Discover the Last 13 NGI Sargasso Innovators from our Open Call 5 Creating an Internet Of Humans Across Continents

Three months ago, we closed our Open Call 5, the last of the NGI Sargasso cascade funding program. It was the 25th of November 2024 when 104 Transatlantic teams submitted their ideas for our call, which meant that 104 innovators were willing to join us in our mission of shaping an Internet of Trust with a human-centric approach for our generations to come.

After being reviewed by external evaluators, 13 teams that submitted their ideas on the 25th of November started today their NGI Sargasso OnCampus Program to kick-off their projects to build the Next Generation Internet. Keep reading the article to discover them!

Welcome to your Next Generation Internet Transatlantic journey!

1. AAA: 3A - Authenticated Anonymity Architecture

The 3A - Authenticated Anonymity Architecture project (AAA) aims to provide a decentralized architecture to defend the right of lawful individuals to be anonymous online, while also protecting society from criminals exploiting anonymity to carry out illegal deeds undisturbed.

Implementation and deployment of a blockchain-based software architecture for ethical, robust, and authenticated anonymity. This enables the creation, management, and distribution of authenticated anonymous accounts for Internet use, with mappings between real identities and anonymous accounts stored in the blockchain, resolvable only when multiple legal jurisdictions agree on misuse. This team aims to perform a large-scale performance analysis and present a concrete testbed to public administrations.

2. ARC: Cancer Patient Application Powered by Generative AI (starting with CRC)

Arcella’s AI-powered Cancer Patient App is a cutting-edge medical device that empowers patients and healthcare providers with personalized insights, real-time data analysis, clinical trial matching, and health tracking, supporting informed decisions and enhancing personalized, holistic cancer care.

ARC focus is the development of an advanced, interactive Cancer Patient App — a state-of-the-art Medical Device powered by Gen- AI. This app is designed to empower both patients and healthcare providers, delivering personalized insights and enhancing care through real-time data analysis. By integrating tailored info, clinical trial matching, and health tracking features, they aim to support informed decision-making, foster patient engagement, and provide holistic care tailored to each patient’s journey.

3. ArcFusion: Agentic AI Analytics and Global Shopfloor Connectivity

Bridging the gap with precision and agentic AI, empowering SMEs to tier-1manufacturers with seamless AI analytics and real-time MES integration.

ArcFusion combines precision AI, agentic AI, and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to empower Tier 1-3 manufacturers and SMEs with advanced shopfloor analytics. It enhances global operational efficiency, unlocks market opportunities, and delivers automation, user empowerment, and scalable AI access for non-technical users, driving faster time-to-market and improved productivity. Integration of agentic and precision AI supports next-gen shopfloor AI systems, moving beyond state of the art.

4. COAT: Comprehensive Online Agreement Transparency (COAT) Toolkit

COAT Toolkit is a toolkit for empowering data education of online users with clear and understandable explanations of complex online agreements, to ensure data privacy and promote accountability.

COAT (Comprehensive Online Agreement Transparency) toolkit is designed to interpret and simplify complex online agreements. It is an AI-based system that leverages models such as Natural Language Processing to analyze dense legal documents about privacy policies, translating them into user-friendly concepts and ranking by a privacy risk score. COAT manages users’ accepted agreements, notifies them of privacy policy updates, and promotes online transparency, awareness, and accountability.

5. COBOTPLANET: Connected Robotics Platform for Autonomous Networks

This project will develop an innovative platform for the management and orchestration of autonomous 5G networks comprising intelligent connected robots for sensing and connectivity.

COBOTPLANET will develop a first-of-its-kind platform for the management and orchestration of 5G wireless networks comprising intelligent nodes (i.e. robots). In general, two main challenges in this project will be addressed: the management of the robots in the network to assist the network with sensing and connectivity services offered to the users, and network management for serving robots as terminal users for reliable robot-to-infrastructure connection in mission-critical scenarios.

6. DecentraLabs: Decentralized Online Laboratories for Education and Research

Making online labs sustainable through the application of decentralized technologies.

Online labs (OLs) may be used for both research and education, by anyone, from anywhere. In principle, this supports all type of experimentation activities in the contexts of Open Science and Open Education. In practice, however, extremely few lab devices are shared for either purpose due to several limiting factors. This project proposes applying decentralized technologies to overcome all these limitations and create a business case for sharing OLs across institutions and keep them operative.

7. DeepShield: Transatlantic Cooperation for Fighting Deepfakes Online

Bridging transatlantic expertise, Truebees and Purdue University (VIPER) collaborate to advance deepfake detection, transforming cutting-edge research into market-ready solutions and ensuring compliance with deepfake regulations on both sides of the Atlantic.

This project creates a new connection between Truebees and Purdue University (VIPER) to cooperate by merging AI-based deepfake detection in challenging real world case settings with advanced media authentication methods. Their goal is to ensure that users and media companies can confidently share trustworthy content and have verifiable proof of its authenticity. This collaboration leverages top-tier research and innovation to set a new Transatlantic standard in digital media integrity.

8. DPDB: Towards a Standard Interface for Differential Privacy Systems with Database Interoperability

Establishing a cross-compatible, privacy-preserving approach for differential privacy systems interfacing with diverse database engines.

Many current differential privacy solutions either rely on proprietary data engines, limited processing capabilities, or support only specific database environments, restricting scalability and flexibility. This project proposes a standardized approach to link DP frameworks that handle privacy-preserving noise injection with robust, scalable database engines, supporting large-scale data analytics across platforms and enhancing interoperability in privacy-focused data sharing.

9. FUSION: Facilities Using Sustainable Integrated Operations Network

FUSION is a project creating a new embedded IoT platform that can handle the interconnection of different smart devices/services and other services provided by existing facility service companies along with the new services from the integration of a SaaS AI/ML tool for the HVAC/lighting systems.

Residential digitalization is a major issue. FUSION aim is to create a sustainable digital infrastructure of an IoT platform connecting present different building facilities services and a new Building Energy Management system (c-BEMS) tool on HVAC/lighting (presently each operates in its own IoT platform) towards expansion of these services and confronting challenges such as energy efficiency, sustainable cities and climate change.

10. G-SIGN - IP: Global Smart InterGovernment Network (for Secure Data Exchange): Piloting for Intellectual Property Services

G-SIGN - IP aims to create a secure, reliable global network (G-SIGN) using blockchain and AI for authentication, authorization, and data exchange, with pilot use case on intellectual property (IP), enabling resilient, decentralized, and secure cross-border data exchange between Turkey and the USA.

G-SIGN-IP will use blockchain and AI to create a secure cross-border network for authentication, authorization, and information sharing. The platform will manage sensitive data between Turkey and the USA, integrating Bluetooth and Wi-Fi through blockchain-based interactions and e-government services. With expertise from Turksat and Pathways toRight-Of-Ways, the pilot case will focus on demonstrating secure IP services, promoting trust in digital transactions, supporting NGI Sargasso’s vision.

11. GreenTwin: A Digital Twin Solution for Emission Sustainability in Agriculture

GreenTwin explores greenhouse gas emissions from crops, such as those caused by fertilizer use or waste burning, using a Digital Twin approach. By combining chemistry transport models, hyperlocal IoT data, and Data Spaces, it creates a virtual representation to drive better practices and decisions.

The agricultural sector significantly contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet its full impact remains unclear. This project uses a Digital Twin—a virtual model replicating real-world agricultural systems—to estimate emissions like methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) from practices such as fertilizer use and waste burning. By integrating advanced models, IoT data, and Data Spaces, it helps farmers and policymakers implement sustainable strategies and make informed decisions.

12. OCB: Open Commerce in a Blox

Open Commerce in a Blox enables any company to participate in an open commerce network based on the Beckn protocol by deploying a compatible marketplace in a few clicks.

Beckn protocol runs 14M monthly transactions in India, mostly transport. However, there is no ready-made marketplace one can deploy to start retailing products from a Beck network. Open-source marketplaces in the Beckn ecosystem are using deprecated versions of the protocol, are also not documented enough and are strongly coupled with services that only work in India. Open Commerce in a Blox is a light and open source marketplace that is compatible with the latest version of the Beckn protocol.

13. WikiDIDs: Decentralized Identifiers for Wikipedia and other ‘Commons’ Initiatives

WikiDIDs is a set of schemas, services and tools allowing contributors to Wikipedia and other ‘commons’ initiatives to achieve democratic and traceable rule-based publishing by using the Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) W3C standard.

This project enacts a novel Decentralized Autonomous Publishing Organization model integrating Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) for academic publishing. Leveraging smart contracts, IPFS, and DID-based authentication, it addresses centralization, inefficiency, and transparency issues. The solution enables democratic, scientific quality, traceable, trusted knowledge management, fostering a decentralized ‘Wikipedia of facts’ based on EU/USA standards including eIDAS2.

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NGI Sargasso Joins NGI Search in their Mission to Fund the Next Generation of Web Searching Tools

The Next Generation Internet projects NGI Sargasso and NGI Search have signed an agreement (Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU) to formally join forces and support each other's aspiration to shape a more human-centric Internet for our future generations.

NGI Search aims to fund open source projects in the area of Next Generation Internet Search, Discovery and Indexing with focus on European values. Specifically this means open source alternatives that are privacy preserving and trustworthy and contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the Internet commons. This mission is aligned NGI Sargasso's ambition to create a unique collaborative ecosystem to harvest EU-US and/or EU-Canada technology breakthroughs to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards, and contribute to the evolution of the Internet also according to a human-centric approach of the Internet commons.

This agreement is based on collaborating on joint actions and cross-dissemination activities to strengthen the Next Generation Internet ecosystem in Europe and beyond, and was born in the Open Search Symposium 2024 (OSSYM24), where our partners Sara Abu and Laura Argilés from AUSTRALO met the NGI Search Coordinator Mirko Presser from the Aarhus University, as you can see in the picture below.

NGI Sargasso is also collaborating with StandICT.eu, FORGING, and CrabNebula through MoUs.

About NGI Search: The Next Generation Internet Search Incubator

The NGI Search project is a European project designed to support entrepreneurs, tech-geeks, developers, and socially engaged people, who are capable of challenging the way we search and discover information and resources on the internet.

This is a difficult, yet very important field of research, development and innovation, as today, users of the internet are mostly relying on services provided by non-transparent organizations potentially violating privacy and trust.

With five European partners contributing to the project, NGI Search launched five open calls for innovative projects, whereby selected applicants benefitted from the financial support of up to 150,000€ as well as technical, business and innovation support over 12 months, to develop solutions that change the way we use and experience, search and discover data and resources in general on the internet and on the web. This includes:

  • A new voice and image-based user interfaces for searching and representing data.
  • Heterogeneous data sources include IoT, semantic data, multimedia, social media and traditional websites.
  • New Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) methodologies in a generic context.
  • Specific use cases such as industry 4.0, health, social media, etc.

The NGI Search consortium is coordinated by Aarhus University, and partnered by FundingBox, The University of Murcia, Linknovate Science, and OW2.

About the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) is a European Commission (EC) initiative that aims to shape the development and evolution of the Internet into an Internet of Trust. An Internet that responds to people’s fundamental needs, including trust, security, and inclusion, while reflecting the values and the norms all citizens enjoy in Europe.

After an initial EC investment in NGI research and innovation of more than €250M (2018-2020) that supported more than 1,000 Internet researchers and innovators involved in hundreds of projects, the EC announced renewed EU funding for NGI under Horizon Europe. Horizon Europe Calls related to the Next Generation Internet, of relevance to the NGI community are listed under Pillar II, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Cluster 4, Digital, Industry and Space. This funding goes beyond financing: it includes mentoring and supports the innovators’ journey from an idea to a real business.

https://youtu.be/Jpi338SyKLY?feature=shared

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What will the Next Generation Internet Wave Look Like? Insights from Over 100 NGI Sargasso Open Call 5 Applicants

The first part of the NGI Sargasso funding program to promote Transatlantic cooperation on Next Generation Internet technologies and services concluded last Monday, the 25th of November 2024, with the deadline to apply for our Final Open Call 5. Our last funding opportunity closed with 225 started applications, 104 of them being submitted. This means that 104 innovators are willing to join us in our mission of shaping an Internet of Trust with a human-centric approach for our generations to come, the highest number of our open call program.

If we analyze the data of the submitted applications, entrepreneurs found our open call especially interesting, since 64 applications came from SMEs and startups, followed by researchers, with 19 projects sent by Universities. The rest of the organizations that submitted their ideas were NGOs, with 10; Research and Technology Organizations, with 7, and Foundations, with 2. Other type of entities submitted the last 2 applications.

Regarding the geographical location, 25 different countries participated in the NGI Sargasso Final Open Call 5. France is the country most concerned about creating an Internet for Humans, with 16 applications. Its neighbor Spain follows it with 10 applications, and The Netherlands and Germany with 9. Italy and Turkey participated with 8 and 7 projects, respectively, followed by Austria and Estonia with 5 each. The rest of the 25 countries sent the remaining applications: Ireland and Slovenia 4; Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden 3; Finland and Slovakia 2, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Noway and Ukraine 1.

In our previous four calls, these numbers were slightly different:

In total, during the five open calls of the NGI Sargasso funding program, we have received 397 submitted applications.

Another difference with our previous calls is that we received 16 applications of teams made by three counterparts, meaning that these projects will be executed by one partner from Europe, together with one from the United States and one more from Canada, instead of just two partners (Europe+US or Europe+Canada), as in our first four calls.

What Comes Next after the NGI Sargasso Open Calls? Our OnCampus Programe for our Innovators, 4YFN 2025, and more!

NGI Sargasso is a funding program part of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative, fostering Europe-US/Canada tech innovation with a budget of €4.8M funding, distributed to Internet innovators through five open calls. But what comes after we close all our open calls?

After being carefully reviewed by external evaluators, NGI Sargasso selected innovators can get the following benefits:

  • Secure up to €100,000 equity-free funding.
  • Access to an up to 9-month OnCampus Programe with e-lessons and inspirational talks from industry experts, and services from top mentors and coches who guide them during the whole program duration.
  • Invitation to join a +3,000 members community of the NGI Initiative.

NGI Sargasso will now focus on delivering the OnCampus Programe, facilitating cross-collaboration, focusing on business, rewarding excellence and showcasing achievements. Although the Open Call 1 beneficiaries have already finished their programe, the ones from Open Call 2 and 3 are still enjoying it, and the ones from the Open Call 4 and Open Call 5 are about to start it.

That is why in 2025 we will focus on mentoring and coaching the NGI Sargasso Innovators, also offering them internationalization services by attending global events such as the 4YFN 2025, the startup side event of Mobile World Congress 2025, celebrated in the Spanish city of Barcelona from the 3rd to the 6th of March. Our beneficiaries will join us in this international event and will have the opportunity to participate as speakers in a panel on the 4th of March, bringing the NGI Sargasso Transatlantic wave this time to the Mediterranean Sea. Will we see you there? Follow us on LinkedIn, X, Mastodon and BlueSky to discover more, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

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NGI Sargasso Open Call 4 Results: 75 Game-Changers are Ready to Build the Next Generation Internet for Humans

On the 1st of August at 17:00 CEST (10:00 CDT), NGI Sargasso closed its Open Call 4 with 75 submitted projects to join us in our mission of creating the Next Generation Internet of Trust with a human-centric approach.

Our fourth open call received a total of 156 applications, out of which 75 were submitted and 81 were left in draft status. Out of the 75 Transatlantic projects that applied to join our funding program offering up to €100,000 equity-free funding per team, 40 were startups or SMEs, 18 were universities, 7 were Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), 5 were Research and Technology Organizations (RTOs), 3 came from other type of organizations, and 2 more applicants were foundations.

NGI Sargasso promotes transatlantic cooperation in Next Generation Internet (NGI) technologies accepting applications from cross-border teams composed of a European counterpart that leads the submission of the application, and a United States (US), or/and Canada counterpart. For the NGI Sargasso Open Call 4, projects were submitted from 22 European countries, with the top five being:

  • France, with 11 applications.
  • Spain and Italy, with 10 applications each.
  • Germany, with 7 applications.
  • Slovenia, with 5 applications.

The rest of the Transatlantic projects came from Romania (4), Belgium (3), Greece (3), Ireland (3), Finland (2), Luxembourg (2), Malta (2), The Netherlands (2), Portugal (2), Serbia (2), Austria (1), Cyprus (1), Estonia (1), Iceland (1), Latvia (1), Poland (1), and Turkey (1).

10 Challenges were Addressed at the NGI Sargasso Open Call 4

A total of ten challenges were addressed by our innovators in our fourth open call:

  1. Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Across Continents.
  2. Harmonized Cross-Atlantic Digital Governance.
  3. Inclusive Public Digital Spaces for Global Community Engagement.
  4. Enhanced Data Security and Privacy in Transcontinental Perspective.
  5. Interoperability and Standardization Across Borders Description.
  6. Global Implementation of Decentralized Technologies.
  7. Next-Gen Cybersecurity and Generative AI.
  8. Next Generation Space Based Internet.
  9. Redefining Intelligence in a Hyperconnected World.
  10. Open Challenge for Next Generation Internet Description.

The NGI Sargasso Last Open Call with up to €100,000 Equity-Free Funding for Internet Innovators Launches in September

NGI Sargasso is a funding program part of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative, fostering Europe-US/Canada tech innovation with a budget of €4.8M funding, distributed to Internet innovators through five open calls. The NGI Sargasso fifth -and last- open call will be launched on the 23rd of September 2024.

After being carefully reviewed by external evaluators, NGI Sargasso selected innovators can get the following benefits:

  • Secure up to €100,000 equity-free funding.
  • Access to an up to 9-month Capacity-Building Program with e-lessons and inspirational talks from industry experts, and services from top mentors and coches who guide them during the whole program duration.
  • Invitation to join a +3,000 members community of the NGI Initiative.
  • Matchmaking services to find their Transatlantic counterpart, through our continually open Brokerage System and matchmaking webinars.

Follow us on LinkedIn, X and Mastodon to discover more, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

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Software in the European Regulatory Landscape: An Inspirational Talk by Daniel Thompson-Yvetot for the NGI Sargasso Innovators

Daniel is an NGI Influencer, Co-Founder of Tauri and CEO of CrabNebula, and an NGI Sargasso supportive partner

“Is the European regulatory landscape in software protecting the most vulnerable?” This question was the starting point of an inspirational talk by Daniel Thompson-Yvetot, NGI Influencer, Co-Founder of Tauri and CEO of CrabNebula, an NGI Sargasso supportive partner contributing to the NGI Sargasso mission of building a more human-centric Internet. 

When speaking about vulnerability, Daniel referred to the human, the person and our rights, understanding that “GDPR protects humans, not companies.”

On the 22nd of May 2024, he offered the NGI Sargasso innovators from the Open Call 1 and Open Call 2 an inspirational talk as part of their 9-month OnCampus program activities to discuss about software in the European regulatory landscape.

CrabNebula’s CEO put the focus of his talk in explaining in detail the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the Product Liability Directive (PLD), the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the AI Act (AIA), remarking that acts in which citizens can contribute can become laws to enter force. 

His presentation ended up in a live discussion with our innovators about the several acts he introduced.

CrabNebula, the new NGI Sargasso supportive partner promoting open source and accessibility

CrabNebula is a company built on the vision of enabling individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses to sustainably build, develop and distribute their multi-platform apps to mass audiences. They are an official partner of Tauri.

Daniel Thompson-Yvetot is a long-time open source champion, contributor and a passionate innovator of tools. His professional career has spanned the realms of culture, technology and social activism. Daniel’s dedication to life-long learning and personal development has equipped him to become an agile and compassionate leader. Together with Lucas Nogueira, he co-founded the Tauri open source project, and also serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Tauri Programme within the Commons Conservancy.

The pillars of their values are private and secure by design, optimize for sustainability, and open source and accessible. These values are aligned with the NGI Sargasso mission of creating a Next Generation Internet of trust with a human-centric approach, and that is why CrabNebula has become an NGI Sargasso supportive partner.

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An NGI Sargasso Innovator Creates the World's First Platform Offering Public Administration as a Service and Digitizes Public Institutions in Romania

The NGI Sargasso Open Call 2 innovator Alexandru Panait, from AI Professional Software Solution (Romania) has founded Gov-Smart, the world's first platform offering public administration as a service, digitalizing public institutions in Romania.

Alexandru applied to our second open call, and got selected in two projects:

  • DES: Decentralized Electronic Signature using Blockchain based Digital Identity, developed with VizLore LLC (USA).
  • Trustless Democracy: Decentralized Digital Sovereign Identity and Voting System using Blockchain Technology, developed with Université de Sherbrooke (Canada).

While working at the NGI Sargasso 9-month OnCampus Program, with Gov-Smart, he has launched an innovative solution that promises to transform public administration in Romania through complete digitization and advanced automation.

By implementing interconnected modules specific to each type of institution, the company aims to automate up to 90% of public servants' work, significantly reducing repetitive tasks and improving administrative efficiency, not only in relation to taxpayers. With the Gov-Smart solution, citizens will be able to instantly obtain fiscal attestation certificates or other types of documents from any local administration connected to the service, thus eliminating waiting times and unnecessary travel. By the end of the year, the company will integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into the platform, taking automation to an impressive level of 99%.

In this scenario, public servants will become auditors and approvers of AI-prepared documents, not just executors. Moreover, internal procedures of public institutions can also be automated and personalized.

The new Gov-Smart platform includes a transparency module that displays detailed charts about public spending, performed acquisitions, and job announcements for all local administrations in Romania. Standardized forms facilitate citizens' access to information and allow them to submit requests based on Law 544 if the desired information is not available.

Gov-Smart's founder, Alexandru Panait, has extensive experience in cybersecurity, particularly in the public administration sector.

The NGI Sargasso funding program support to create Gov-Smart

Gov-Smart modernizes the existing portal e-primariaTa.ro, also founded by Alexandru Panait in 2020. With the help of European Commission funding, of up to 200,000€ (up to 100,000€ per each of his two selected projects), through NGI Sargasso, the platform is a global solution with the potential to become Romania's second unicorn.

“We are proud to launch the world's first Governance as a Service concept. To demonstrate the scalability of our solution, we have managed to integrate 3.187 local administrations in Romania into the platform, standardizing and making their activities transparent. This step represents a major leap towards efficient and transparent public administration, offering citizens quick and easy access to public interest information or obtaining documents in a very short time. We are already in discussions with authorities from other European countries and even the USA to implement this modern service,” says Alexandru Panait, Founder of Gov-Smart.

Through this innovation, Gov-Smart aims to create a business-friendly environment for investors and open new business opportunities, while ensuring an efficient, transparent, and citizen-oriented public administration, as Alexandru explained in an interview in the Romanian television.

https://youtu.be/Zlnkid8SDOk?feature=shared

Alexandru Panait also participated as a speaker at the PeakIT Conference, the first technical conference in Brașov (Romania) from the IT community to the IT community.

The NGI Sargasso selected projects: DES and Trustless Democracy

The DES project (Decentralized Electronic Signature using Blockchain based Digital Identity), 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.

Challenging the traditional concept that democracy is limited to voting every four years, the Trustless Democracy project, (Decentralized Digital Sovereign Identity and Voting System using Blockchain Technology), 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.

You can have a look at other NGI Sargasso innovators projects to discover how they are creating an Internet of Trust.

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NGI Sargasso Launches its Open Call 4 for Innovators Ready to Unleash the Future of the Internet with up to €100K Equity-free Funding

The NGI Sargasso consortium is happy to start the month of June with one more funding opportunity: today we are launching our Open Call 4 looking for innovators to reshape the Internet of the Future with up to €100,000 equity-free funding, until the 1st of August, 2024.

Startups and SMEs, universities and research centres, and NGOs and foundations focused on Next Generation Internet (NGI) technologies can bring their visionary ideas to life with the NGI Sargasso Open Call 4, on topics such as trust and data sovereignty, digital identity, internet architecture renovation, decentralized technologies, and standards.

We will attract teams formed by one entity from Europe or one of its Associated Countries and one entity from the US or Canada, since at NGI Sargasso we are fostering a unique collaborative ecosystem and cascade funding program for promoting the Transatlantic cooperation to shape the Internet of the Future:

The NGI Sargasso Open Call 4 benefits

The benefits for the NGI Sargasso Transatlantic teams selected in our fourth open call willing to unleash future Internet with a human-centric approach are:

  • Various capacity-building programs:
  • 9-month program with up to €100,000 equity-free funding.
  • 6-month program with up to  €75,000 equity-free funding.
  • 3-month program with up to €50,000 equity-free funding.
  • Comprehensive Support, such as mentoring, coaching, and access to leading tech conferences and innovation summits.
  • Community Engagement with free access to a dynamic community of over 3,000 Internet innovators.

https://youtu.be/zT9p936KK_A

The NGI Sargasso Open Call 4 Info Webinars and Matchmaking Sessions dates

The first step to apply for NGI Sargasso Open Call 4 is to register in our Brokerage System, a platform where European entities can be matched with the US or Canadian ones – or the other way around. The application process is as follows:

  1. Registration in the Brokerage Platform to match your Transatlantic partner.
  2. Sign a Letter Support with your Transatlantic partner and draft your project together.
  3. Submit your joint application on the NGI Sargasso website –  the European counterpart.

The Brokerage System services offered by NGI Sargasso to facilitate the Transatlantic matchmaking is complemented and completed with two info webinars and matchmaking sessions per call:

  1. Open Call 4 Info Webinar and Matchmaking Session I - 11 June - REGISTER HERE.
  2. Open Call 4 Info Webinar and Matchmaking Session II - 9 July - REGISTER HERE. 

These webinars are perfect for those looking to make quick, informed decisions about potential partners and to gain insights into the latest trends and opportunities in the NGI Sargasso space and to clear all doubts about the application process.

Don't miss this opportunity to apply for our Open Call 4 and secure up to €100,000 equity-free funding to build an Internet of Trust. Save your spot for our matchmaking events now!

We are a European-funded project part of Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.

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NGI Sargasso Open Call 3 Results: 73 Innovators Willing to Create an Internet of Trust

73 is the number of submitted proposals coming from European, US and Canadian innovators willing to create an Internet of Trust. On the 15th of May at 17:00 CEST / 10:00 CDT, we closed our Open Call 3, looking for startups and SMEs, Universities and RTOs and NGOs and Foundations from both sides of the Atlantic to join us in our mission shaping a more human-centric Internet for our future generations.

Out of the 73 submitted projects from joint teams from a European country and the United States or Canada, 46 are ideas from SMEs and startups; 11, from universities; 6, from NGOs; 4, from RTOs; 2, from foundations, and 4 more, from other type of organizations.

Regarding the country of origin of the submitted projects, the top 3 list of a total of 26 European countries is as follows:

  1. France: 12.
  2. Spain: 9.
  3. Italy: 6.

This list is followed by Slovenia (5); Austria, Germany and Greece (4); Ireland, Netherlands and Romania (3); Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia and Turkey (2), and one project coming from each of these countries: Czechia, Finland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The NGI Sargasso Open Call 3 Addressed Challenges

A total of ten challenges were addressed by our innovators in our third open call:

  1. Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Across Continents.
  2. Harmonized Cross-Atlantic Digital Governance.
  3. Inclusive Public Digital Spaces for Global Community Engagement.
  4. Enhanced Data Security and Privacy in Transcontinental Perspective.
  5. Interoperability and Standardisation Across Borders Description.
  6. Global Implementation of Decentralised Technologies.
  7. Next-Gen Cybersecurity and Generative AI.
  8. Next Generation Space Based Internet.
  9. Redefining Intelligence in a Hyperconnected World.
  10. Open Challenge for Next Generation Internet Description.

Two more NGI Sargasso Open Calls in 2024 with up to €100,000 equity-free funding per beneficiary

As a unique collaborative ecosystem and program for promoting the Transatlantic cooperation for Next Generation Internet technologies, we will launch two more open calls in 2024, so stay tuned to our social media to discover more:

  • Open Call 4: Summer 2024.
  • Open Call 5 (our last call): Autumn 2024.

After being carefully reviewed by external evaluators, NGI Sargasso selected beneficiaries can get up to €100,000 equity-free funding, access to an up to 9-month Capacity-Building Program with e-lessons and inspirational talks from industry experts, and services from top mentors and coches who guide them during the whole program duration. Besides, the NGI Sargasso innovators also get invited to join a +3,000 members community of the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative.

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The NGI Sargasso Events of March 2024: From the NGI Coordinators Meeting to our Open Call 3 Info Webinar & Matchmaking Session

In February, we told you that those working in innovation and connectivity know that the annual February event is without any doubt the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and with it, its startup event, 4YFN. As Internet innovators, at NGI Sargasso we couldn't miss the date, and besides attending it, we also organized our own panel "NGI Sargasso: Equity-free funding for your Next Generation Internet idea".

But with March, many other events came, and we have decided to list them below to tell you what we have been up to lately, so keep reading to discover more about our activities!

The NGI Initiative Coordinators Meeting

On the 13th and 14th of March, Teresa Barber, Innovation Project Manager at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, represented NGI Sargasso at the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative Coordinators Meeting. During these two days, she looked for synergies with the rest of the NGI funded projects, especially with our sibling projects NGI Enrichers and NGI Transatlantic, supported by our Project Officer, Stergios Tsiafoulis.

EIC Summit 2024 - Research and Innovation Week

Our partner Mobile World Capital Barcelona attended the Research and Innovation Week at the EIC Summit 2024 in Brussels. Marta Portalés, Head of European Projects, spent some days at the European Innovation Council Summit (18-21 March 2024) meeting and networking with the different ecosystem stakeholders: start-ups, procurers, researchers, policy makers and investors. She organized 1-on-1 meetings with the event participants to present them the NGI Sargasso funding program to shape a human-centric Next Generation Internet with a Transatlantic partner and up to €100,000 equity-free funding.

Since we foster Transatlantic cooperation through joint projects of teams of innovators formed by one counterpart from Europe and another counterpart form the USA or Canda, she talked to the USA, Canadian and European potential applicants for our Open Call 3, accepting applications until the 15th of May.

Transfiere 2024

Our third event of March wasn't it Brussels, it was in the Spanish city of Málaga. Again, our partner Mobile World Capital Barcelona spent the 21st and 22nd of March promoting our Open Call 3, aiming to reach potential applicants from Europe to join us in our mission of creating an Internet of Trust.

Transfiere is Europe’s largest event on R&D&I and knowledge transfer connecting the entire Spanish innovation system and boosting its international projection. We were looking for Internet innovators interested in topics such as trust, data sovereignty, digital identity, Internet architecture and renovation, decentralized technology, interoperability and standardization, and new internet commons.

Sploro NGI Cascade Funding Info Webinar

On the 22nd of March, our partner Sploro gathered the NGI-funded projects NGI Mobifree, NGI Commons, NGI Zero Core, NGI Taler and us, NGI Sargasso, in a webinar to present our funding opportunities and open calls for Internet innovators, distributing between 50,000€ and 100,000€ equity-free funding. At this info webinar, they delved into these NGI groundbreaking projects driving the evolution of the Internet towards a trusted and inclusive digital ecosystem.

NGI Sargasso Open Call 3 Info Webinar and Matchmaking Session I

And last, but not least, we closed the month of March with our own event to promote the NGI Sargasso Open Call 3. On the 26th, the NGI Sargasso team hosted an info webinar followed by a matchmaking session for potential open call applicants from Europe, the USA and Canada to provide them valuable guidance to our funding program. The session consisted of two parts:

  1. The first part featured an overview of the available benefits, the application process, and the selection criteria.
  2. The second part focused on a dedicated matchmaking session to help attendees find their Transatlantic partner in several networking tables.

In case you missed it, and you are also interested in applying for our third open call, we are hosting a second NGI Sargasso Info Webinar and Matchmaking Session on the 17th of April at 16:00 CEST / 09:00 CDT to which we invite you to register now!

Join NGI Sargasso in our mission to build and Internet of Humans and an Internet of Trust!

by admin

Our Second Open Call Innovators Aboard their NGI Sargasso Transatlantic Journey to Create an Internet of Trust

"Welcome aboard!"

These were the first two words our NGI Sargasso second open call beneficiaries heard from the NGI Sargasso consortium at their OnCampus Welcome Day in the afternoon of the 7th of March 2024. Aboard an innovative Transatlantic journey to unleash the Future of the Internet with us.

The warm welcome was given by our project coordinator from the European Science Foundation, Emmanouil Detsis, to then dive into the OnCampus program to develop their projects with the NGI Sargasso support. Our OnCampus includes mentoring services, flipped classroom activities, LLP video lectures, interviews with relevant industry agents, inspirational talks from experts, and coaching. In fact, they could meet two of our coaches, Jordi Bosch i García and Juan Juan.

The mentoring includes webinars about topics such as fundraising and pitch deck. The flipped classrooms aim at asking "uncomfortable" questions to the teams to generate debate and taking advantage of the validations of the hypotheses. The LLP video lectures offer online recorded sessions explaining the whole theory of LLP by its creator Steve Blank, covering topics like value proposition and customer relations.

During the duration of each OnCampus program (it can be a 9-month, 6-month or 3-months program, depending on the option the beneficiaries applied for during our second open call), the selected innovators have the mission to conduct a minimum of 5 interviews a month with their ecosystem with the goal of putting their teams in front of the "real world". They also have the opportunity to attend inspirational talks from experts, such as the ones Glenn Ricart and Mirko Boehm offered to our first batch of beneficiaries.

All this activities are guided, supported and supervised by coaches, with the aim of ensuring the correct progress of the team and its alignment with the program’s objectives and milestones. Coaches guide the teams towards their business objectives in the short and long term, alerting to any misalignment or conflicts during project implementation. Together, we have to make sure we are in the process of building a human-centric Internet!

A new era of Transatlantic collaboration to shape Internet's future

The NGI Sargasso OnCampus program ambitions to create a space where innovation professionals come together, where entrepreneurship is celebrated, and where each project gets the impetus it requires to make a global mark. The program’s main goals were articulated to our beneficiaries during the Welcome Day, setting the tone for the forthcoming months:

  1. Cross-Collaboration and Networking: The essence of innovation often lies in collaboration. By fostering a space where beneficiaries can connect, share, and grow, the OnCampus program envisions a web of ideas that traverses oceans.
  2. Excellence and Impact Recognition: Every project deserves its moment in the sun. With a keen focus on recognizing excellence and gauging real-world impact, the program ensures that every innovative spark gets the acknowledgment it warrants.
  3. Business-Minded Support: Beyond ideation, the transformation of a project into a sustainable business model is crucial. Beneficiaries are provided with the necessary guidance and resources to think beyond the project, considering scalability and profitability.
  4. Global Exposure: In today’s interconnected world, a local idea can have global repercussions. Through the OnCampus program, each project is given the platform to be showcased on an international stage.

During the webinar, the innovators were also informed about the calendar of activities, the KPIs they have to achieve and the payment procedures, as well as about some communication guides to make the most out of their innovative projects.

The Welcome Day is just the start of this journey, and with it, a new era of Transatlantic collaboration has just begun!

by admin