A number of technological trends will thoroughly reshape the internet over the next 10-15 years. Europe strives to drive this technology revolution while contributing to making the future internet more human-centric. An internet for the people, that contributes to a more sustainable and inclusive society. For this, the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative brings together some of Europe’s top internet innovators, researchers and policymakers, who are shaping the internet of tomorrow.

In this article you'll find info on the upcoming stakeholder event and on available funding.

NGI Forum - Thu 13.09.2018 - Porto 

The NGI Forum is an opportunity to share knowledge with leading experts from a variety of disciplines, including privacy and trust, decentralised data governance, discovery and identification, artificial intelligence, and more. The event will include a mix of specialist talks, open discussions and interactive working groups. The emphasis is on stimulating discussion and the free exchange of ideas between researchers, SMEs & startups, industry players, policy makers, and civil society.

Registration is free, but mandatory. More detailed information can be found on the NGI Forum website.

Funding for research projects - open calls

Within the framework of Horizon 2020, there are quite some funding opportunities to shape the future internet and create our Next Generation Internet together! The calls are open from 16 October 2018 and will close on 28 March 2019.

Cutting across technologies, the Open Internet Initiative (ICT-24-2018-2019), based on an agile and flexible programme approach, will focus on research teams, hi-tech start-ups, SMEs and social innovators, and will rapidly explore promising avenues for the Internet of the future. The topics addressed here form a coherent and integrated package.

For the call under ICT-24, closing in 2019, 'Research and Innovation (R&I) Actions' in the following three sub-topics will be called for (total amount: 21.5 Million). Proposals should address only one of these sub-topics.

• i-b) Strengthening  internet  trustworthiness  with  electronic  identities
• ii-b)  Service  and  data  portability
• iii-b)   Open   Internet   architecture   renovation

To build upon the EU-US collaboration (ICT-31-2018-2019) in previous work programmes in the area of research experimentation, the aim is to reinforce cooperation and strategic partnerships in the area of Next Generation Internet, to establish a continuous dialogue among the key actors in the US and European programmes and to implement focused projects for joint developments.

For the call closing in 2019 a 'Research and Innovation (R&I) Action' for common experiments by EU/US teams on emerging topics for the Next Generation Internet / Tomorrow's Internet programmes on top of EU/US experimental platforms will be called for (3.5 Million).

Other Calls that are also closing in 2019 and that are related to NGI

An empowering, inclusive Next Generation Internet (ICT-30-2019-2020):

• Call for an 'Innovation Action (IA)' closing in 2019:
  Digital Learning Incubator for personalised and inclusive digital learning (7 Million)
• Call for a 'Coordination and Support Action' (CSA, 1 Million) to stimulate the collaboration and identify:
  a) emerging research challenges, notably those arising from digital certification of learning  outcomes  and  blockchain  technologies  and  their  uptake  for  a  more  inclusive  and personalised   learning;  
  b)  address   legal,   organisational   and   technological   challenges underpinning  the  uptake  of  the  proposed  solutions,  notably  in  relation  to  their  scalability; 
  c)  make  policy  recommendations  in  view  of  the  priorities  of  the  next  programme  for  research, innovation and deployment 

More information available here: https://www.ngi.eu/resources/ec-calls/

Funding for research projects - other topics

Other topics under NGI in the Work Programme 2018-2020 (NO calls in 2019):

• Future Interactive Technologies (ICT-25-2018-2019)
• Artificial Intelligence (ICT-26-2018-2020)
• Internet of Things technologies and applications (ICT-27-2018-2019)
• Future social networks, media and platforms (ICT-28-2018)
• The Next Generation Internet will be multilingual and inclusive (ICT-29-2018).

Further assistance

If you would like more info on the NGI Initiative or have some specific questions, don't hesitate to contact Nico Deblauwe from NCP Flanders.