NGI Sargasso Newsletter - December 2023: Tech Innovators are Ready to Shape the Internet of the Future
We can't be happier at NGI Sargasso to say goodbye to 2023 with 79 tech innovators willing to be selected in our funding program to unleash the Internet of the future with a human-centric approach.
Last Monday, the 18th of December 2023, at 17:00h we closed our second open call that had been running for two months -we launched it on the 18th of October as we announced you in our previous newsletter. We were calling for startups, SMEs, Universities and research centres, and NGOs and foundations to join us in our transatlantic journey of creating an Internet of trust. We received 168 open applications, 79 of those in submitted status, coming from 21 Europe and its Associated Countries, besides the US and Canada, to tackle ten Next Generation Internet challenges.
External evaluators will start now the process of carefully reviewing each proposal submitted, and we will announce the final winners in January 2024. Beneficiaries will receive up to €100,000 equity-free funding per project and will start an up to 9-month Capacity Building program including mentoring and coaching services from top mentors.
Since we have to distribute a total of €4.8M in funding, we will launch three more open calls, the third and next one in Spring 2024, with the novelty of accepting applications from the UK, besides Europe and its Associated Countries, the US and Canada, as in our first two calls.
The NGI Sargasso Inspirational Talks
In fact, our innovators from the first open call are already completing their Capacity Building program. In October, they had the pleasure to enjoy an Inspirational Talk by Glenn Ricart, Founder and CTO at US Ignite (one of our partners) and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, about how many Internets we should have, including Dr. Ricart's definition of Internet:
“An Internet is a collaboration with the real world interconnecting great minds, incredible datasets (most real-time), and models that both mimic and have rich interactions with reality” – Glenn Ricart.
This week, they also had the opportunity to listen to Mirko Boehm, Community Developer at The Linux Foundation Europe to discover how they work fostering transatlantic cooperative projects. After the talks, our innovators engaged on interesting Q&As and discussions with the guest experts.
The NGI Forum 2023
With our second open call running seeking Internet innovators and our first open call beneficiaries accomplishing their program, at the NGI Sargasso consortium we have been quite busy.
However, we couldn't miss the NGI Forum 2023 celebrated in Brussels on the 15th and 16th of November to meet Europe’s top Internet innovators at work to build an Internet of Trust, empowering end-users with more choice and control over their data and digital identity.
https://youtu.be/HfT2KpLzDjU
We got inspired by hearing many amazing success stories from the NGI - The Next Generation Internet initiative. One of them was the case of our innovator Alex Grech, Executive Director at the University of Malta and NGI Sargasso open call one beneficiary with the project EBSI-CAN: ‘EBSI and verifiable credentialing in Canada’.
Grech participated as a moderator at “PLENARY 2: Shaping Digital Identity and Credentials in the Web 4.0 Era: Empowering and Safeguarding Individuals in the Online World”, a panel that explored whether – and how – three European Commission’s flagship initiatives, the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Regulation, reinforced by the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), and the Next Generation Internet (NGI), could steer technological developments towards social and environmental good.
https://youtu.be/q4SdNFs-NuE
That is all for our third wave of NGI Sargasso news, to which we invite you to subscribe here.
Stay tuned for updates, success stories, and the latest developments within the NGI Sargasso project. Together, let's shape the future of the Next Generation Internet!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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This newsletter was originally published on NGI Sargasso LinkedIn.
NGI Sargasso Second Open Call Closes with 80 Innovators Ready to Shape the Internet of the Future
NGI Sargasso closed yesterday, the 18th of December at 17:00 CET, its second open call looking for startups, SMEs, Universities and research centres, and NGOs and foundations to redesign the Internet of the future with a total of 168 open applications, 79 of those in submitted status, coming from 21 Europe and its Associated Countries, besides the US and Canada.
Spain is the first in the list of countries that have participated in submitting proposals to create an Internet of trust with a human-centric approach, with 11 submissions, followed by Italy and France with 10; Belgium with 6; Germany and Romania with 5; Estonia, Ireland, and The Netherlands with 4; Greece and North Macedonia with 3; Austria, Finland, Poland and Turkey with 2; and Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel, Luxembourg and Slovenia with 1.
Regarding the type of organizations that have submitted applications, 47 are coming from startups/SMEs; 18 from Universities and 4 from research centres; 7 from NGOs and 2 from foundations; and 1 more is coming from other type of entities.
Internet innovators applied to address one or more of the following ten challenges:
- Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Across Continents.
- Harmonized Cross-Atlantic Digital Governance.
- Inclusive Public Digital Spaces for Global Community Engagement.
- Enhanced Data Security and Privacy in Transcontinental Perspective.
- Interoperability and Standardization Across Borders.
- Global Implementation of Decentralized Technologies.
- Next-Gen Cybersecurity and Generative AI.
- Quantum-Resistant Security Systems.
- Redefining Intelligence in a Hyperconnected World.
- Open Challenge for Next Generation Internet.
The winners of the NGI Sargasso second open call will be announced in January 2024, after external experts carefully evaluate each proposal.
Three more open calls to distribute up to €100,000 equity-free funding per selected project
After closing the first and second open calls, we will launch three more open calls, the next one in Spring 2024, with the novelty of accepting applications from the UK.
Benefits for selected projects include:
- Securing a lump sum of up to €100,000 equity-free funding per proposal.
- Entering an up to 9-month Capacity-Building program with several lectures, inspirational talks and activities.
- Getting coaching and mentoring services from top experts.
- Joining the NGI - The Next Generation Internet Community with over 3,000 innovators.
We encourage you to have a look at the page for EU applicants and the page for US and Canada applicants. We will make public the page for UK applicants in 2024. Stay tuned and join us to reshape the Internet of the future!
How many Internets We Should Have According to Glenn Ricart from US Ignite
This article gathers the main insights of the Inspirational Talk for the NGI Sargasso First Open Call Innovators as part of their 9-month Capacity Building Program
How many Internets do we need? and How many Internets do we have? were the two key questions used by Glenn Ricart, Founder and CTO at US Ignite and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, to open his Inspirational Talk on the 17th of October 2023 for the NGI Sargasso first open call beneficiaries who are currently doing our 9-month Capacity Building program as part of the perks of our funding program.
According to Dr. Ricart, we have commercial, scientific, industrial, smart devices, location-specific and single purpose Internets. The difference between them is their application for which they are used. However, they can be components of cooperating ecosystems.
What do we mean by ‘Next Generation Internet’?
During his talk, the reflection about the meaning of ‘Next Generation Internet’ was also very relevant. Ricart explained that for NGI we mean Internets built from “Next Generation Internet technologies”. Some of these technologies are already being tested in research Internets such as the new FABRIC terabit-per-second research network in the US.
From the question What does Next Generation Internet mean?, he moved to another one: What is an Internet? to share his personal definition.
“An Internet is a collaboration with the real world interconnecting great minds, incredible datasets (most real-time), and models that both mimic and have rich interactions with reality” - Glenn Ricart.
He added that models can be people, resources, data, Artificial Intelligence agents, boundary and safety conditions, and personal privacy.
Ricart highlighted the importance of initiatives like NGI Sargasso to shape our Internet of the future, which will be defined by the 90 brilliant projects by top startups, SMEs, researchers, NGOs and foundations from Europe, UK, US and Canada that we will select during our five open calls, the next and third one opening in Spring 2024.
An Internet of trust was another concept discussed during his talk, “generated by equity, data governance, cybersecurity, privacy and community engagement in the new technologies we work with”, said Ricart. Topics addressed in our funding program, including up to €100,000 equity-free funding.
After Glenn Ricart shared his view on what is an Internet and what Next Generation Internet means, our first open call innovators featured a vivid Q&A session and debate, in which interesting discussions arose, such as the differences between open, closed, local, and blockchain verified Internet, and how to create interoperability between them.
More about US Ignite
US Ignite is nonprofit, accelerating the smart city movement – and creating value for an entire ecosystem – by guiding communities into the connected future, creating a path for private sector growth, and advancing technology research that’s at the heart of smart city development.
As a trusted partner, they bring this ecosystem together, successfully pairing financial investment with technical and organizational expertise. Through the public-private partnership (P3) programs they run, US Ignite is a catalyst for communications network advancement, and for innovation in smart city services that are powered by a new generation of technologies.
NGI Sargasso is formed by a consortium with four more partners that we invite you to discover.