This call results from the European Declaration on Cycling, signed last April. The Declaration emphasises cycling as a strategic priority and describes it as one of the “most sustainable, accessible and inclusive, low-cost and healthy forms of transport“.

According to EIT Urban Mobility, the growing share of e-bikes has created a wealth of opportunities for new services and business models in the industry, and a need for more digital and battery innovations. Simultaneously, existing services like bike sharing need to be optimised to allow operators to expand services to new consumers.

Through this call, EIT Urban Mobility aims to fund innovative solutions that promote a competitive and sustainable European
cycling industry, focusing on three sub-topics:

• Light means of transport (LMT) batteries
• New services and business models, and
• Sustainable local manufacturing.

Consortia should consist of 2 to 5 partners from at least 2 EU Member States or/and Horizon Europe associated countries. EIT will fund a maximum of 65% of the total project cost, with budgets expected to range between € 300,000 and € 700,000. The total indicative funding allocated for this call is € 1.5 million, which allows for approving 2 to 5 projects. The project should start from 1 January 2025 and run for one year.

There are 2 mandatory KPI’s:

• either an innovation needs to be put on the market or a start-up created
• second KPI is demonstration

As a result, there has to be at least one commercial partner and one demonstration host, either a city/municipal government or a company. The solution to be piloted should have successfully reached a minimum Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6.

Once the project has started, consortium partners are required to become EIT UM members. The lowest annual membership fee is € 5,000.

This call will close on 15 October at 17.00 CET. The evaluation results will be communicated end of November.

All further details are here: https://rb.gy/hxgrxc