Manchester to be one of eight core cities in providing sites for scaling up of IoT solutions
The team behind a European project to develop a single market has put out a call for proposals to win shares of €3 million in support for scaling up solutions using the internet of things (IoT) to help cities run more efficiently.
It will involve testing how solutions can work in a city-wide environment in one of eight core cities throughout Europe that include Manchester.
The move has been made as part of the SynchroniCity project, funded under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020), and with the open call being run by the UK Future Cities Catapult and Aarhus University in Denmark.
It has the aim of developing replicable IoT solutions for cities and creating a simplified, open and agile market across borders in a way that supports local economic development.
The call for proposals is open until 30 September. They have to be led by SMEs but can involve city authorities as part of the pilot group and large corporates.
Each application can be funded with: up to €100,000 if an SME applies alone; up to €200,000 for pilot groups of two organisations; and up to €300,000 for pilot groups of three organisations or more.
Co-funding
Synchronicity will co-fund 80% of the total budget of each project, and the remaining 20% will need to be provided by applicants either as in-kind support or by bringing in funding to the project.
The successful pilots will cover at least two cities, including one of the eight in the core group, and run for six months.
Manchester City Council has previously flagged up its involvement in the project, and the Future Cities Catapult – the Government agency to support work in the field – has said that the requirements include common APIs, open data platforms and data models, and that they are based on “real needs” of people in cities.
Image: Jarmo Eskelinin, innovation and technology officer for the Future Cities Catapult, outlines the priorities of the Synchronicity programme
