CommuniCity Open Call presents 20 challenges in 7 European cities

This second round of open calls utilises the experiences from the first round of open calls in order to share the best practices to the participating cities. Furthermore, it aims to expand the upcoming CommuniCity Toolkits and Manuals for European cities and beyond. The total amount of grants reserved for this second round is over 450 000 euros.

The objective of the final, European-wide open call, is to build on the learnings from the previous open calls, validate the open call and piloting processes as well as to polish-off the CommuniCity Tool kits and Manuals developed. This third round of open calls will be launched in September 2024. In total, CommuniCity consortium aims at running 100 pilots across Europe during the three open call rounds. 

Replicator cities offer new piloting locations

The second round of CommuniCity Open Calls mimics and expands the first open call by inviting cities of Aarhus (Denmark), Breda (the Netherlands), Prague (the Czech Republic) and Tallinn (Estonia) to join the second round of open calls. These so-called Replicator Cities have identified local needs in collaboration with their residents and introduced these as additional challenges for the CommuniCity Open Call for Applications. 

Some of Replicator cities are also offering opportunities for cross-border pilots which are executed in collaboration with the partnering cities of Amsterdam, Helsinki and Porto. These three cities are also acting as coaches offering peer support to the so-called newcomer cities.

The City of Helsinki presents six challenges

In Helsinki, six challenges were included in the open call to find technological solutions especially for the long-term unemployed, disabled and senior citizens. The pilots are carried out in close cooperation with the relevant city departments and there is also an opportunity for cross-border pilots in collaboration with the cities of Tallinn and Porto. Helsinki has presented the following challenges for the second round of CommuniCity open calls:

1. How to reliably measure the digital skills of long-term unemployed citizens?
2. How to support the recognition of competence with the help of a digital tool?
3. How to prevent pressure ulcers of wheelchair patients?
4. How to enhance the quality of life and foster inclusion for citizens with severe disabilities through digital innovations?
5. How to collect and generate accessible pedestrian route information through participative data collection methods?
6. How to utilize existing data and data sources for activating digitally hard-to-reach residents?

In addition to these Helsinki challenges, there are 14 other challenges presented by Partnering Cities as well as Replicator Cities. These second round challenges are available on the CommuniCity website. The timeline for all the pilot projects is similar, but there might be some differences in processes due to national and regional protocols. 

Submit your application by 31 October 17 CET!

The deadline for submitting applications for the second round of CommuniCity Open Call for Applications is 31 October 2023 at 17 CET. Applications are submitted by using an online form. Teams may submit several applications, but only one proposal per challenge. Also the teams who participated for the first open call round are eligible to apply for the second round.

All applicants should bear in mind that applications are to be written in English and for some challenges a Letter-of-Intent must be included. A Matchmaking Platform is also available for the search of partners for the piloting teams and questions can be addressed via Q&A website.

After closing of the open call, a jury of experts will score the applications and select the solutions to be piloted in Helsinki and in other cities. Each of the chosen teams will receive a grant of 12.500 euros (VAT 0%) and if cross-border pilots will be involved, the teams can apply for additional grants with amounts of 5 000 eur and 10 000 eur. The piloting phase starts in December 2023 and ends in May 2024.

Article photo: iStock