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Smart City Innovation SCIFI Accelerator Call 2018
Deadline: Oct 2, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

 Entrepreneurship and SMEs
 Start Up
 Urban Management
 Smart Cities
 Urban Development
 IT Applications
 Digital Society
 Internet of Things (IoT)
 Smart Mobility

This guide is designed to support applicants through the application process for the 1st SCIFI call (2018). It is intended to be the main source of information for the SCIFI call 2018. Therefore, in case of factual conflicts with other sources of information (such as the SCIFI website), its contents should be deemed authoritative.

This guide should be consulted together the ​city challenges​, which describe the topics funded by SCIFI.

Should you have any outstanding queries regarding the application process following reading this document, please refer to the ​FAQ on our website​ or contact us at hello@smartcityinnovation.eu​.

 

What is SCIFI

Smart Cities Innovation Framework Implementation (SCIFI) ​is an ​Interreg 2Seas​-funded ​open innovation accelerator programme bringing together citizens, corporate and public-sector organisations that have smart city needs, challenges and/or data with startups, companies and students that have innovative solutions with data for these needs/challenges.

SCIFI enables medium-sized cities to create proof of concept that opening their data will create value and better services for their city and citizens.

SCIFI enables startups, companies and students to work directly with cities to develop smart city, open data solutions and to scale easily their products and solutions .

It is centered around an ​accelerator programme that facilitates joint and innovative cross-border procurement. The accelerator has several tracks based around ​challenges set by the cities, and during the accelerator ​startups, companies and students will develop solutions (with as much citizens involvement as possible) to meet these challenges. The solutions must be conceived in a way that they are applicable in multiple cities (interoperable).

The startups, companies and students will put forward ​proposals for creating impactful, innovative products and services in response to the challenges defined by the cities in SCIFI.

Successful applicants will have a funded opportunity to work closely and directly with cities and city clusters to develop open data based solutions (pilots) to tackle key smart city issues. We provide mentoring, access to ecosystems and other support to help successful applicants develop a concept into a robust, replicable and sustainable smart city solution that is closely aligned with the needs of the public sector.

SCIFI is funded by Interreg 2 Seas 2014-2020, a European Territorial Cooperation Programme covering England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders) and is being delivered by the cities of ​Mechelen​, ​Delft​, ​Bruges​, ​Saint-Quentin,​ ​Agoria​, ​Faubourg Numérique​, ​Cambridge Cleantech​ and ​University of Southampton​.

 

Innovative Procurement

Two calls

The SCIFI innovative procurement consists of ​two calls​. The first call opens at 12 noon on the 2nd July 2018 and closes at 12 noon on the 2nd of October 2018. The second call is expected to open in summer 2019.

Seven challenges

The first call consists of ​seven challenges​, set by the project partner cities, which can be addressed by applicants. Each challenge is associated with a city. In the case a challenge has been identified by more than one city in the SCIFI project you may apply to either or all cities. At the end of the accelerator you will have the chance to be selected for a pilot implementation of your solution by the SCIFI cities or cluster cities. Cluster cities are cities in the region facing the same challenges but not SCIFI project partners.

Each challenge must be addressed via the use of one or more ​open data sets (existing or to be generated by design) belonging to the relevant city.​ Each challenge is accompanied by examples of ​expected outcomes​ and ​impacts​. Applications must explain how they will address the challenge. For the 2018 SCIFI call, startups and other organisations are allowed to submit applications for multiple challenges.

Online submission

The challenges covered by the 2018 call of SCIFI can be found on http://smartcityinnovation.eu/open-calls/​. Please read this information carefully to identify the challenge most relevant to you. If you have questions about a challenge or dataset please contact us at ​hello@smartcityinnovation.eu​. Do not contact the cities directly about the challenges as they cannot engage with applicants outside of the designated channel.

Applications will be submitted online, using the F6S platform:

https://www.f6s.com/scifiopencall2018/about.

Open Data

Cities will give applicants access to datasets related to the challenge via the ​SCIFI Data Portal​. Depending on the challenge and the possibilities of cities to publish data, data will be opened by design or by default. In the challenge definition, cities have listed the datasets related to the challenge that are already available, or that have not been opened yet. You should indicate in the application form if you need other datasets. Cities will only provide access to the datasets they own. If other datasets are necessary for solution development, cities will support successful applicants in negotiating with the dataset owners or will consider investing in obtaining the datasets (eg. installing sensors).

The partner cities in the project will publish available challenge-related data as much aligned as possible. The consortium will publish available and relevant data based upon an open data guidance package for cities and on the ​SCIFI Data Portal​ to provide organisations with a federated entry point to SCIFI data and IoT ressources. That is, in the publication of data they will take into account similar standards, for example for metadata, and publish their data not only at their local platforms but also on the SCIFI Data Portal to increase the technical simplicity and as a result the attractivity for the applying organisations (one way to publish/subscribe IoT topics). With the publication, the ​GDPR​ and other related laws and regulation are taken into account. This is to ensure (re)usability of the datasets for solution development.

The data produced during the pilot will remain the property of the data provider (mainly the cities) or its licensors.

Evaluation and access to funding

Applications will be reviewed in ​two steps​:

  1. a ​review​, based on predefined criteria (see also ​Annex 6​) by reviewers selected by the SCIFI partners. The result of the review will be a list of applicants to be invited to a remote interview in mid-November

  2. an remote ​interview ​(approx. 30 minutes) with an expert panel.

Successful applicants at the interview stage will be invited to ​negotiations​. During negotiations, you will discuss with SCIFI the deliverables and milestones of your six-month accelerator project. During the accelerator, you will work together with mentors and advisors to help you grow your idea into a sustainable transnational business.

Successful applicants will not be required to relocate during the accelerator, though they will need to attend in-person and remote meetings (in the Netherlands, Belgium and/or Northern part of France) with their city partner and other quadruple helix stakeholders. They will also be

required to attend internal reviews, relevant SCIFI events, a kick-off event and a smart cities matchmaking event. Don’t forget to foresee travel expenses in your budget. Companies responding to a SCIFI city challenge will be expected to engage with the city to gather feedback about the added value of their solution for the business problem described in the challenge. These conditions will be discussed in more detail during the negotiation phase (see also ​How we select companies?​ ​below).

 

Why join SCIFI?

Successful applicants will receive funding and support for their data-centric Smart City solution, including:

  • ●  Funding of up to €10,000 to support pilot, proof of concept, minimum viable product or other solution development goal;

  • ●  Full solution implementation opportunity for successful pilots;

  • ●  Co-creation of the solution and full access to and support from the relevant cities and stakeholders;

  • ●  Six-month business accelerator powered by Faubourg Numerique, Agoria and Cambridge CleanTech;

  • ●  Introduction to cities, investors and mentors;

  • ●  Access to hardware and equipment such as sensors;

  • ●  A range of data science, open data and business skills trainings;

  • ●  Dissemination opportunities of your solution amongst peers and cities via SCIFI communication channels and events (in Belgium, The Netherlands and France);

  • ●  Access to technology and datasets, as well as training and advice by SCIFI experts.

The partners in SCIFI are on the one hand medium sized cities located in The Netherlands, Belgium and France working closely together with citizens and city clusters to define the main challenges of the city and establishing a proof of concept that opening their data will create value for their citizens. On the other hand, the business support organisations Cambridge Cleantech (UK), Agoria (Belgium) and Faubourg Numérique (France) provide the necessary link with entrepreneurs and experience in supporting the deployment of innovative projects and the University of Southampton have extensive experience in data innovation projects such as ODINE and ​Data Pitch​. More information about the partners in the project can be found on the project website

 

Who can apply?

In order to apply for the call, ​startups, students and companies must be part of a legal entity. The funding is intended for ​single entities​, rather than consortia of multiple entities. Besides private companies, various universities/business schools have legal registration accessible for students wanting to start up their projects, as have organisations that work together with innovative project owners (incubators etc): these legal entities can be used as well to apply for the call. Only organisations legally registered in any of the EU member states or the associated countries can apply to this innovative procurement from SCIFI; the list of relevant countries is provided in ​Annex 1​ of this document.

In summary, for applications to be considered for evaluation in the SCIFI call, they must comply with the following criteria:

  • ●  The applicant must represent an organisation with a legal registration at the time of the submission (see annex 1);

  • ●  The applicant must be legally established and active in the EU-28 countries or in the Horizon 2020 associated countries;

  • ●  The applicant must be working as an individual company - no consortia will be permitted;

  • ●  The applicant must propose a solution to a challenge, following the instructions laid out in the challenge text;

  • ●  The proposed solution must utilise data that is open or can be opened belonging to the relevant city;

  • ●  The proposed solution must be interoperable: easy replicability is key;

  • ●  The application must be complete and fulfill all criteria explained in Section ​How to apply​.

 

What is the funding for?

Successful applicants can use the SCIFI funding for prototyping their solution in one of the SCIFI partner cities (Mechelen (B), Bruges (B), Delft (NL), Saint-Quentin (FR) in accordance with the SCIFI contract between the relevant city and the organisation (see Annex 7 of this document). We expect successful applicants to involve the relevant stakeholder in the development of the pilot (co-creation) to assure a solution that matches their requirements.

We expect applicants to provide a realistic budget. The following costs can be considered:

  • ●  Costs for staff (planning, preparation, customisation, testing, project management, ..)

    and offices to the extent that it is linked to the cooperation project;

  • ●  Costs of advisory and support services linked to cooperation and delivered by

    consultants and service providers (e.g., for marketing, training or legal support);

  • ●  Travel and accommodation expenses, costs of equipment* and investment expenditure directly related to the project, depreciation of tools and equipment, to the extent that they are used exclusively for the project.

  • ●  The services referred above shall not be a continuous or periodic activity nor relate to the undertakings usual operating costs, such as routine tax consultancy services, regular legal services or advertising.

    You may budget costs in all categories as long as they are relevant for the pilot in your application form (see Annex 2 of this document for more explanations).

A budget template is included in ​Annex 2​.

We would encourage you to budget for at least 2 face to face meetings with your chosen city, along with travel to the Kick-off event and the Matchmaking event. At the moment it is anticipated these will take place in Brussels and Mechelen respectively but are subject to change.

 

Who keeps the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)?

You will be the sole owner of the results and outcomes of your project, and all associated Intellectual Property. Data produced during the pilot phase will remain property of the city. SCIFI itself will not retain an equity stake in your company, nor will it retain any IPR. SCIFI does expect openness in the approach and learnings during the pilot phase.

SCIFI or Interreg 2Seas may require you to present your work as part of our public relations and networking events, in order to showcase the benefits of the innovation programme.

 

How to apply?

To apply for the SCIFI call you are required to follow the process outlined below:

Step 1: Identify challenge

Go to ​smartcityinnovation.eu/apply and follow the instructions there. Consult the challenges and identify the one(s) relevant to you. You may apply to more than one city per challenge, if the option is available. An organisation may submit multiple applications per call, but they must address different challenges.

Should your application be rejected in the 2018 call, a submission of the same proposal to the second call (in 2019) will be allowed. This does not provide you with any additional privileges over other second call applicants. Note that a resubmission is only possible if the 2019 call will maintain the relevant challenge from 2018 - SCIFI cannot guarantee that this will happen, as the 2019 call will be based on a new consultation cycle which may result in a complete new set of challenges.

Step 2: Complete and submit application

Register on the ​submission platform of F6S and start preparing your application which must be in English. You will be asked to

● provide some ​basic information​ about yourself and your team;

  • ●  complete all fields in the proposal form (guidance and a practice template are provided in Annex 3);

  • ●  agree to the terms in the ​declaration of honour and the ​ethics statement (refer to Annex 4 and 5 for templates of these documents); and

  • ●  Upload:

    • ○  a ​pitch deck​ (maximum 12 slides), viewed if you reach the interview stage;

    • ○  a ​short video​ (1 minute), which explains why we should fund your team.

    • ○  The budget of the project (please separate the costs per item)

You may save your application and update it later, or work offline and upload the information closer to the submission. We have prepared a proposal template (Annex 3), which you may want to use to prepare your application offline. This document also includes instructions about how to answer each question. We hope you will find it useful.

Fill out all information required on the submission platform and upload all attachments. (Please ensure you have pressed the submit button!) Only in this case will your application will be considered for review. All information must be in English.

Once you press the submit button, ​you will not be able to revise your application​.

Finally, please note that we cannot accept applications using other channels and cannot help retrieve or reopen any application once submitted. Please ensure you complete and submit your application before the deadline closes, as we cannot make exceptions for technical glitches, unexpected delays, etc.

 

How do we select companies?

Step 1 - Eligibility checks
SCIFI checks if eligibility criteria are met. Proposals considered not eligible will not proceed to

Step 2 of the evaluation process. The criteria are listed in ​Who is the funding for? Step 2 - Review

Eligible proposals will be evaluated by at least ​two reviewers against the criteria listed in Annex 6 of this document.

The whole proposal adds up to 100 points, where the idea and impact account for a maximum of 30 points each and the team and budget are worth a maximum of 40 points. For each of the three areas, you will need to reach a ​threshold​. These are:

  • ●  15 points for idea and impact (each)​, and

  • ●  20 points for team and budget​.

However, to be considered for an interview, you would need to reach a ​minimum total of 60 points​.

The overall score will provide an internal ​ranking of applicants that will guide the decision of who is proceeding to Step 3.

Step 3 - Remote interview

Shortlisted companies will be invited to attend a ​remote 30-minute interview with a panel. During the course of the interview, the applicant will present their proposal in ​a short presentation (up to 5 minutes). The rest of the time will be used for ​questions​. Interviewers may ask for documents or clarifications to be provided before the interview. We will also consider the pitch deck submitted with your application.

Interviews will be held on the 15th and 16th of November 2018. Please understand that we operate on a very tight schedule in order to grant challenge winners access to funding and support as quickly as possible. While we will aim to send out invitations to interviews by 17th October, we will not be able to change the week of the interviews or the slot allocated to you.

We will not be able to negotiate interview dates or any other conditions of the interviews with any applicant and may not reply to any queries on the subject. If a company is not able to attend the interview we will have to reject that application.

After the interview, the panel will decide whether to accept the applicant into the SCIFI programme. Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be sent out shortly following the interview process completion. We will provide structured feedback to all applicants who were invited to interview and were not accepted into the accelerator. Decisions will be final and cannot be contested. We plan to inform applicants about the outcome by the 19th November.

Step 4 – Negotiation

If your application was successful, you will be invited to enter negotiations with SCIFI. During this period we perform due diligence, create the work plan agreement and sign the contract.

  • ●  Due diligence checks: ​Due diligence is performed on the status of the company. This will be in the form of checking the status of the company, validating company information, checking financial information, and performing other checks as required by the Interreg 2Seas before entering onto the programme. Should a company fail the due diligence checks, SCIFI reserves the right to reject the company's application.

  • ●  Work plan agreement: ​Before starting the accelerator, the applicant and SCIFI agree on milestones and success criteria, as well as on the review and dissemination plan. This will involve discussions with the relevant city and other relevant SCIFI partners. This

can be done during an in-person or remote session. The applicant must provide the documentation required to finalise its acceptance into the programme as listed in Annex 7.

Negotiations will start mid November. They must finish (with a signed contract, see Annex 7) by the end of January 15th, 2019. A signed contract must be in place to enter the accelerator and receive funding. A detailed schedule will be sent with the acceptance notification.

Step 5 - Accelerator

Applicants who reach this stage of the process are formally accepted into the 6-month accelerator programme between January 2019 and July 2019.

Any funds will be transferred in stages as the agreed milestones are met. Participants will be mentored by SCIFI partners and external advisors. During the six months, the applicant will be asked to provide regular updates on their progress. In particular, they will be required to attend a kick-off meeting of the cohort, as well as the final matchmaking event. Meetings at key milestones in their project may be remote or in person. Each participant will also be asked to support SCIFI in increasing the public awareness of the project through attending conferences and networking events, both during the project and after matchmaking. In parallel, applicants receiving the funding will receive promotion from SCIFI.

Step 6 - Matchmaking

Successful applicants from Step 5 will graduate from the accelerator programme. The SCIFI partner city they cooperated with during the accelerator programme, other SCIFI partner cities and/or cities in the linked cluster cities can decide to initiate a procurement process after this programme.

In June 2019 a matchmaking event in the 2Seas area will be organised: A platform for project owners to demonstrate and pitch their solutions to the city partners, city clusters of the project, open data oriented cities and other decision makers within the 2Seas area and to test the replicability of the proposed solutions and to stimulate the uptake of their solution.



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