NGI Sargasso closed its second open call with 80 Internet innovators ready to redesign the Internet of the Future for our generations to come. After external mentors evaluated each of the submitted collaborative proposals, nine projects have been selected as beneficiaries to receive up to €100,000 equity-free funding and enter an up to 9-month Capacity Building program powered by NGI Sargasso partners and third party experts and mentors.
Discover the innovative projects that will foster the Transatlantic cooperation on Next Generation Internet technologies under the NGI Sargasso funding program!
1. DPP-CRC: Digital Product Passport for Carbon-Reduced Concrete
Develop and demonstrate a digital product passport for carbon-reduced concrete emphasising cross-Atlantic legislation and governance.
This project utilizes SSI technologies and Zero-Knowledge Proofs to create process conform Digital Product Passports in line with the EU Green Deal. It targets Europe’s growing carbon-reduced concrete market with the goal to collect and present verified, tamper-proof data along the production chain. This is vital in construction for reducing concrete’s carbon footprint. The project’s efficacy will be demonstrated in European and Canadian markets, as a blueprint for sustainable industry practices.
- Partners: OwnYourData (Austria) and Doka Canada Ltd./Ltee (Canada).
2. DES: Decentralized Electronic Signature using Blockchain based Digital Identity
Revolutionizing digital authentication: a blockchain-powered decentralized electronic signature system, integrating with gov-smart solution for enhanced security and trust in public sector transactions.
The DES project, under the NGI Sargasso Support Programme, seeks to create a groundbreaking decentralized electronic signature system using blockchain technology. Integrated with Gov-Smart, it will enable citizens to generate secure digital signatures, verified and authenticated through a robust blockchain framework. This initiative promises to revolutionize public sector transactions, offering unparalleled security, transparency, and efficiency.
- Partners: AI Professional Software Solution (Romania) and VizLore LLC (USA).
3. GUARDIAN: Detection and Recovery from Ransomware for Attacks to Data in Motion
Ransomware real attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in the file system for data in motion is a sophisticated, non documented and elusive attack that poses potential devastating consequences, including sensitive information leaks to systems and loss of trust among stakeholders.
The GUARDIAN project will define and implement the GUARDIAN toolkit: a set of detection and recovery tools for Ransomware attacks to data in motion. To achieve this, GUARDIAN will leverage methodologies and cutting-edge technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence and applications virtualization) to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats. The toolkit will be integrated and validated in a dedicated testbed designed to reproduce the intricacies of the aforementioned attacks.
- Partners: Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and University of Wisconsin_#_Madison (USA).
4. HPQCSSI: Hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptography Self-Sovereign Identity Stack
Develop a quantum secure self-sovereign identity manager designed for the human-centric next generation internet.
HPQCSSI will develop a hybrid cryptographic quantum secure self-sovereign identity stack with a focus on bridging the EU and USA identity gateways for the human-centric future. The project will improve existing open-source self-sovereign identity (SSI) tools by hardening them against quantum attacks through parallel use of classical and quantum-resistant cryptography. EU-USA workshops of future consumers will be conducted to ensure that the developed SSI tools truly bring value to users globally.
- Partners: VTT (Finland) and Ohio University (USA).
5. Melisseus: Large Language Models as Defensive Honeypots
Melisseus uses Large Language Models (LLM) as the backend of advanced deceptive honeypots for human attackers. It mimics systems, services, and data to actively engage attackers, capture their tactics, and provide network defenders with insights into their motivations and objectives.
To research, develop, and apply LLMs to generate honeypots designed to deceive human attackers, Melisseus aim is to increase variance in response types, improve technical detail, and precisely replicate different target systems. They expect the LLM’s generated output to be more effective at luring or confounding attackers into perceiving honeypots as genuine production systems. They plan to use LLMs to create honeypots tailored to popular protocols like SSH, TELNET, SMTP, POP3, MySQL, MsSQL, and HTTP.
- Partners: CVUT (Czech Republic) and Université de Montréal (Canada).
6. RSFA: Rosseta Stone for APIs
Interoperability has become a major demand of digital ecosystems globally. Achieving it usually means aligning the APIs of different organizations with a common semantic ontology. The Rosetta Stone for APIs makes it easy to align your organization’s APIs with the ontology of your industry.
Within EU Data Spaces, in American agriculture and through the India Stack, there is fast growing demand for interoperability based on the same global technical standards. In these three continents, there is explicit demand for a Rosetta Stone for APIs, as organizations need to make their existing APIs interoperable with their partners. In this project, the NGI Sargasso innovators will develop an open source solution that easily transforms an API from its current form to one that is compliant with the ontology of its industry.
- Partners: Startin’blox (France) and Open Food Network Canada (Canada).
7. SIDIHub: Sustainable & Interoperable Digital Identity
Empowering digital identity: where collective intelligence drives cross-border interoperability.
SIDI is a collaborative hub involving over 15 organizations from EU, USA and Canada. It aims to bridge national digital identity schemes by developing a policy resolver and related internet protocol that maps trust framework of country A to country B. By building cross-border interoperability for digital identity, the project seeks to accelerate operationalization of digital trust services. With over a 1,000 companies onboard, SIDI demonstrates potential to make an impact in the identity domain.
- Partners: SIA (Belgium) and OpenID Foundation (USA).
8. Trustless Democracy: Decentralized Digital Sovereign Identity and Voting System using Blockchain Technology
Revolutionizing democracy beyond traditional 4-year cycles, Trustless Democracy introduces a zero-cost, technology-driven model for efficient, remote electoral participation, leveraging blockchain for secure, transparent voting, empowering citizens in real-time democratic processes.
Challenging the traditional concept that democracy is limited to voting every four years, the Trustless Democracy project employs cutting-edge blockchain technology and zero-knowledge proofs to facilitate continuous, cost-free electoral participation. This initiative integrates secure digital identities and an innovative open-source voting system, designed to significantly boost citizen efficiency and involvement in democratic processes. Their first implementation will be through Gov-Smart.
- Partners: AI Professional Software Solution (Romania) and Université de Sherbrooke (Canada).
9. VeriRecruit: AI-Driven Interview Analysis for Precision Hiring
VeriRecruit: transforming hiring with AI precision-unveiling authentic talent, fostering trust, and elevating recruitment experiences for a future-ready workforce.
VeriRecruit is a human-centric approach to hiring excellence. Harnessing AI for precise analysis, validation, and improving the selection process, they will unveil authentic talent, foster trust, and elevate recruitment experiences for a future-ready workforce. Redefining interviews, shaping careers.
- Partners: Training Experience (Spain) and University of Maryland (USA).
You can discover the rest of the NGI Sargasso innovators in our catalogue of funded projects.