NGI Sargasso Supports CO-INVESTIN to Connect Deep-Tech Investment Ecosystems Across Europe
NGI Sargasso and the CO-INVESTIN project have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is a collaboration agreement, to support each other by providing visibility to our outreach activities.
Both European-funded initiatives will cooperate during 2025 to promote our relevant actions, events and project milestones to our network of stakeholder communities and through our main digital outlets.
CO-INVESTIN: Creating an Interconnected Landscape within EU Ecosystems, Promoting Investment Opportunities
CO-INVESTIN aims to create cross-border co-investment opportunities for modest and moderate EU ecosystems by leveraging promising start-ups in the portfolio of local investors to attract foreign investors from more advanced ecosystems in their new rounds. The CO-INVESTIN approach relies on four main dimensions that cover in a complete manner both the analytic and the action oriented dimensions of the approach:
- Investment gap analysis.
- Development of market orientation programs.
- Stimulating cross-border investments.
- Upscaling the framework and enhancing its impact.
Have a look at the CO-INVESTIN Portfolio Showcase #1 to understand better what they do:
https://youtu.be/XLr33_249ck?si=-e2qYoGtyA0FLuTX
The partners making CO-INVESTIN possible are: Booster-Labs, Techcelerator, TechTour, and EUVC, coordinated by Found.ation.
NGI Sargasso: Building Bridges Across Continents for the Future of the Internet
NGI Sargasso promotes the developing of a unique collaborative ecosystem to harvest Europe-United States and/or Europe-Canada technology breakthroughs that aim to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet (NGI) technologies, services and standards. We also aim to contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the Internet commons, following to the NGI initiative values of openness, inclusivity and sustainability.
We have funded +50 projects of NGI Sargasso Innovators in the following topics:
- Trust.
- Data sovereignty.
- Digital identity.
- Internet architecture & renovation.
- Decentralized technology.
- Interoperability & standardization.
- New internet technology.
https://youtu.be/QoVUJTsIv9Q?si=-g7uYc62qQMT7Mtb
Together, NGI Sargasso and CO-INVESTIN will keep fostering the growth of the deep tech and Next Generation Internet communities in Europe and across borders!
NGI Sargasso Joins Transfiere 2025 to Connect with the European Science, Technology and Innovation Community
The NGI Sargasso partner Mobile World Capital Barcelona joined Transfiere 2025, celebrated from the 12th to the 14th of March in the Spanish city of Málaga. We shared the booth with our colleagues from The Collider, to join discussions with key stakeholders driving the future of science, technology and innovation in Europe.
NGI Sargasso Innovators at Transfiere 2025
NGI Sargasso was also represented by two of our Innovators, who were in the stand E1A:
- Roberto Medina Bujalance, CEO at Sosteco (Spain), shared insights about his project SmartBreath: AI Based SmartBreath Cloud, selected in our Open Call 4. SmartBreath AI is a comprehensive respiratory care platform to prevent respiratory complications in both hospital settings and at the point of care. The AI-based SmartBreath Cloud aims to enhance patient outcomes by leveraging real-time respiratory and pulmonary data collected through incentive spirometers. This project is partnered by Sonoma State University (USA).
- Juan Luis Ramos Villalón, from Nebulous Systems (Spain), spoke about DecentraLabs: Decentralized Online Laboratories for Education and Research, beneficiary of our Open Call 5. This project, also partnered by The University of British Columbia (Canada) is making online labs sustainable through the application of decentralized technologies.
More about Transfiere
Transfiere is the largest European event on R&D and knowledge transfer connecting the entire Spanish innovation system and boosting its international reach. Talent, scientific and technological development, access to investment, and business opportunities are all at a high-potential event for generating global alliances and synergies.
In 2025, they closed their 14th edition with over 5,200 professional visitors, over 600 companies, institutions, and administrators, and over 400 experts in attendance.
Strengthening the NGI Ecosystem: NGI Sargasso and NGI Local for Local Sign a Collaboration Agreement
With the aim of strengthening the Next Generation Internet (NGI) community, at NGI Sargasso, we have recently signed an agreement to collaborate with NGI Local for Local, one of our sibling projects creating economic ecosystems through NGI deployment.
NGI Local for Local helps cities strengthen regional economies with digital tools for local currencies, fostering social cohesion and simplifying administration. They integrate open source NGI building blocks into the Local for Local open-source software stack. They nurture a software ecosystem through open calls for NGI innovators, which they finance, supervise, mentor, and support in standardization. The selected top teams collaboratively create the envisioned software stack consisting of blockchain-based infrastructure, a modular platform, and one application called Locasus-B. The application is then tested in three pilots across five regions throughout Europe, to then measure both the economic impact and the technical performance of the software stack.
Why is NGI Local for Local doing this? Local regions throughout Europe face shrinking economies, which threaten their ability to sustain small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Strong technological intervention aimed at strengthening local ties can revitalize these regions. At the same time, the European Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative proposes a new Internet of Humans. It brings European values and norms to all citizens.
"We hold that NGI is the technological intervention needed to revitalize our regions" - NGI Local for Local consortium.
The direct outcomes of this project are economic validation and technical performance measurement of the software stack. These outcomes contribute to the adoption of the Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. They distribute building blocks that can create sustainable circular economies that give better control for users on their digital life. This has rapid scaling potential throughout Europe, and the consortium, coordinated by Paul van Vulpen from Centric Netherlands BV, and partnered by Kauno Technologijos Universitetas, Université d'Aix Marseille and Technische Universiteit Delft, will act to realize this adoption.
NGI Sargasso: Building Bridges Across Continents for the Future of the Internet
In the case of NGI Sargasso, we are also aiming to create an Internet of Humans, but going beyond the European region by fostering Transatlantic collaboration across continents matching teams of European innovators with USA and/or Canadian. In fact, we have funded +50 projects of NGI Sargasso Innovators in the following topics:
- Trust.
- Data sovereignty.
- Digital identity.
- Internet architecture & renovation.
- Decentralized technology.
- Interoperability & standardization.
- New internet technology.
Besides our collaboration with NGI Local for Local, we are also cooperating with NGI Search in order to create a strong Next Generation Internet in Europe and beyond!
NGI Sargasso Innovators Shine with their Solutions Shaping a Human-Centric Internet at 4YFN - MWC 2025 in Barcelona
The Hall 8.1 was the scenery that saw nine of our NGI Sargasso Innovators shine at 4YFN 2025, the startup side event of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025, celebrated in the Spanish city of Barcelona from the 3rd to the 6th of March.
During the four days of the hectic international event, nine teams selected in the NGI Sargasso open calls had the opportunity to present their projects creating the Next Generation Internet in a Pitching Session, and to network in their own booths located in the Hall 8.1 of 4YFN, from 8.1 B63.4 to 8.1 B63.8.
We also counted with the special visit of Stergios Tsiafoulis, our Project Officer from the European Commission, who spoke with our beneficiaries about the progress of their projects, and one of the coaches individually mentoring and supporting them during the OnCampus Program months, Juan Juan. It was a unique week for NGI Sargasso, in which some of our innovators could meet in person for the first time with the NGI Sargasso consortium partners supporting them to build an Internet of Humans: European Science Foundation, Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Sploro and AUSTRALO.
https://youtu.be/tOzvedKYJjg?feature=shared
Next-Generation Internet: Bridging Continents, Innovating Together
"Next-Generation Internet: Bridging Continents, Innovating Together". This was the title of the NGI Sargasso panel we hosted in the morning of Tuesday, the 4th of March, in the Hall 8.1 B55 of 4YFN 2025. 'What does NGI mean?', 'How is NGI Sargasso supporting innovation in Next Generation Internet?'
Four of our NGI Sargasso Innovators took the stage to discuss these and some other questions, moderated by our coordinator Emmanuel Detsis, from ESF - European Science Foundation.
Yuting Jiang, CEO of Agora Citizen Network, spoke about how she is developing a citizen network purposefully designed for civic dialogues, since today social networks are "very powerful tools to manipulate public opinion", in which users can prove anonymously that they are humans, and not bots, she explained. Alex Bourlier, Co-Founder of Startin'blox, is creating data spaces making access to data easier. He highlighted the possibility given by NGI Sargasso to access top business opportunities in the USA market. Christos Stefanatos, Project Leader at EV Loader, remarked that the NGI Sargasso Brokerage Platform to find a partner across the Atlantic was a "matchmaking heaven". He is developing a software to optimize and streamline payments in electric vehicles charging stations, protecting users' data. Erik Hieta-aho, Senior Scientist at VTT, reflected about why quantum algorithms are the future that will impact every company. With HPQCSSI, or Hybrid PQC Self-Sovereign Identity Stack, he is making digital credentials more secure.
Our Project Officer Stergios Tsiafoulis was in charge of opening this session to speak about NGI - The Next Generation Internet initiative, creating an Internet of Humans for Europe by funding over 1.500 ideas. He also emphasized that NGI Sargasso was the first project fostering collaboration between Europe and USA and Canada. In fact, we have funded 50 innovators through five open calls, distributing a total €4.8M.
Monique Calisti, CEO of Martel Innovate and NGI Outreach Office Director, encouraged the audience to keep building an Internet of Trust, and to apply for the NGI open calls.
Together, we will keep building bridges for the future of the Internet!
NGI Sargasso Showcase: Pioneering Innovations for Europe’s Digital Future
Right after the panel, five more NGI Sargasso Innovators joined Yuting, Alex, Christos and Erik in the pitching session "NGI Sargasso Showcase: Pioneering Innovation for Europe's Digital Future", in which each of them had three minutes to present their project funded by NGI Sargasso to the audience:
- Ángel Hernando-Veciana, Full Professor at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, presented "GMM: A Global Market Maker for Decentralized Token Exchanges". He was joined by Marcelo Bagnulo Braun.
- Yuting Jiang, CEO at Agora Citizen Network, presented her alternative social media network.
- Julien Bringer, CEO at Simeon, presented his platform.
- Giovanni Pettorru, PhD Student at Università degli Studi di Cagliari, presented "POSIDONIA: POSition Information with Digital twin Offloading in trustworthy Next-generation Internet Applications". He was accompanied by Francesca Marcello, Virginia Pilloni, and Marco Martalo.
- Erik Hieta-aho, Senior Scientist at VTT, presented "HPQCSSI: Hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptography Self-Sovereign Identity Stack". Valtteri Lipiäinen was with him during the event days.
- Alex Bourlier, Co-Founder at Startin'blox, presented "RSFA: Rosetta Stone for API".
- Jordi Mongay Batalla, Professor at Warsaw University of Technology, presented "EvORAN: Evaluation of Open RAN network equipment including underlying".
- Christos Stefanatos, Project Lead at EV Loader, presented "EVI US Pilot: Electric Vehicle Identity US Pilot". His colleagues Nikolaos Karadimos and Alexios Karadimos were with him at 4YFN 2025.
- Fernando Gómez Gil, Co-Founder at Training Experience, presented "VeriRecruit: AI-Driven Interview Analysis for Precision Hiring". Nicolas Ladino Calvo joined Fernando at their 4YFN booth.
Check our portfolio to discover more ground-breaking ideas creating the Next Generation Internet with a human-centric approach for our generations to come.
✨THANK YOU✨ to everyone who joined NGI Sargasso's mission of empowering NGI innovation across continents during the 4YFN 2025 week in Barcelona!
In case you missed our sessions, you can watch them below:
https://youtu.be/fZw_JkG95y4?si=hYcyAgqMiCT6W48m