'development of innovative digital solutions that tackle societal challenges'
Share of €2.5m grant up for grabs for digital innovations tackling green challenges
A new
competition is being launched at the end of the month to encourage the
development of innovative digital solutions that tackle societal
challenges, including those addressing sustainability and environmental
issues.
CHEST (Collective enHanced Environment for Social Tasks) is a 30-month research and development project funded under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework programme. It will launch on January 31 and invest up to €2.5 million (£1.96 million) in seed finance
in "highly innovative digital based technologies, concepts and systems"
that address a specific social challenge, including the environment and
sustainability. Other potential topics include knowledge and education;
social inclusion, human rights and equality; civic empowerment and
community engagement; health and demographic change; and empowerment and
prosperity. All selected solutions will have to have European-wide
implications, and not be limited to a single postcode or community.Crowd selectionAs well as funding, CHEST will facilitate the sharing and exchanging of ideas through an online community platform, which will enable crowd selection to play a key part in the project selection process.
"CHEST offers a unique opportunity to not only propose an idea with the potential to receive fiscal support but also evaluate and comment upon the ideas of others. This concept of crowd based evaluation is becoming increasingly more common for inputs into innovation, soliciting contributions from a broad base of people," Olaf Swanzy, director at PNO Consultants, one of the partners involved in CHEST, told GreenWise.
Funding rounds
The funding will be allocated
through three open rounds, the first of which launch on January 31 and
will be a 'call for ideas’, with awards of up to €6,000 to explore the
technical feasibility or commercial viability of an idea. The first
round will close on April 30.
The second round will award up to €150,000 to develop a novel idea to a stage that could be classified as 'market ready with a deadline for submissions on the May 31 2014
The final round will support ideas to make them market ready, including the development of a prototype. Awards will be up to €60,000 per project and the deadline for submissions will be September 30 2014.
"Exciting opportunity"
"CHEST
represents any exciting opportunity for anyone with an idea for a
solution to a societal challenge," Swanzy said. "We will be looking to
support those ideas that have a realistic potential to deliver a real
impact at a European level.The second round will award up to €150,000 to develop a novel idea to a stage that could be classified as 'market ready with a deadline for submissions on the May 31 2014
The final round will support ideas to make them market ready, including the development of a prototype. Awards will be up to €60,000 per project and the deadline for submissions will be September 30 2014.
"Exciting opportunity"
Source: http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/share-of-25m-grant-up-for-grabs-for-digital-innovations-tackling-green-challenges-4228.aspx#.UuEKH_vFL7B
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