Second Call for Proposals EUI - Innovative Actions
The Call for Proposals is closed.
The second EUI-IA Call for Proposals was launched on 31st May 2023 and closed on 5th October 2023 at 14h00 CEST. It was dedicated to three topics: Greening cities, Sustainable tourism and harnessing talents in shrinking cities.
112 applications received from 21 Member States
The second EUI-IA Call for Proposals generated a strong interest from all over the European Union, with 112 applications from 21 EU Member States.
See all trends from the applications received
22 projects selected
After a competitive assessment process, 22 projects have not only been selected for their innovativeness but also for their transfer potential to other EU cities and their capacity in establishing solid local partnerships.
Second EUI-IA Call for Proposals
For the second EUI – Innovative Actions (EUI-IA) Call for Proposals, an indicative budget of EUR 120 million ERDF is allocated.
Each project can receive up to a maximum of EUR 5 million ERDF co-financing and project implementation should take place within a maximum period of 3,5 years.
112
Applications received
120M€
Allocated budget
3
Topics
Topics of the Call
The Call will fund projects to deliver tangible, real-life examples under the topics ‘Greening Cities’, ‘Sustainable tourism’ and ‘Harnessing talent in shrinking cities’.
Topic 1: Greening cities
Under the topic ‘Greening Cities’ projects will be funded to experiment and deliver tangible innovative solutions on green infrastructure across European cities, for better addressing the biodiversity, pollution, resource and climate challenges, including synergy development with other key policy areas. The innovative solutions tested under the funded projects are expected to contribute to Cohesion policy investments related to the green and just transition, and will embrace the issue of being affordable to all.
Topic 2: Sustainable tourism
Under the topic ‘Sustainable tourism’, projects will be funded to support the long-term green and digital transformation and resilience of the tourism ecosystem. By introducing unique solutions and comprehensive policies for the promotion and management of sustainable tourism, cities can set an example for smaller towns, villages and regions that are more dependent on tourism for their economy, particularly in terms of reducing overdependence on a single sector and combining tourism economic activities with other investments and job creation efforts for diversification to other sectors.
Topic 3: Harnessing talent in shrinking cities
Under the topic ‘Harnessing talent in shrinking cities’, particularly in the above-mentioned regions identified by the European Commission in the Communication ‘Harnessing talent in Europe’s regions’, will be supported to test new solutions to retain and attract talent. The call is seeking to identify placed-based and integrated pilot projects, i.e. involving local communities in experimentations at the urban scale and addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the faced demographic challenges, in a way that could inspire the use of Cohesion policy programmes in these urban areas.
Timeline
EUI-IA Call 2 was launched on 31st May 2023.
Applicant Seminars will take place on:
- 15th June 2023, Brussels, Belgium
- 28th June 2023, Warsaw, Poland
- 6th July 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia
EUI-IA Call 2 will be closed on 5th October 2023 at 14h00 CEST
Assessment of the applications (Eligibility check, Strategic Assessment and Operational Assessment) will be conducted from October 2023 until April 2024.
EUI-IA Call 2 project selection results will be announced in May 2024.
Initiation Phase for EUI-IA Call 2 projects will start on 1st June 2024 and will last 6 months until 30th November 2024.
EUI-IA Call 2 projects will start their implementation on 1st December 2024.
The EUI Permanent Secretariat will assist applicants during the Call for Proposals. This support will be provided via:
EUI-IA Guidance
Explore the EUI-IA Guidance to learn more about the context and rationale behind establishing EUI – Innovative Actions, and get familiar with the frameworks, rules and procedures related to project generation and development, the application and selection, the Initiation Phase and contracting, the transfer component, project implementation, eligibility of expenditure, and project communication and capitalisation. Dedicated FAQ section provides further and complementary information.
Applicants Seminars (in person events)
During the Applicant Seminars, participants will have the opportunity to take part in several plenary and break-out sessions dedicated to different aspects of the EUI – Innovative Actions. They will receive information about its goals and rules; thematic coverage and main features of EUI - Innovative Actions; the topics of the 2nd Call for proposals; as well as technical information related to the projects: application form; intervention logic; finance, eligibility rules, project budget; transfer mechanism; knowledge and communication.
Additionally, there will be the opportunity to register to 30-minute one-to-one consultations with the EUI Permanent Secretariat. There will be a limited number of spots available and priority will be given to urban authorities.
Three Applicant Seminars take place on the following dates and locations. Registrations are open!
- 15th June 2023 Brussels, Belgium – Registration closed
- 28th June 2023 Warsaw, Poland – Registration closed
- 6th July 2023 Ljubljana, Slovenia – Registration closed
Online collective Q&A sessions
Collective Q&A sessions will take place online. All sessions will be recorded and available on the EUI website. Some of them will have thematic focus and they will take place on the following dates:
20th June 2023, 10.00 – 13.45
Watch the recorded session here!
Two sessions dedicated to 2nd Call for Proposals topics and EUI intervention logic.
10.00 – 11.45 Introduction to EUI – Innovative Actions. 2nd Call for Proposals topics: ‘Greening Cities’, ‘Sustainable tourism’ and ‘Harnessing talent in shrinking cities’
11.45 – 12.00 Break
12.00 – 13.45 EUI intervention logic, Application Form, transfer component
17th July 2023, 11.00 – 13.00
Watch the recorded session here!
Financial aspects of the project implementation (eligibility rules, project budget).
|
Time |
Session |
|
11.00 – 11.05 |
Opening Session & Agenda |
|
11.05 – 11.25 |
Funding principles |
|
11.25 – 12.05 |
Eligibility of project expenses |
|
12.05 – 12.20 |
Building your project budget |
|
12.20 – 12.50 |
Q&A |
|
12:50 – 13:00 |
Closure: Support to applicants & What’s Next? |
7th September 2023, 10.00 – 12.00
Watch the recorded session here!
Closing Q&A session – we invite you to join this session to get final tips for drafting a good proposal and ask remaining questions that might have emerged while preparing your Application Form.
Join us for this final Q&A session to get one last round of advice and make sure your proposal meets EUI requirements in terms of:
- Strategic description
- AF design and intervention logic
- Horizontal WPs and transfer component
- Budget planning
Recordings from the 1st Call for Proposals can be found here
One-to-one Consultations
UPDATE: Please note that all available sessions are now booked and the registration form is closed. If you have any queries related to Call 2 please do not hesitate to contact us at innovativeactions@urban-initiative.eu .
The Permanent Secretariat made available a limited number of appointments for online one-to-one meetings.
The aim of these meetings is to provide further clarity and support to applicants on how to apply for funding, how to define the work plan, budget, deliverables/outputs and transfer component and how to manage an EUI-IA project. We cannot give feedback on the feasibility and strategic nature of the project proposal.
Please note, bookings for meetings are on a first come, first serve basis. Preference will be given to urban authorities who already have an established/identified project in mind, and we request that attendees are kept to the minimum required.
Contact us
Answers to frequently asked questions can be found in the interactive EUI-IA Online Guidance at the end of each chapter. You didn’t find the answer to your question or would like to double check the eligibility of your Main Urban Authority/ Associated Urban Authority?
Feel free to contact us using the email address: innovativeactions@urban-initiative.eu
Self-assessment tool
In this section, you will find an easy-to-use “self-assessment tool” reflecting the key requirements to have in mind before submitting a project proposal to EUI - Innovative Actions.
Is your city eligible? Is your project idea relevant? Is your project appropriately addressing urban challenges you are facing? Are you organisationally ready for applying to EUI’s 1st Call for Innovative Actions?
By answering following 15 questions you will have a chance to get helpful tips and be pointed out to the relevant chapters of the EUI-IA Guidance which you should consult in order to mature and improve your project proposal to a successful application.
EUI Transfer Partners Platform
The process of identifying Transfer Partners should start already at the application stage, when applicants are asked to identify other European urban areas that could benefit from replicating the proposed solution in view of the favourable conditions for transfer (similar characteristic, contexts) or of increasing their innovation potential; to elaborate on how the most suitable Transfer Partners will be identified; and if already identified, specify potential Transfer Partners together with the underlying motivations/rationale.
The selection of the Transfer Partners should allow: (i) to maintain a good balance in terms of variety of cities involved in the Partnership (their size (small, medium-sized, large cities) and localisation (less-developed, transition and more developed regions)), and (ii) to gather the most relevant Transfer Partners for the quality of the replication activities.
Therefore, the selection of the Transfer Partners will follow some guiding principles:
- Transfer Partners come from different EU Member States;
- At least two of the four cities involved (MUA + the 3 Transfer Partners) are located in less developed or transition regions
- The partnership includes cities of different sizes.
The EUI Transfer Partners Platform aims at supporting the development of the Transfer Component under EUI-IA projects (see also EUI-IA Guidance, Chapter 5: Transfer) and at facilitating the contact between urban authorities that are identifying potential Transfer Partners and urban authorities interested in transferring an innovative action.
Apply for the Call
The submission of the Application Form is 100% paperless through the use of EUI’s Electronic Exchange Platform (EEP).
Applicants are strongly invited to register and create their Application Form early in the application process. Going through the different sections of the Application Form and reading the information bubbles in each field (available in all EU languages) will help applicants to better structure and design their project proposals.
The Call for Proposals is closed.
