Trustworthiness and data sovereignty
NGI0 Entrust is a project co-funded from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101069594.The project foresees as an eligible activity the provision of financial support to third parties, as a means to achieve the objectives of the Next Generation Internet initiative and to contribute to a resilient, trustworthy and sustainably open internet.
These days many of us entrust rather critical parts of our lives to technology. We are always connected, and allow the internet to convey very personal messages and expose extremely sensitive data to it. Since the internet like most technology was never designed with that kind of usage in mind, this is a liability and in many cases an unwise or even unhealthy dependency — beyond the significant technical weaknesses which put us at risk, we often find ourselves in a situation where we have little autonomy and our data is just taken and used without our consent.
NGI0 Entrust is designed to help us move beyond the status quo and create a virtuous cycle of innovation through free and open source software, open hardware and open standards. If we want everyone to use and benefit from the internet to its full potential without holding back, the internet must be built on digital commons: strong and transparent technologies that allow for permissionless innovation and are equally accessible to all. Reliability, confidentiality, integrity, security and data portability should be the 'new normal' of the internet, something ordinary users should not have to worry about — users should be in control.
Project proposals are written in English and
- should be in line with the NGI vision and the sub-granting call applied for
- should have research and development as their primary objective
- should satisfy any other hard eligibility criteria specific to the sub-granting call, such as having a clear European Dimension.
The following types of activities qualify for financial support, provided they are cost effective and have a clear link to the topics directly relevant to NGI0 Entrust mentioned above - privacy, trust & data sovereignty on the Internet - and the objectives set out in the call:
- scientific research
- design and development of open source software and open hardware
- validation or cons tructive inquiry into existing or novel technical solutions
- software engineering aimed at adapting to new usage areas or improving software quality
- formal security proofs, security audits, setup and design of software testing and continuous integration
- documentation for researchers, developers and end users
- standardisation activities, including membership fees of standards bodies
- understanding user requirements and improving usability/inclusive design
- necessary measures in support of (broad)er deployability, e.g. packaging
- participation in technical, developer and community events like hackathons, IETF, W3C, RIPE meetings, FOSDEM, etc. (admission fee, travel and subsistence costs)
- other activities that are relevant to adhering to robust software development and deployment practices
- project management
- out-of-pocket costs for infrastructure essential to achieving the above
All scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and any software and hardware must be published under a recognised free and open source license in its entirety.
The proposals should be between 5.000 and 50.000 euro — with the possibility to scale them up if there is proven potential.
Deadline: 1 December 2022, 12:00 CET (noon).