Applications for DIHNET’s widening call for developing DIHs was closed on 1st of March, 2021 and 35 developing hubs from 15 countries have applied for this open call. One of the most important criteria for being selected was that the hubs needed to have experience in at least 3 technology areas. The most widespread technology experience area turned out to be the Internet of Things.
Applicants located in 107 eligible regions from Europe could apply for this call. The most active country was Romania, with 5 from 35 applications, followed by Lithuania and Serbia with 4 applications each. There were only 1 application from Bulgaria, Estonia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Ukraine. 9 developing hubs will be selected to participate in cross-border technology transfer together with well established i.e. mature DIHs. Proposals will be evaluated by two independent external experts with wide expertise in cross-border collaboration of DIHs and technology transfer projects and the results will be announced in May.
The selected developing hubs will become part of a 21-month program activities divided into two stages and will receive up to €100,000 funding. During the first stage, the chosen DIHs will receive mentoring and training from DIHNET’s mature hubs and work together to create a roadmap for stronger smart technology acceleration in their respective region. This roadmap will also include approaches to mobilise regional funds, set-up dialogue with regional authorities to promote the uptake of I4MS and SAE technologies and lay the groundwork for developing-mature hub cooperation.
Throughout the second stage of the program, developing hubs will be working together with mature DIHs to support local SMEs or mid-caps to refine their digital solutions in the form of technology transfer experiments. During these experiments the hubs will be testing DIHNET’s proposed cross-border collaboration approach and assisting the companies to reach new market potential and scale.
All the information about the open call can be found on our website, community and social media channels.