Applications to the GÉANT Innovation Programme are now closed!

The GÉANT Innovation Programme is a unique opportunity to enable initial development, establish a proof of concept or testing of new ideas, with lightweight administrative constraints.

As part of the GÉANT Community Programme (GCP), the GÉANT Association has reserved EUR300k to support an Innovation Programme for specific research projects to be carried out by the GÉANT Community, i.e. GÉANT Member NRENs, universities, research institutions/institutes or other such legal entities to which a GÉANT Association Member NREN provides services.

The call for proposals is for research project funding of up to EUR30k, for a max duration of 5 / 6 months with possible extensions up to 9 months.

Member NRENs from the GÉANT Association or legal entities from one of its ‘connected institutions’, including universities, research or education institutes or institutions connected to an NREN, are welcomed and eligible for funding under this programme.

Any subject area or topic providing that it falls within GÉANT’s Community remit! For example, proposals can draw upon areas such as networking, cloud, security, trust & identity and education.

We particularly encourage innovative proposals that demonstrate significant scientific or societal and economic impact and create benefit for the GÉANT European Research and Education community. Examples of previous innovation developed within the GÉANT Community include widely adopted services, such as eduroam, eduVPN and eduMEET.  

Our funding decisions are based on a number of criteria, including: quality, innovation, potential impact and value for money.

Download the application form

PDF | Word

Fill it in and upload it onto Indico

events.geant.org/e/innovation

Receive the final evaluation within 5 weeks of submission

Login or registration to Indico is required in order to submit your proposal. Applicants must upload two documents: 

1. Signed and (if necessary) stamped PDF of the proposal.
2. Microsoft Word or PDF of the proposal.

1. GÉANT Innovation Programme - Research Agreement with DPA (controller-processor).
2. GÉANT Innovation Programme - Research Agreement without DPA (controller-controller).

By submitting the proposal, the lead partner agrees to sign the GIP Research Agreement as it is. If in the project it is planned to process person related data, the version with the Data Processing Agreement section has to be chosen. If no person related data will be processed, the one without the Data Processing Agreement section has to be chosen. What is very important, before submitting a proposal, the lead partner has to make sure, that the legal department of his institutions accepts to sign the GIP Research Agreement as it is, as GÉANT will not accept any changes. The templates of both Research Agreements are available here above.

Consult the guidance for applicants on the dedicated page, including FAQs and a checklist to verify your eligibility and the completion of your application.

Read the full guide for applicants here

The GÉANT Innovation Programme collaborates with the Vietsch Foundation. When a prospective proposal cannot be accepted any more within the Innovation Programme, we provide those projects the opportunity to have their proposal submitted to the Vietsch Foundation for potential funding.

Launched in February 2021, the GÉANT Innovation Programme funded ten projects in the areas of multimedia, networks, trust&identity, education, clouds, security and privacy.

Visit the overview of funded projects here

Hear from Claudio Allocchio, Senior Technical Officer at GARR and chair of the GÉANT Community Committee (GCC), about the benefits of the GÉANT Innovation Programme, expected topics and tips for innovators.