Digital Content, Open Data and Creativity

Call for Proposals


On 3 February 2012 the Call for Proposal CIP-ICT PSP-2012-6 was published by the European Commission in the framework of the ICT PSP Work Programme. The ICT PSP Work Programme aims at stimulating smart sustainable and inclusive growth by accelerating the wider uptake and best use of innovative digital technologies and content by citizens, governments and businesses. The ICT PSP Work Programme addresses obstacles hindering further and better use of ICT based products and services and barriers for the development of high growth businesses, notably SMEs, in this field.

The general objectives of the ICT PSP Work Programme 2012 are:
• To accelerate the deployment of EU-wide services of public interest that are of direct benefit for all businesses and in particular for SMEs, improving and expanding their working environments
• to help develop the internal market for innovative ICT based services and products which is essential for the growth and development of innovative SMEs that can benefit from wider markets for the diffusion of their innovations
• to fund the participation of SMEs supplying innovative ICT based solutions in pilots and networking activities together with the main users of these solutions

The Call for proposal CIP-ICT PSP-2012-6 focuses on 5 main themes: ICT for "smart" cities; Digital content, open data and creativity; ICT for health, ageing well and inclusion; Innovative government and public services; Trusted eServices and other actions.

For what concerns the “Digital content, open data and creativity” theme, the current call for proposal of the ICT PSP Work Programme includes the following priorities:

• to enhance the Europeana content base by aggregating cultural heritage content complementing collections already accessible through Europeana and be representative of the diversity and richness of Europe\'s cultural heritage
• Experimenting with models, innovative applications and services for creative re-use of cultural resources and in particular the material accessible through Europeana
• to develop and demonstrate solutions to provide better information on rights to users and to facilitate clearance of these rights
• Establishing a network of publishers and ICT solution providers to discuss, create and experiment with strategies for business models and revenue streams for publishing in the digital age
• to foster the wider use of spatial data by public and private sector organisations and citizens in line with the Directive on the re-use of Public Sector Information, and to enable the creation of value-added services
• to support experiments with open access to scientific information and explore new paradigms for accessing and using this information
• to identify and discuss legal barriers to access to and reuse of PSI in the digital environment and suggest ways to overcome them
• to create a network to organise competitions for using open data and stimulate the winners to start business ventures
• to introduce and evaluate innovative use of existing e-learning tools for scientific disciplines (including science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc) and technology in primary and secondary schools

For what concerns the “Digital content, open data and creativity” theme, the target groups for the results of this ICT PSP Work Programme’s call for proposal are:

• EU Member States or associated countries and other European stakeholders

Eligible participants within this ICT PSP Work Programme’s call for proposal are consortia of:

• Legal entities (legal/natural persons) established in the Member States and associated countries.
• Legal entities established in EFTA countries which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), in accession or candidate countries or countries of the Western Balkan, as well as other third countries.
• European Economic Interest groups established in a Member State or associated country.
• International organisations, on a case-by-case basis and provided that the minimum participation requirements for the respective instrument have been met. Such entities will not receive Union funding.

For what concerns the “Digital content, open data and creativity” theme the consortia must be comprised by a number of independent legal entities varying from a minimum of four to a minimum of seven, established in at least four/seven different EU Member States or associated countries, depending on the type of action put in practice.

The eligible actions that can be funded within this ICT PSP Work Programme’s call for proposal are:

• Pilots focusing on implementing and demonstrating interoperability by creating service operations between cooperating Member States and associated countries in the context of agreed policy priorities.
• Pilots aiming at the implementation of an ICT based innovative service addressing the needs of citizens, governments and businesses. They are expected to implement their solutions in several Member States or associated countries.
• Thematic networks which address a common theme by bringing together relevant stakeholders, expertise and facilities with the objective of exploring new ways of implementing ICT based solutions
• Best Practice Networks promoting the adoption of standards and specifications for making European digital libraries more accessible and usable by combining the "consensus building and awareness raising" function of a network with the large-scale implementation in real-life context of one or more concrete specifications or standards by its members

The total budget available for this ICT PSP Work Programme’s call for proposal, as far as the “Digital content, open data and creativity” theme is concerned, amounts to 41 M Euro. EU funding vary between 50% and 80% of overall eligible project cost, depending on the type of action put in practice

The deadline for submitting proposals in the framework of the current ICT PSP Work Programme’s Call for Proposals is 15 May 2012.

Further information on the current ICT PSP Work Programme’s Call for Proposals is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp/participating/calls/call_proposals_12/index_en.htm