EUI has officially launched its second Innovative Actions Call with a budget of EUR 120 million ERDF supporting cities in three thematic areas: ‘Greening Cities’, ‘Sustainable tourism’ and Harnessing talent in shrinking cities’. 

This Second Call is open to all EU cities and is focusing on three new topics.

Under ‘Greening Cities', we will fund cities to experiment and deliver tangible innovative solutions on green infrastructure to better address biodiversity, pollution, resource and climate challenges; highly contributing to the green and just transition under the Cohesion policy investments. 

For ‘Sustainable Tourism’, we are looking to support long-term green and digital transformation and resilience of the tourism ecosystem. For this topic, we aim primarily to improve conditions for both residents and visitors of the city. 

Lastly, ‘Harnessing talent in shrinking cities’, particularly in regions identified by the European Commission in the Communication ‘Harnessing talent in Europe’s regions’, is seeking to retain and attract talent.

The Call is open until 5th October 2023 at 14h00 CEST.

Total call budget: EUR 120 million. Each project can receive a maximum of EUR 5 million in co-financing from the ERDF, and projects should be implemented in a maximum period of 3.5 years.

They are looking for projects which are:

1. Innovative - Innovative Actions support pilot projects that have never been tested anywhere else in Europe. Projects should be new, bold, creative and experimental. The proposed project must go beyond the present state-of-the-art and business-as-usual.

2. Of good quality - Projects should meet key quality standards such as clear and logical interrelation of objectives/activities/outputs, evidence of preparatory work, realistic ambitions, effective management structures and procedures, good value for money.

3. Participative - Participation and co-creation with Partners, relevant stakeholders, and target groups, are key for the development and implementation of genuinely innovative and experimental projects.

4. Measurable - Urban authorities should be able to clearly explain what the changes are that they want to achieve in the local context as a result of their projects.

5. Sustainable and scalable - Urban authorities should be able to anticipate and explain how the solution will be sustained and scaled-up once successfully tested through the identification of adequate sources of public and/or private funding.

6. Transferable - Solutions developed in the framework of the projects should be applicable and replicable by other cities across Europe, possibly by making use of the Cohesion policy funding available to them.

Cities interested in applying for the Call, are all invited to attend our applicant seminars:

• Brussels June 15th
• Warsaw June 28th
• Ljubljana July 6th

Registration is open! Collective question and answer sessions will be held online. All sessions will be recorded and available on the EUI website. 

More information about the call. 

Source: EUI