ERA-NET Cofund Urban Transformation Capacities (ENUTC)

The ERA-NET Cofund Urban Transformation Capacities (ENUTC) invites researchers, urban government authorities, – including cities and municipalities, – businesses, civil society and other stakeholders to build transnational consortia to create innovation and research projects that enable and support capacity building for urban transformations. You can find the call text under "Documents" on this page.

Content

  1. About the call
  2. Projects
  3. Events within ENUTC
  4. Call topics
  5. Who can apply?
  6. Approaches and recommendations for proposals
  7. Project duration
  8. Documents, call text
  9. Timeline
  10. FAQ
  11. Call secretariat and contact information
  12. Participating funding agencies and national contact points

1. About the call:

In the ERA-NET Cofund Urban Transformation Capacities (ENUTC) Call, 16 national research and innovation funding agencies, from 14 European countries (namely members of the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe), with the European Commission, have earmarked a global budget of about 18.4 M€, in order to support transnational R&I projects.

The call applies a two-step application process, in which the first step involves the submission of a pre-proposal outline and the second step is for submission of complete full proposals.

This call welcomes a broad range of research and innovation projects that enable capacity building for urban transformations.

Projects should clearly build upon previous experiences of building capacity in practice and build upon existing knowledge of transformation capacities towards urban sustainability, resilience and liveability.

Projects should study transformation processes and transformative capacity building for increased knowledge and understanding of such processes making it possible to  develop this knowledge further. Projects are encouraged to use new technologies and tools for implementation of research and innovation and to ensure possibilities for scaling up.

These principles apply to all three call topics as an overarching entry point.

“The goal of this call is to generate transnational research and innovation projects to support capacity building for urban transformation.”

2. Projects

In December 2021, 16 projects were announced recommended for funding in this call. View the projects here. 

 

3. Events in ENUTC

Both international as well as national activities will take place to ease matchmaking and inform applicants about the proposal process. For national events, please get in contact with your national funding agency (information at the end of the page). The international events will be as follows:


4. Call topics

In this call, urban transformation capacities are related to three main topics, which address a wide variety of urban challenges. Because of the intricacy of issues, the three call topics overlap and there are also crosscutting concerns (use of data, tools for decision-makers, etc.). Each challenge considers these transverse issues from a specific perspective. A proposal must address at least one call topic but may be related to several call topics if it considers a crosscutting subject or an issue that is at the frontier of several topics.

  • Topic 1: Urban circular economies
    This implies functional urban design in support of circular systems, the use of nature-based solutions – that is actions for societal challenges that are inspired by processes and functioning of nature – and for supporting circularity in resource use and waste management strategies, business models and smart city developments for the common good.

  • Topic 2: Community-based developments and urban innovation ecosystems
    This implies innovative neighbourhoods which enable social innovation and local entrepreneurs, inhabitant engagement, co-creation and co-design to support liveable, just, inclusive and attractive neighbourhoods.

  • Topic 3: Robust and resilient urban infrastructure and built environment
    This implies an urban infrastructure and a built environment that can resist natural, environmental, social, economic and technological threats on smaller and larger scales based on efficient use of resources. It also implies fair access to urban infrastructure and the built environment.


5. Who can apply?

Each project proposal must be submitted by a project consortium consisting of at least three eligible applicants applying for funds in the call from at least three different countries whose funders participate in the call. 

Depending on the national requirements applicants can be organisations such as:

  • Research organisations (such as universities, university colleges, research institutes or other authorities with research undertakings).
  • Urban government authorities (such as regional and local government institutions, municipalities and municipal organisations, city authorities, urban governments, urban public administrations, and infrastructure and service providers).
  • Companies and commercial organisations (from industry, cooperatives, and small, medium and large enterprises), especially public utility companies (e.g. in the field of energy supply, other communal supply and disposal systems); infrastructure and service providers; real estate developers; investors; facility management providers; actors from the fields of energy, spatial and transport planning; transport authorities; entrepreneurs and innovators.
  • Consumers (e.g. business enterprises and test households).
  • Civil society (e.g. local and community organisations, non-governmental organisations, not-for-profit organisations, urban communities and inhabitants).

6. Approaches and recommendations for the proposals:

All projects are expected to be cross-sectoral and will be required to clearly engage relevant stakeholders, including the public sector, private sector, civil society and academia, throughout the duration of projects. Projects must also have a transdisciplinary approach, including relevant disciplines, such as natural sciences, social sciences, technical sciences, and applied fields, to support and implement integrative approaches and strategies to enhance urban transformation capacities.


7. Project duration

The expected project duration is three years i.e. the project duration applied for may not exceed 36 months. Note: some countries also impose a minimum project duration, please check the regional/national eligibility guidelines for further requirements.

8. Documents

>> Call text
>> Submission guidelines for applicants
>> Pre-proposal form
>> ENUTC presentation
>> ENUTC Information flyer
>> Full proposal template
>> Submission Guidelines for the full proposal phase
>> National Forms for the full proposal phase for ANR, Innoviris and NWO

>> Article on the kick-off event, the projects catalogue

9. Tentative Call Calendar

Call opening: 29 January 2021, 13.00 CET
International information webinar: 18 February 2021, 13.00-14.30 CET
International online matchmaking event: 9 March 2021, 10.00-12.00 CET
Matchmaking platform B2Match opens Friday 26 Feb and closes for registration 15 April
Pre-proposal submission deadline: 15 April 2021 (14:00 CEST)
Evaluation of pre-proposals: April – May 2021
Submission open for full proposals: June 2021
Full proposals submission deadline: 23 September 2021 (14:00 CEST)
Evaluation of full proposals: September – October 2021
Funding decisions announced:
December 2021 – March 2022
Kick-off event: April 2022
Projects end:
2025

10. FAQ

There is now a collection of the frequently asked questions (FAQ) about this call. It includes questions that have been posed in connection to and during our webinars. Please note that it is the call text that is the guiding document for your proposal. This FAQ only includes short answers related to specific questions. Find it here.


11. Call secretariat

If you have questions on the general process and proposal submission, please contact the Call secretariat:

Elena Simion
UEFISCDI – Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding
Email: elena.simion@uefiscdi.ro  / enutc@uefiscdi.ro
Tel
.: +40 21 307 19 93 

Vincent van Doninck and Aniek van den Eersten
NWO – Dutch Research Council
Email: enutc@nwo.nl
Tel.: +31 70 349 42 66 or +31 70 349 43 97


12. Participating countries and funding agencies:

Country Funding agency
Austria Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Johannes Bockstefl
Email: johannes.bockstefl@ffg.at
Tel.: +43 (0)5 7755-5042

Paul Kuttner
Email: paul.kuttner@ffg.at
Tel.: +43 (0)5 7755-5069

Belgium FWO – The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)

Toon Monbaliu
Email: eranet@fwo.be
Tel.:+32 (0)2 550 15 70

Innoviris

Beata Bibrowska
Email: bbibrowska@innoviris.brussels
Tel.: +32 (0) 2 600 50 22

Bulgaria Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF)

Mrs. Milena Aleksandrova
Email: aleksandrova@mon.bg
Tel.: +359 884 171 363

Estonia Estonian Research Council (ETAg)

Priit Kilgas
Email: Priit.Kilgas@etag.ee
Tel.: +372 7300 322

France Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR)

Aurélien Gaufrès
Email:Aurelien.Gaufres@agencerecherche.fr Tel.: +33 (0)1 73 54 82 29

Lara Abdel Halim
Email:Lara.AbdelHalim@agencerecherche.fr Tel.: +33 (0)1 78 09 80 06

Pascal Bain
Email: Pascal.Bain@agencerecherche.fr
Tel.: +33 (0)1 78 09 80 43

Latvia State Education Development Agency (VIAA)

Uldis Berkis
Email: Uldis.Berkis@viaa.gov.lv
Tel.: +371-29472349

Lithuania Research Council of Lithuania (RCL)

Asta Aleksandraviciene 
Email asta.aleksandraviciene@lmt.lt
Tel. +370 676 18297

The Netherlands Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Domain Social Sciences and Humanities (NWO)

Vincent Van Doninck
Email: enutc@nwo.nl
Tel.: +31 70 349 42 66

Aniek van den Eersten
Email: enutc@nwo.nl
Tel.: +31 70 349 43 97

Taskforce for Applied Research SIA (Regieorgaan SIA)

Marcus van Leeuwen
Email: marcus.vanleeuwen@regieorgaan-sia.nl
Tel.: +31 6 12 25 32 27

Norway Research Council of Norway (RCN)

Mari Soleroed
Email: mso@rcn.no
Tel.: +47 952 13 880

Poland National Science Centre (NCN)

Dr Katarzyna Jarecka – Stępień
Email: katarzyna.jarecka-stepien@ncn.gov.pl

Alicja Dyląg
E-mail: alicja.dylag@ncn.gov.pl

Portugal (Azores) Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FRCT)

Gisela Nascimento
Email: Gisela.MC.Nascimento@azores.gov.pt
Tel. : +351 296308948

Romania Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)

Elena Simion
Email: elena.simion@uefiscdi.ro
Tel.: +4021 307 19 93

Spain Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)

Juan Climent and María Gavira
Email: urban@aei.gob.es

Sweden Formas – Forskningsrådet för miljö, areella näringar och samhällsbyggande (FORMAS)

Kristina Laurell
Email: kristina.laurell@formas.se

The Swedish Energy Agency (SWEA)

Emina Pasic
Email: Emina.Pasic@energimyndigheten.se
Tel.: +46 (0)16 544 21 89

Patrik Rydén (Viable Cities)
Email: patrik.ryden@viablecities.se
Tel.: +46 (0)733 99 86 19

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Faq

FAQ

Please click here for the frequently asked questions we collected.
If you have an additional questions you are welcome to mail us at info@jpi-urbaneurope.eu