Driving Urban Transitions Partnership (DUT): Joint Call for Proposals for Research and Innovation Projects

Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future is the new programme of JPI Urban Europe
starting in 2022. The DUT Partnership steps up the game to tackle urban challenges. Through
research and innovation, authorities and municipalities, business, and citizens shall be enabled
to translate global strategies into local action. The partnership aims to develop the skills and tools to make urban change happen and boost the urgently needed urban transformations towards a sustainable future with enhanced quality of life in cities.

DUT is realised as a European partnership of more than 60 partners from 27 countries, involving national and regional policy makers, funders and urban-related policy agencies to invest in urban R&I and strengthen a European innovation eco-system for urban transitions. Building upon the JPI Urban Europe achievements, DUT aims to create a strong community around urban transitions and to establish a well-known research and innovation platform that will help cities become more sustainable, inclusive and liveable.

In order to support cities along their specific strategies, the Partnership focuses on three critical urban sectors and their interrelationships:

• The Circular Urban Economies Transition Pathway (CUE): The CUE pathway wants to foster the design of urban places characterized by regenerative urbanism, by which we mean liveable, inclusive, and green communities and neighbourhoods that are sustained by circular urban economies and resource flows.
• The Positive Energy Districts Transition Pathway (PED): The PED pathway aims to optimize the local energy system through energy efficiency, flexibility and local energy generation from renewables in actions towards the (urban) energy transition and climate-neutrality and mainstreaming these actions in urban planning processes.
• The 15-Minute City Transition Pathway (15minC): The 15minC pathway focusses on rethinking the existing mobility system and urban morphology to encourage sustainable mobility choices, redistribute urban space and reorganize our daily activities so to make our cities more climate neutral, loveable and inclusive.

1. SFOE Participation:

• Eligible topics/Transition Pathways: Positive Energy Districts (PED) and 15-Minute City (15minC)
• TRL range: 4 to 9: The SFOE exclusively funds innovation-oriented approach related projects.

• This call is addressed to all types organizations such as universities, research institutes, SME’s and large companies, public authorities, NGOs. All partners must comply with the SFOE P+D Programme directive.
• National requirements have to be fulfilled (Art. 49 EnG and Art. 54 EnV), i.e. the proposed projects will be funded by the P+D program and thus have to fulfill the formal criteria and content criteria specified in the Appendix IV of the directive of the P+D program.
• The key eligibility criteria and funding conditions are summarized in the SFOE Call document (pages 3 and 4).
• Eligible costs: personnel costs, operational costs, investment costs and subcontracting.

• Pre-proposals to the SFOE are to be sent as pdf to [email protected] (Subject: "DUT Call pre-proposal") by 21 November 2022.
• Full proposals to the SFOE are to be sent as pdf (and xlsx) to [email protected]  (Subject: "DUT Call full proposal") by 3 May 2023.

2. Innosuisse  - Swiss Innovation Agency

• Eligible topics/Transition Pathways: All
• TRL range: 3 to 7: The Swiss Innovation Agency exclusively funds strategic (basic) research, applied research, experimental development related projects.

• Swiss partners must either be registered with the Swiss Register of Commerce or be a recognized research institution.
• At least one of the Swiss participants in a consortium must be a for-profit company from Switzerland.
• The share of the total eligible costs of the Swiss for-profit partner/s must be higher than the share of the Swiss academic partner/s.
• Each Swiss partner must cover a part of the project budget through their in-kind contribution.
• Eligible costs: personnel costs, operational costs, investment costs, indirect costs and subcontracting.
• Only costs necessary for the execution of the project are eligible. They are defined in the Ordinance of 20 January 2021 on the measures for the participation of Switzerland in the programmes of the European Union in the field of research and innovation. Only costs documented by employment contracts of Swiss project partners or invoices to Swiss project partners will be reimbursed.

3. SNSF Participation: 

• Eligible topics/Transition Pathways: All
• TRL range: 1 to max. 4: The SNSF exclusively funds basic research conducted for purposes that are not directly commercial.

• Applications must comply with the SNSF Regulations on Project Funding and practices.
• All Swiss applicants submitting to the SNSF and co-applicants must be eligible for the SNSF Project Funding Scheme (see EPFL Instructions for SNSF Project Funding).
• Eligible costs: personnel costs, operational costs and subcontracting. Overhead contributions are not supported: they are calculated on the basis of the total research funding given to a particular institution through all SNSF funding instruments, and are paid directly to the applicant’s institution on a yearly basis.
• Note: Swiss-based applicants must submit pre-proposals and proposals via mySNF at the same deadline as the consortium applications.

• Deadline for pre-proposals: 21 November 2022 (13:00 CEST)
• Deadline for full proposals: 3 May 2023 (13:00 CEST)