
This challenge seeks advanced digital tools for real-time urban data collection and precise modeling to improve urban planning and management. Solutions should enhance the accuracy of digital twins, enable scenario simulations, and provide immersive 3D visualizations to support strategic planning and disaster preparedness. By integrating technologies such as AI and digital twins, cities aim to optimize resource allocation, infrastructure maintenance, and engagement with citizens while adapting to dynamic urban needs.

Programme Structure:
The process includes three sequential phases:

• Concept Design: Up to 20 suppliers will receive funding in the first phase to develop their initial concepts.
• Prototype Development: Selected solutions will proceed to the next stage to create functional prototypes.
• Field Testing: Five final innovative solutions will be field-tested in five leading cities and replicated across 10 additional cities.
  • Implementation Cities: Helsinki, Amsterdam, Athens (Attica region), Ghent, Guimarães.
  • Replication Cities: To be selected during the process.

• Important Dates:
  • Call Opens: 15 January, 2025.
  • Deadline: 9 April, 2025, 17:00 (CET).
  • Evaluation: Begins 10 April, 2025.
  • Phase 1 Awards Notification: 7 May, 2025.
  • Framework Agreement Signing: Starting 16 May, 2025.

• Funding and Support:
  • Up to €2.87 million is allocated to fund innovative urban resilience solutions.
  • Guidance will be provided through Info Webinars to assist applicants in the tender submission process.

• Info Webinars:
  • Webinar 1: 30 January, 2025, 10:00–11:30 (CET).
  • Webinar 2: 26 February, 2025, 10:00–11:30 (CET).
  • Webinar 3: 25 March, 2025, 10:00–11:30 (CET).

• More Information and Application:
  • SPACE4Cities Call for Tenders

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

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Call Name:

RURBANIVE Open Call for Rural-Urban Enablers

The RURBANIVE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, has launched an Open Call to develop innovative digital solutions—termed Rural-Urban Enablers (RUEs)—that strengthen synergies between rural and urban areas. This initiative seeks to expand the RURBANIVE innovation ecosystem by supporting projects that address societal and environmental challenges across Europe.

• Eligibility:
  • Consortia of 2-4 parties, including at least one technology or service provider (e.g., SMEs, research institutions) and at least one end-user (e.g., local administrations, NGOs).
• Programme Structure:
  • Design Phase (4 months): September 2025 – December 2025
    • Deliverable: Activity plan
  • Development Phase (5 months): January 2026 – May 2026
    • Deliverable: RUE solution demonstration
  • Validation Phase (3 months): June 2026 – August 2026
    • Deliverable: Report on market or community-associated activities.

• Funding:
  • Up to €100,000 per project, with a total budget of €600,000 allocated to at least six projects.
• Application Process:
  • Detailed guidelines and submission forms are available on the RURBANIVE website.
• Application Deadline:
  • Specific dates to be announced; please refer to the RURBANIVE Open Call page for updates.

• More Information and Application:
  • RURBANIVE Open Call

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

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Call Name:

RURACTIVE Open Call for Innovators

RURACTIVE, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme, is seeking European innovators—startups, SMEs, and researchers—to co-develop smart solutions for its 12 pilot areas, known as RURACTIVE Dynamos.

• Focus Areas:
  • Sustainable agri-food systems and ecosystem management
  • Nature-based and cultural tourism
  • Culture and cultural innovation
  • Sustainable multimodal mobility
  • Energy transition and climate neutrality
  • Local services, health, and wellbeing

• Challenges
  • Involving 12 municipalities/Regions, the program addresses 30 diverse challenges, including:
    • Digital healthcare for dispersed rural population
    • Efficient water usage for agricultural irrigation
    • Revitalisation of the village centre: creation of common indoor and outdoor meeting places
    • Improving data availability in the tourism and hospitality sector
    • Technologies or tools to help farmers plan, measure and monitor uses of their land better
    • Bio-waste management and reuse on islands
    • Digital platform for operationalising the Village Janitor System
    • Digital revitalisation of rural medieval heritage
    • Water-saving solutions for rural communities
    • A sustainable and inclusive carpooling solution
    • User-friendly digital platform for water footprint calculation of agri-food products/diets/recipes

• Programme Structure:
  • Stage 1 (2 months):
    • Funding: €5,000 to kickstart the project and support travel to the rural ecosystem.
    • Support: Dedicated mentor guidance and collaboration with rural dynamos to co-develop community-focused solutions.
  • Stage 2:
    • Funding: Up to €85,000 for the development of each solution.
    • Support: Ongoing training and assistance to refine and implement solutions that meet real community needs.

• Application Deadline:
  • 5 February, 2025.
• Who can apply?:
  • European startups, SMEs, and researchers with innovative solutions addressing the specified focus areas.

• More Information and Application:
  • RURACTIVE Open Call for Innovators

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Call Name:

RAPTOR 2025 Open Call by EIT Urban Mobility

The RAPTOR (Rapid Applications for Transport) programme, an initiative co-funded by the European Union through EIT Urban Mobility, is a unique opportunity for innovators to develop and test solutions to urban mobility challenges. The 2025 call focuses on enabling cities to address specific mobility issues rapidly and effectively through short-term projects.

• Highlights of the Programme:
  • 14 participating cities across Europe, each hosting a project to address a distinct mobility challenge.
  • A six-month project implementation period to design, develop, and test solutions.

Participating Cities Include: 

• Aarhus – Enhancing accessible parking
• Belgrade – Smart pedestrian safety
• Dublin – Safe on-street EV charging
• Greater Manchester – Optimising multimodal transport network
• Gothenburg – Enhancing commercial bikes adoption
• Mannheim – Facilitating shared parking
• Nantes – Light vehicle renting
• Nicosia – Optimised waste collection routing
• Podgorica – CO2 data collection
• Poznan – Real-time route updates
• Taurage – Bus infrastructure assessment
• Thessaloniki – Data-driven decisions for urban freight
• Trondheim – Smart loading zone monitoring
• Utrecht – park and ride optimisation

• Who can apply?: 
  • Startups, SMEs, and other organizations with innovative urban mobility solutions.
• Application Deadline: 
  • 12 February, 2025, 17:00 (CET).
• More Information and Application: 
  • RAPTOR Project

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

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Call Name:

Horizon Europe: Cities Mission Call

The European Commission has launched a new call under the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, offering a total of €98 million to support projects that accelerate cities’ transitions to climate neutrality. This call is part of the broader Horizon Europe framework and is tailored to cities committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2030.

• Key Focus Areas:
  • Transforming urban spaces to support climate-neutral lifestyles.
  • Addressing urban pollution to achieve zero-pollution objectives.
  • Promoting sustainable mobility through advanced mobility management plans and behavioral changes.
  • Integrating peri-urban and rural areas into urban climate neutrality transitions.
• Who Can Apply?:
  • Cities, research institutions, technology providers, and other stakeholders involved in urban development and sustainability.
• Application Deadline:
  • 11 February, 2025, 17:00 (CET).
• More Information:
  • Horizon Europe Cities Mission Call

If you are interested, please contact us at contact@urbantechnologyalliance.org.

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Calls Horizon Europe

Call Name:

Changing urban spaces and mindsets to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality

The expected outcome of this call is to enhance the understanding and acceptance of urban mobility management schemes. Projects should identify challenges and barriers to these schemes’ replication and uptake, focusing on improving societal acceptance among key organizations like schools, universities, and companies. The goal is to encourage a shift towards sustainable mobility, such as walking, cycling, and public transport, while decreasing the use of internal combustion engine vehicles. Additionally, projects should promote the broader adoption of electric vehicle recharging solutions to reduce grid investment needs and support zero-emission mobility.

The scope emphasizes that decarbonizing urban transport requires both technological innovations and behavioral changes in daily mobility. Projects should evaluate and improve the effectiveness of mobility management schemes by analyzing existing studies, identifying levers and barriers, and co-designing solutions with key stakeholders. Target groups include students, employees, customers, and patients in various organizations. Solutions should focus on fostering behavior change and increasing the use of sustainable transport.

Additionally, projects should promote smart and bidirectional charging for electric vehicles, encouraging EV users to participate in balancing the grid. Recommendations should be made to incentivize sustainable mobility choices and electric vehicle adoption, with a focus on behavioral and infrastructure-related solutions. Social sciences and humanities contributions are critical for achieving meaningful societal impact, with at least half of the involved cities being part of the EU Mission on Climate-neutral and Smart Cities.

Projects funded : 4

Budget per Project (Million €) : –

Deadline: 11 February 2025

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Call Name:

Advanced real-time data analysis used for infrastructure resilience

Projects funded : 1

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 20 November 2024

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Call Name:

Resilient and secure urban planning and new tools for EU territorial entities

Projects funded : 1

Budget per Project (Million €) : 6

Deadline: 20 November 2024

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Call Name:

DUT Call 2024 for Sustainable Urban Innovation

The DUT Call 2024 invites proposals for transnational research and innovation projects addressing key urban challenges. This initiative supports cities in their transition towards sustainable economies through three primary themes, or ‘Transition Pathways’:

1. Circular Urban Economies (CUE)

   – CUE Topic 1: Innovating urban water cycles.

   – CUE Topic 2: Circular models for urban space conservation and biodiversity.

   – CUE Topic 3: Multi-city strategies for monitoring and managing circular urban economies.

2. 15-minute City (15mC)

   – 15mC Topic 1: Innovations for inclusive and youth-centric mobility.

   – 15mC Topic 2: Reimagining mobility systems for sustainable city regions.

   – 15mC Topic 3: Developing data and indicators for effective urban mobility decisions.

3. Positive Energy Districts (PED)

   – PED Topic 1: Local PEDs in a multi-level perspective.

   – PED Topic 2: PEDs and system integration towards climate-neutral cities.

   – PED Topic 3: Data management for urban energy transitions.

The call is part of the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership under Horizon Europe, supported by the European Commission. It aligns with global initiatives, particularly the Mission Innovation (MI) series and the Urban Transitions Mission (UTM).

Important Dates

Pre-Proposal Submission Deadline: 14 November 2024

Participating Countries

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Türkiye, United Kingdom.

UTA members are encouraged to explore project opportunities under the listed themes and consider collaborations with the extensive network of participating countries.

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Call Name:

Enabling City Transformation

The Enabling City Transformation Call invites Mission Cities to propose innovative actions to overcome systemic challenges faced when implementing climate action. This eighteen-month programme aims foster large-scale, city-wide transformation, building upon and progressing beyond the Pilot Cities programme.

This Call for proposals invites Mission Cities to participate in an 18-month grant-supported program focused on innovation for city transformation, as part of the EU Cities Mission. Unlike the Pilot Cities Programme, which addressed barriers to climate action, the Enabling City Transformation (ECT) program aims to explore and implement innovations that enable whole-city transformation, leading to practical, scalable solutions that can be replicated by other European cities. Proposals should focus on creating enabling conditions for transformation that other cities can adopt.

Selected proposals will form a portfolio of interventions addressing common challenges across Mission Cities, supporting the implementation phase of the Cities Mission with a European-level impact. The portfolio will also build on the Pilot Cities Programme, enhancing opportunities for learning, replication, and scaling of successful initiatives.

Projects funded : multiple

Total Budget (Million €) : 22.8

Deadline: 14 October 2024

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Call Name:

Effects of disruptive changes in transport: towards resilient, safe and energy efficient mobility

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 3.5

Deadline: 5 September 2024

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Call Name:

Scaling up logistics innovations supporting freight transport decarbonisation in an affordable way

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 10

Deadline: 5 September 2024

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Call Name:

Innovative digital tools and solutions to monitor and improve the management and operation of transport infrastructure

Projects funded : 3

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 5 September 2024

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Call Name:

Optimising multimodal network and traffic management, harnessing data from infrastructures, mobility of passengers and freight transport

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 5 September 2024

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Call Name:

Smart grid ready buildings

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 18 April 2024

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Call Name:

Explainable and Robust AI

Projects funded : 3

Budget per Project (Million €) : 10

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Call Name:

Open Source for Cloud/Edge to support European Digital Autonomy

Projects funded : 4

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Call Name:

Industrial leadership in AI, Data and Robotics boosting competitiveness and the green transition

Projects funded : 6

Budget per Project (Million €) : 10

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Call Name:

Platform Building, standardisation and Up-scaling of the ‘Cloud-Edge-IoT’ Solutions

Projects funded : 1

Budget per Project (Million €) : 2

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Call Name:

Piloting emerging Smart IoT Platforms and decentralized intelligence

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 22

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Call Name:

AI-driven data operations and compliance technologies

Projects funded : 4

Budget per Project (Million €) : 9

Deadline: 19 March 2024

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Eureka: Globalstars call for projects with Japan

The national funding bodies from Japan, United Kingdom, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Singapore and Spain have allocated funding for organisations collaborating on international R&D projects, excluding technologies associated with nuclear power and drug discovery.The submission for Eureka R&D project application for this call for projects between 23 October 2023 to 31 January 2024 at 23:59 CET. The project consortium must include an organisation / company based in Japan and a minimum of one other Eureka countries listed in this call (United Kingdom, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Singapore or Spain).

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Scope

This call is open for R&D projects, but excludes technologies associated with nuclear power and drug discovery. Examples of scope include:Quantum ; Artificial intelligence ; Robotics ; Semiconductors ; Electronics ; Energy and environment ; Biotechnology ; New materials ; Medical devices ; Aerospace ; Mining and other industrial technologies.

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Funding

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Call Name:

Digital tools for enhancing the uptake of digital services in the energy market

Projects funded : 3

Budget per Project (Million €) : 4

Deadline: 10 October 2023

Comment: Energy, digital services using data from other domains

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Call Name:

System approach for grid planning and upgrade in support of a dominant electric mobility (vehicles and vessels) using AI tools

Projects funded : 1

Budget per Project (Million €) : 11

Deadline: 10 October 2023

Comment: Transformation of Energy / Mobility infrastructure

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Call Name:

Creation of a standardised and open-source peer-to-peer energy sharing platform architecture for the energy sector

Projects funded : 1

Budget per Project (Million €) : 5

Deadline: 10 October 2023

Comment: Energy call

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Call Name:

Digital solutions for defining synergies in international renewable energy value chains

Projects funded : 2

Budget per Project (Million €) : 3

Deadline: 10 October 2023

Comment: Energy call