Insider Funding Knowledge – Energy & Mobility

Venturenomix is sharing insider knowledge on grant funding for impact ventures.

We have all heard of EIC Accelerator, Smart Grants, Fast Track to Innovation, Eurostars – and we all know about Horizon2020, InnovateUK and Horizon Europe. These funds are oversubscribed with success rates <10% (sometimes <3%). But what are the alternative grant funding options for impact projects? Where are those ‘hidden gems’ – those little-known EU grants for social entrepreneurs that you only hear about after the deadline? 

Grant Funding for Energy & Mobility projects

AI4Cities launched its international Request for Tenders to acquire innovative solutions in the fields of energy and mobility. These solutions should utilise artificial intelligence or other enabling technologies – such as big data applications, 5G, edge computing and IoT – and contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in the six cities and regions participating in the AI4Cities project: Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Helsinki (Finland), Île-de-France – Paris Region (France), Stavanger (Norway) and Tallinn (Estonia).

Funding will be released in three phases, ending in July 2022. In Phase 1, the selected suppliers will work on a full plan for the development of a prototype, including a sustainability model to ensure its future uptake and scalability. Then, in Phase 2, the first prototypes of the solutions proposed in Phase 1 will be created, based on lean principles and agile methods. Finally, in Phase 3 selected contractors will test their prototypes in a minimum of two cities. The full feature set and performance of each solution will be verified and compared in operational conditions.

The total funding amount to be divided among the selected suppliers throughout the whole pre-commercial procurement process is €4.6 million:

• Phase 1: The total procurement budget in Phase 1 will be 1.6 million euros. 20 suppliers will be selected per lot. The total maximum budget per supplier will be 40,000 euros.
• Phase 2: The total procurement budget in Phase 2 will be 1.6 million euros. 10 suppliers will be selected per lot. The total maximum budget per supplier will be 80,000 euros.
• Phase 3: The total procurement budget in Phase 3 will be 1,466,622 million euros. 3 suppliers will be selected per lot. The total maximum budget per supplier will be 244,437 euros.