Open Internet Stack: development of technological commons/open-source 3C building blocks (RIA)
DIGITAL - CNECT · HORIZON-RIA · Needs partners
What this call funds
This call funds the development of open source building blocks for a trustworthy, decentralised internet stack, covering areas like trust technologies, connectivity, and decentralised infrastructure. It supports both a main consortium project and smaller third party grants distributed through open calls to individual developers, SMEs, and research groups working on open source internet commons. The practical route for most small contributors is the Restack open call, run by NLnet, which funds small to medium sized technical projects released under open licences.
software platforms · cybersecurity · blockchain web3 · internet of things · telecom 6g · deep tech
Who wins this
The call best suits open source developers, small teams, or research groups building concrete, openly licensed technology components for internet infrastructure, trust, connectivity, or decentralisation, as well as a larger consortium able to coordinate a 3C large scale pilot and manage cascading grants to third parties.
Could you win this call?
Only the website is required.
The call in detail
- Indicative grant size
- €10M
- Funding model
- Budget-based. Reimbursement of actual eligible costs
- Submission
- Single-stage submission (full proposal at once)
- Partners
- Required. The call asks for a consortium: a group applying together, typically 3+ organisations from 3+ countries.
- Eligible applicants
- SME, research organisation, non-profit, individual, public body
- Support to third parties
- Up to 70% of the requested EU contribution may be used for financial support to third parties, with each third party project typically funded in the range of EUR 50,000 to 150,000 and a maximum of EUR 400,000 per third party across multiple awards. Under the related Restack open call, individual third party proposals typically request between EUR 5,000 and 50,000.
- Also required
- Gender dimension integration is not mandatory for this topic, projects should typically run 36 months, results must be released under a recognised free or open source license, and GenAI related projects are generally out of scope for the Restack sub call unless already widely used by over 1 million active users.
- Sectors
- AI/ML · Deep Tech · Manufacturing · Aerospace
- Eligible countries (45)
- Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Israel, Türkiye, Ukraine, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Tunisia, New Zealand
Read the full conditions from the official call ›
General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout are described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries are described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. 3. Other Eligible Conditions Subject to restrictions for the protection of European communication networks. Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 400 000 to allow 1/ cases where a given legal entity may receive several grants (e.g. from different calls) 2/ reaching the maturity level for third party’s project to ensure sustainability with multiple awards. To support and mobilise internet innovators, a maximum of 70% of the total requested EU contribution could be allocated to financial support to third parties, selected through open calls. Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.
Who has won calls like this
Organisations that most often win this call family · 86 past winners