The Scalable Cities Action Grant is a financial tool to support the replication of measures already successfully tested in Smart Cities and Communities projects.
The 2nd call for proposals is now closed.
The submitted projects are now being evaluated, results can be expected in August, 2023. The launch of the 3rd call is foreseen for October, 2023.
About Action Grant
The Scalable Cities Action Grant financially supports cities and ad-hoc partnerships that wish to replicate measures that were successfully implemented through SCC projects to facilitate the transition towards climate neutrality.
The Scalable Cities Action Grant is implemented in collaboration with the European Commission and CINEA. The EC has set out a clear aim for Scalable Cities to deploy wide-scale, innovative, replicable and integrated solutions in the energy, transport, and ICT areas and to trigger large-scale economic investment with a view to transforming the market.
The Action Grant is organised through four calls for proposals with four deadlines, covering different topics. This call targets cities and related partners (local energy agencies, construction agencies, civil society organisations, research institutes) from completed Horizon 2020 SCC01 Lighthouse projects and/or external cities interested in replicating specific actions from those Scalable Cities projects.
Budget and Implementation
The indicative budget to be awarded in the period 2022 to 2024 is EUR 900 000 to fund around 20 to 30 projects, each with a duration up to 12 months.
The maximum grant amount for one project is EUR 50 000.
Applicants may submit proposals that have higher overall budgets, but the action grant may in no case exceed EUR 50 000 per project. In this case, applicants have to co-finance the difference.
How to apply?
Applications need to be submitted online through the dedicated Scalable Cities Action Grant management platform.
Register to the platform (external link)
Already registered? Log in (external link)
Contact
For any questions, please contact the Scalable Cities Secretariat.
The following projects have been funded in the 1st round of the Scalable Cities Action Grant:
- Smart GreeNaa Project
- Topic: Internal framework for developing innovative governance strategy supporting energy transition
- City: Gabrovo, Bulgaria
- Grant amount: EUR 20 000
- Description: Gabrovo, а well-known in Bulgaria as one of the “greener” cities, is willing to replicate the good practices already implemented through the STARDUST project in the area of transforming the carbon-based cities to smart, highly efficient, intelligent and citizen-oriented cities. In the recent years Gabrovo implemented a great number of sustainable and energy efficiency projects which brought the necessity of a new systemic change of local governance structures. Thus, the local authority aims to create a new internal framework package related to development of an innovative governance strategy supporting energy transition which would be used as an active example among local citizens. This includes actions such as: SWOT-analysis, stakeholder mapping analysis, implementation of ISO 50001, applying knowledge from STARDUST project related to internal administrative rules in the sectors of mobility, energy consumption in buildings and lighting, engaging with citizens to improve urban life.
- SYGOCONEM: Systemic Governance Change for Onda’s Net-Zero Missions
- Topic: Development of a robust governance framework for decarbonization
- City: Onda, Spain
- Grant amount: EUR 19 575
- Description: The objective of SYGOCONEM is to develop a robust governance framework to facilitate Onda’s existing and future partnership dynamics to accelerate its decarbonisation initiatives. The city has an active involvement in numerous regional and national programs and initiatives parallel to its development strategies. Despite their outstanding proactiveness, a unified framework assimilating the existing and future collaborations within Onda’s stakeholder ecosystem is still missing. Consequently, the Council has a high need for instruments to efficiently manage and monitor the different consortiums and partnerships in which they are participating. Therefore, this project will work on evaluating and finding the best governance mechanisms and structures to support Onda and its decarbonisation ambition. It will build on the experience of several SCC projects as well as proven governance and partnership setting methodologies.
- External Energy Management for Ukrainian Communities
- Topic: Preparation of a replicable model solution for distantly organised EMS
- Cities: Slavutych, Myrhorod, Novovolynsk, Volodymyr, Ukraine
- Grant amount: EUR 49 666
- Description: Project objective is to prepare a replicable model solution of distantly organised Energy Management (EMS) to increase organizational flexibility and resilience of war-affected municipalities, facing lack of skilled staff and qualified advice in modernizing utilities sector, planning investments and mitigating climate change. Due to war in Ukraine, communities are losing qualified staff, this creates new challenges to energy planning, transition, investments and climate issues. Communities are looking for a innovative approaches to integrated and multi-level governance solutions. UNEA will develop a model of distant energy management services, using external experts, who can support municipal staff, proving organizational and managerial advice and support to several communities. This will reduce the costs of good expertise to small municipalities. After this project, UNEA will use the model to extend the services to 10 more communities in next year and more to come.
- Connected Waltham Forest
- Topic: Investment case for replicating the Urban Sharing Platforms
- Cities: London, UK
- Grant amount: EUR 24 750
- Description: This project is focused on developing an investment case for replicating the Urban Sharing Platforms from Sharing Cities to the London Borough of Waltham Forest. This will be a pre-feasibility study, an early-stage review of what benefits and investment opportunities such a platform would bring, set against the resource we would need for its development. This will form part of our Connected Places Roadmap, an enabling strategy which sets out how tech and data can underpin and support our Climate Action Plan and 15 Minute Neighbourhood Strategy. The target group for this work will be key decision makers in the borough, data controllers, potential data users, and potential investors, in particular tech companies who provide platform solutions. We will also use this investment case to bid for further horizon/government investment. We expect this work will lead to the development of an Urban Sharing Platform for WF, that is integrated with the platforms developed in Sharing Cities.