NGI Sargasso at MWC - 4YFN 2025: A Panel and Pitching Session with our Innovators to Bridge Continents on Next Generation Internet

One more year we are happy to announce that NGI Sargasso will attend 4YFN 2025, the startup side event of Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona, with an agenda full of activities, especially in the morning of the second day of the event, on Tuesday the 4th of March starting at 11:15h. Keep reading to discover them, and save this location in Fira Barcelona: Hall 8.1 - Stand 8.1.B.55!

The NGI Sargasso Panel at 4YFN 2025

We have gathered some of our innovators and stakeholders from the Next Generation Internet (NGI) community in a panel titled "Next-Generation Internet: Bridging Continents, Innovating Together". The panel will start at 11:15h on Tuesday, the 4th of March, in the Hall 8.1 - Stand 8.1.B.55, and four of our beneficiaries will explain how they are shaping transatlantic collaboration on NGI technologies and services.

SPEAKERS

  • Moderator: Emmanouil Detsis, NGI Sargasso Project Coordinator - ESF Foundation.
  • Keynote speaker: Stergios Tsiafoulis, NGI Sargasso Project Officer - European Commission.
  • NGI Sargasso Innovators:
    • Yuting Jiang, CEO at Agora / ZKorum - Project: Agora / EeDP - Empowering eDemocracy for Peace (Open Call 3).
    • Alex Bourlier, Co-Founder at Startin’blox - Project: RSFA - Rosseta Stone for APIs (Open Call 2).
    • Christos N. Stefanatos, Project Lead at EV Loader / Parity Platform PC - Project: EVI US Pilot - Electric Vehicle Identity US Pilot (Open Call 3).
    • Erik Hieta-Aho, Senior Scientist at VTT - Project: HPQCSSI - Hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptography Self-Sovereign Identity Stack (Open Call 2).
  • Closing speaker: Monique Callisti, NGI Outreach Office - Martel Innovate

AGENDA

  • 11:15h - 11:20h → Opening keynote by Project Officer.
  • 11:20h - 11:25h → Brief project tagline by each NGI Sargasso Innovator on stage.
  • 11:25h - 11:45h → Open debate.
  • 11:45h - 11:50h → Q&A.
  • 11:50h - 11:55h → An brief intro into the NGI initiative.
  • 11:55h - 12:00 → Coordinator closing and opening of the following pitching session.

The NGI Sargasso Pitching Session at 4YFN 2025

Right after the NGI Sargasso panel at 4YFN 2025, we will start the second part of our session at 12:00h in the same location, in the Hall 8.1 - Stand 8.1.B.55: "NGI Sargasso Showcase: Pioneering Innovations for Europe’s Digital Future", a one-hour pitch session and Q&A featuring some of the NGI Sargasso projects.

NGI Sargasso is proud to present some of the most outstanding projects funded during the course of our program. This dynamic one-hour session offers a platform for our beneficiaries to pitch their transformative ideas and share insights into the next-generation internet landscape. Each innovator will have the opportunity to walk the audience through their objectives, methods and achievements.

 SPEAKERS

  • Moderator: Emmanouil Detsis, NGI Sargasso Project Coordinator - ESF Foundation.
  • NGI Sargasso Innovators:

AGENDA

  • 12:00h - 12:05h → Pitching Session intro by Emmanuoil Detsis as continuation of the previous panel.
  • 12:05h - 12:25h → NGI Sargasso Innovators Pitches.
  • 12:25h - 12:45h → Q&A, closing and networking catering.

All the NGI Sargasso Innovators will also be during the four days (3-6 March) of 4YFN / MWC 2025 in the NGI Sargasso startup pods from 8.1 B63.4 to 8.1 B63.8 ready to network and connect with you!

More about 4YFN and Mobile World Congress Barcelona

4YFN is the event partner of MWC Barcelona, the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event, bringing together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology alongside today’s most influential visionaries in Barcelona from the 3rd to the 6th of March 2025.

This means this congress not only brings all the players you need for a winning digital startup together (like investors and corporate innovators), but it also springboards startups onto the radar of the most powerful decision makers in the connectivity ecosystem – such as CEOs from global mobile operators and frontier tech companies.

All this helps new business ventures sprout the wings they need for a breathtaking launch.

Have a look at what we did last year at 4YFN 2024, and see you soon in Barcelona to create an Internet of Humans together!

https://youtu.be/kjjH9cp-3lc?feature=shared


NGI Sargasso Networks with the Open Internet Search Ecosystem and other NGI Projects at OSSYM24

The Open Search Symposium 2024 (OSSYM24) brought together the Open Web Search community in Europe for the sixth time, and NGI Sargasso attended it to network with the open search ecosystem and other NGI-funded projects.

Organized by the Open Search Foundation at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Munich (Germany) from the 9th to the 11th of October 2024, the hybrid conference provided a forum to discuss and further develop the ideas and concepts of open internet search, search and AI, and related topics in various formats including scientific talks, panels, workshops, demonstrations, student challenges and informal discussion spaces. Participants included researchers, data centres, libraries, policy-makers, legal and ethical experts, and society.

During the first day Helmut Reiser, the Deputy Director at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, and Florian Herrmann, State Minister, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, gave the Welcome Session, followed by Roberto Viola, DG CONNECT's General Director, who delivered the Opening Keynote.

Then, the Science Tracks took over the agenda, focusing on:

  • Crawling and Infrastructure.
  • Search Applications and Technologies.
  • Preprocessing and ML for Search.
  • LLMs and RAG.

In the afternoon, the Next Generation Internet (NGI) session was hosted, including presentations from NGI Search and OpenWebSearch.eu.

During the second and third days, more keynotes were offered to the participants, being Richard Socher (CEO of You.com), Martin Andree (Bestselling Author and Researcher at the University of Cologne), and Nina Leseberg (Head of Communities & Engagement, Wikimedia Deutschland) the speakers. The rest of the agenda was completed with sessions and workshops focused on Ethics and Society, Legal Aspects of Open Web Search, Economic Aspects of Open Web Search, and an Industry Track titled “Alternative Search Engines”. 

Our partners Sara Abu and Laura Argilés, from AUSTRALO, were there to join the discussions, while getting insights from the ecosystem's researchers, policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders about Next Generation Internet Transatlantic cooperation.

Potential synergies with NGI Search and OpenWebSearch.eu

OSSYM 2024 was attended by two more NGI-funded projects: NGI Search and OpenWebSearch.eu.

Sara and Laura took the opportunity of meeting them in person in Munich to discuss potential collaborations and synergies to work together in the creation of an Internet of Trust with a human-centric approach. They networked with Megi Sharikadze (Head of Research at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) and Stefan Voigt (Founder and CEO of Open Search Foundation) from OpenWebSearch.eu, and Mirko Presser (Associate Professor at Aarhus University), representing NGI Search.

Together, we will shape a better Internet for our future generations!


NGI Sargasso Collaborates with the EU-funded Project FORGING, Promoting a Human-Centered Methodology for Industry 5.0

The NGI Sargasso initiative, a unique collaborative ecosystem and program for promoting the Transatlantic cooperation for Next Generation Internet technologies with a human-centric approach, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the EU-funded project FORGING in shaping a human-centered methodology in alignment with Industry 5.0.

Technological breakthroughs empowered by enabling technologies hold a transformation potential that can be funnelled to address industrial and societal grand challenges, like greening and digitalization. To exploit this transformative potential, the innovation journey that leads new emerging technologies to their market-uptake shall embed since its early value-sensitive considerations, such as environmental and societal implications.

FORGING proposes a pioneering methodology based on a value-sensitive innovation process to promote technological paths that are attentive to the environment and society. The project is focused on the human being in parallel with the technical context of Industry 5.0. To maximize the impact of the proposed action plan, FORGING acts in parallel as a hub for synergies, serving as a platform where projects with aligned missions can communicate with relevant stakeholders.

Upcoming FORGING Workshops in June 2024

FORGING has launched a new in-person workshop series that combine different disciplines to stimulate new technological pathways attentive to the environment and society: “Novel Enabling Technologies for a Sustainable Future”, diving deep into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybersecurity, in the Italian city of Rome:

  • Workshop on Artificial Intelligence (12-13 June) – REGISTER HERE.
  • Workshop on Cyber Safe Data Transmission, Storage and Analysis Technologies (13-14 June) – REGISTER HERE.

These workshops are a great opportunity for the following stakeholders to co-define use cases of enabling emerging technologies in a sustainable and responsible way:

  1. Technology providers: researchers from RTOs and academia and start-ups with technologies from the targeted technological frameworks: AI and cyber safe data transmission, storage and analysis.
  2. Technology adopters or users: they can be from any industry.
  3. End user associations: they could be worker councils from manufacturing industries in a use case of AI in manufacturing process or a citizen association working on use of AI in insurance.

The travel and accommodation expenses will be reimbursed.

If you are interested, we invite you to find out more about the FORGING upcoming events.


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!


NGI Sargasso Hosts a Panel at 4YFN 2024 Offering Equity-Free Funding Opportunities for Next Generation Internet Innovators

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 a project focused on promoting the Transatlantic cooperation for Next Generation Internet (NGI) technologies, NGI Sargasso couldn't miss this relevant date. But not only we attended it, we organized our own NGI Sargasso panel to offer our equity-free funding opportunities for Next Generation Internet ideas.

The NGI Sargasso panel at 4YFN 2024: NGI Sargasso: Equity-free funding for your Next Generation Internet idea

On the 27th of February at 15:00h, at Pavilion 8.1, Stand 8.1 B55 of Fira Barcelona at 4YFN 2024, our panel was just starting. Teresa Barber, Innovation Project Manager at the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, introduced the session to the audience, giving the floor to Monique Calisti, NGI Outreach Office Director from Martel Innovate.

Monique presented the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative new opportunities and synergies, which objective is to "create a growing community at work to build an Internet of trust for all. 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", she said. She also highlighted that the NGI has funded more than 1,000 innovators with inclusive and trust-based complementary technology building blocks, and added that the initiative is providing funding to support innovators including individual researchers, developers, start-ups and SMEs.

Monique Calisti, NGI Outreach Officer Director, introducing the NGI initiative research and innovation actions at 4YFN 2024

Teresa introduced our project, NGI Sargasso, remarking that our objective is:

To create a unique collaborative ecosystem to harvest EU-US and/or EU-Canada technology breakthroughs that aim to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards, and contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the internet commons.

Virginia Gómez, European Projects Head at Sploro, explained the NGI Sargasso open calls requirements. Internet innovators have a date with us, because we are launching our third open call on the 15th of March, and we will accept applications until the 15th of May. As in our previous open calls, we are looking for Universities and RTOs, Foundations and NGOs, and Startups and SMEs from Europe and its Associated Countries, as well as from the USA and Canada. If you are interested, mark the dates in your calendar, together with our third open call webinars and matchmaking sessions:

  • First InfoDay and Matchmaking Session: the 26th of March 2024.
  • Second InfoDay and Matchmaking Session: the 10th of April 2024.
Virginia Gómez, from Sploro, speaking about NGI Sargasso open call requirements at 4YFN 2024

The OnCampus perks for the NGI Sargasso open calls beneficiaries were also presented by Teresa, who highlighted that:

The OnCampus program aims to support and grow tech projects while building a network of innovation professionals, promoting entrepreneurship, and boosting the project's deal flow.​ The program goals focus on cross-collaboration and networking, excellence and impact recognition, business-minded support, and global exposure.

Besides, NGI Sargasso selected innovators can get up to €100,000 equity-free funding for those joining a 9-month program. However, we also offer the option to join a 6-month program (€75,000) or a 3-month program (€50,000).

Teresa Barber, from the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, sharing the NGI OnCampus perks at 4YFN 2024

The panel finished with a discussion and Q&A session starring by three of our NGI Sargasso innovators from the first open call:

  • EvORAN: Jordi Mongay Batalla, from the Warsaw University of Technology, spoke about what lies beyond in Open-RAN network evaluation. He is collaborating with Houbing Herbert Song, from the University of Maryland. Together, they are unraveling the mysteries of EvORAN - the Evaluation of Open-RAN Network Equipment Including Underlying. At our NGI Sargasso 4YFN 2024 panel Jordi took the stage to share the future of Open-RAN network evaluation.
  • EBSI-CAN: Lluís Alfons Ariño, Deputy to Manager and Commissioner of Open Gov. and ICT for strategic planning of ICT and resources at Rovira i Virgili University, made us wonder about the potential of EBSI in cross-border credentialing. Lluís, along with Alex Grech and Klaudia Gyorgyi Farkas, from the 3CL Foundation, are exploring in their collaborative project just that with EBSI-CAN: EBSI and Verifiable Credentialing in Canada. At our NGI Sargasso event they delved into the governance, legal, technical, and business landscape of this groundbreaking initiative.
  • D3ICA: Julien Bringer, the CEO of Kallistech, shared the answer to the question 'How can we democratize digital identity?' His project, D3ICA: Democratizing Decentralized Digital Identity through Cloud Agents, focuses on diversity, inclusion, usability, and interoperability. At our panel at 4YFN 2024, he uncovered how D3ICA is set to revolutionize the digital identity landscape.
Some of the NGI Sargasso first open call innovators at the panel discussion at 4YFN 2024 speaking about their projects to redefine future Internet

More about NGI Sargasso

NGI Sargasso is a European Commission funded project, part of the Horizon Europe Programme. It aims to create a unique collaborative ecosystem to harvest EU-US or EU-Canada technology breakthroughs to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards. It also aims to contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the Internet commons through five open calls to fund 90 Transatlantic teams to redefine future Internet working with topics such as trust and data sovereignty, digital identity, internet architecture renovation, decentralized technologies, and standards with a budget of €4,800,000.

In addition, the NGI Sargasso project is part of the umbrella initiative, the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Initiative, launched by the European Commission in 2016, which supports this vision of building bridges internationally.

More about 4YFN 2024 and Mobile World Congress 2024

4YFN is the event partner of MWC Barcelona, the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event, bringing together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology alongside today’s most influential visionaries.

This means this congress not only brings all the players you need for a winning digital startup together (like investors and corporate innovators), but it also springboards startups onto the radar of the most powerful decision makers in the connectivity ecosystem – such as CEOs from global mobile operators and frontier tech companies.

All this helps new business ventures sprout the wings they need for a breathtaking launch.


Join Us at the NGI Forum 2023!

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) Forum 2023 is right around the corner, a hybrid event taking place on November 15-16 in Brussels, and we couldn't be more excited about what it holds for the NGI community, policymakers, and innovators. As one of the key initiatives of the NGI community, NGI Sargasso is proud to be part of this transformative event. Not only will we be present at the forum to share updates and knowledge, but we will also be available to answer any questions you may have about our upcoming 2nd call. Here's why you should consider joining us.

At the heart of the NGI Forum 2023 is the concept of Digital Commons, a topic that strongly resonates with the mission of NGI Sargasso. We believe in equitable access to information, promoting innovation, and strengthening digital sovereignty. By joining the forum, you'll get a comprehensive understanding of how NGI Sargasso aligns with these pillars and contributes to the future of the Internet.

The NGI Forum's agenda is a rich tapestry of topics ranging from digital identity and quantum internet to large language models, decentralized social media, and the security of the open source supply chain. If these topics intrigue you, the forum is where you need to be. It’s the ideal platform to learn, engage, and perhaps even influence the conversation.

FEEL the NGI spirit! The forum provides an exceptional chance to rub shoulders with high-profile thought leaders and policymakers. Engage in meaningful dialogues, share your perspectives, and build relationships that could be crucial for your journey in the Internet's transformative movement. And, you get to hear from top innovators that have been through the NGI journey and are now creating meaningful impact across the world!

As we gear up for our 2nd call, participation in the NGI Forum 2023 will give you an unparalleled opportunity to understand what NGI Sargasso aims to achieve. It’s your chance to ask us direct questions, clarify your doubts, and explore avenues for collaboration.

We look forward to your participation and are excited to engage with you at the forum. Together, let's navigate towards the future of the Internet!
READ THE OFFICIAL NGI FORUM 2023 PRESS RELEASE HERE


NGI Sargasso at the AIOTI Open Call Opportunities Webinar

We are delighted to announce that NGI Sargasso, will be presented today, 7th June 2023, at the AIOTI event focused on presenting Open Call Opportunities. Our consortium partner, AUSTRALO, will proudly present NGI Sargasso's vision, objectives and funding opportunities to an esteemed audience of industry experts and innovators.

AIOTI (Alliance for IoT and Edge computing innovation) is renowned for bringing together key players from the IoT and Edge computing sectors to facilitate knowledge exchange, collaborative efforts, and groundbreaking advancements.

As NGI Sargasso takes the stage, we aim to leverage this platform to highlight our initiatives and engage with stakeholders and potential applicants who share our passion for driving Next Generation Internet innovation. As we engage with influential stakeholders and other interesting funding opportunities in the field, we are eager to explore synergies, exchange knowledge, and shape the future of IoT and Edge computing innovation.

Stay tunes for more events like this!

 


NGI Sargasso at the Conference on Deep Tech Entrepreneurship for an Innovative, Resilient, and Competitive Internal Market

NGI Sargasso is proud to announce our participation in the upcoming Conference on deep tech entrepreneurship for an innovative, resilient, and competitive internal market, hosted by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, in collaboration with the EIC.

This is a high-level conference on Deep tech entrepreneurship for an innovative, resilient, and competitive internal market, which aligns with the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA) and the Action Plan on Intellectual Property (APIP) to foster knowledge exchange, co-implementation, and address key challenges such as the green and digital transformation, strategic use of intellectual assets, financing for growth, and collaboration among research-intensive companies, academia, and industry.

NGI Sargasso will seize this opportunity, represented by our consortium partner,

Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, we will be disseminating our funding opportunity to potential candidates and stakeholders in the deep tech entrepreneurship landscape. In fact, the conference on

deep tech entrepreneurship serves as an ideal platform to engage with potential candidates and stakeholders who share our passion for pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Want to know more about the event? Head to the official website https://swedish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/events/conference-on-deep-tech-entrepreneurship-for-an-innovative-resilient-and-competitive-internal-market-1-26/