The European Urban Initiative can support cities and regions that are seeking to test and transfer an urban innovative solution. Since the amount of funding is up to €5 million, this might be most applicable for a specific component/element of the the Circular Systemic Solution. In addition, this instrument offers a structured and systematic transfer mechanism to ensure the knowledge generated from successful innovative actions is effectively transferred and replicated to other urban realities across Europe. Participating in a project funded by the Initiative can help access a pull of best practices and knowledge generated by other projects in an urban setting. Capacity-building activities organized for cities, such as peer-learning activities, a wide range of events, seminars, as well as a compilation of toolkits on good practices can further improve/increase the capacities of cities including in relation to the development of Circular Systemic Solutions.

An applicant for the EUI must meet the following criteria:
 

1. As the urban problems are complex, urban authorities need to create a local consortium of partners. The consortium partners should be as diverse as possible, ideally reflecting the quadruple helix (i.e. public authorities, industry, academia and civil society) to ensure that enough thematic expertise and knowledge on the specific policy issue is mobilised.
2. To be supported, the project must be an innovative project that has never been tested anywhere else in Europe. Such projects are highly experimental and risky, and are not likely to be funded by traditional or mainstream sources of funding. The project must be participative (the partnership must be relevant to address the identified urban challenges and to implement the proposed solution), measurable (the project implemented must be measurable to draw meaningful conclusions regarding the added value of the project in the policy area concerned), transferable and scalable (the selected solutions address urban that can be relevant to other urban authorities in Europe and applicable to other local contexts), and of good quality (project proposals must show robustness and operational readiness. They must prove to be justified, realistic, consistent and coherent. They should also be ready to be managed effectively, implemented swiftly, and demonstrate value for money).
3. The applicant must be an urban authority, or a grouping of urban authorities – classified as cities, towns, or suburbs, with a total population of a least 50 000 inhabitants, located in one of the 27 EU Member States.

The EUI supports urban areas with the deployment of proof-tested urban innovations in the EU, which are innovative, participative, measurable, transferable, scalable and of good quality (more details on these criteria can be found here).

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.

The application process is 100% paperless through the use of the EEP (https://connect.urban-initiative.eu)

The application consists of: 

1. Application Form: The Application Form must be filled in using the online EEP platform. It is composed of sections presenting the project idea and the rationale (including information on the innovativeness of the proposal), the Partnership (including the Main Urban Authority, the Delivery Partners, Transfer Partners, and if relevant the Associated Urban Authorities), the main objectives and expected results, the proposed Work Plan and budget.
2. Annex: Applicants can upload one annex in the EEP system that will be attached to the Application Form. This could be a map presenting the area of intervention, a graph, an infographic, etc. 
3. Confirmation Sheet: The Confirmation Sheet is automatically generated by the online platform when the Application Form is being completed or after its completion. It must be printed, signed by a legal representative of the Main Urban Authority, scanned and uploaded in the Application Form Part H “Confirmation Sheet”. The Application Form cannot be submitted without the Confirmation Sheet.

The current call currently open for projects under the following two themes: 

• Topic 1: Energy transition - Under the topic ‘energy transition’, the European Urban Initiative aims at supporting the testing of transferable and scalable innovative solutions in real-life settings for economically viable, smarter and more integrated local energy networks, zero carbon and demand driven while empowering citizens and stakeholders to accelerate the transition.
• Topic 2: Technology in cities - Under the topic ‘technology in cities’ the European Urban Initiative aims at supporting the testing of innovative solutions powered by new technologies in real life settings for better services to citizens and/or for boosting local authorities’ capacities to offer these services, via experimentations that could be replicated at a wider scale with the help of the Cohesion policy investments.

More information about the topics of the call can be found here: https://www.urban-initiative.eu/calls-proposals/third-call-proposals-innovative-actions#anchor-topics-of-the-call