NGI Fediversity open call (2025-06F)

The NGI Fediversity open call offers funding opportunities aimed at enhancing the Fediversity project, which focuses on developing easy-to-use, hosted cloud services with service portability and personal freedom. The project emphasizes high-quality, secure IT systems that avoid tracking or exploitation, utilizing NixOS for its deployment approach.

The call opens for submissions on April 1, 2025, and the deadline is June 1, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time. Projects can last from 1 to 12 months, with a total funding pool of 380,000 euros available for distribution. Each project grant will range between 5,000 and 50,000 euros.

Eligible applicants include individuals and various organizations, and projects must align with the vision of the Next Generation Internet. Proposals should be concise, limited to two pages, and demonstrate a clear European dimension. Evaluation will consider technical merit, strategic relevance to NGI, and overall value for money, requiring a minimum score of 5 out of 7 for selection.

Eligible activities for funding include scientific research, development of open-source software and hardware, validation efforts, software engineering, security audits, documentation, standardization tasks, and participation in relevant technical and community events, among others. All scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and resulting software and hardware must be released under free and open-source licenses.

The initiative seeks to tackle the complexities involved in deploying internet-based services and aims to streamline the process while ensuring scalability and data security. Overall, the NGI Fediversity open call underscores a commitment to fostering an open, trustworthy, and reliable internet. More details, including application guidelines and FAQs, can be found on the designated website.

The NGI Fediversity open call (2025-06F) is a funding opportunity focused on research and development to enhance the Fediversity project. The call aims to bring easy-to-use, hosted cloud services with service portability and personal freedom to everyone. It seeks to provide high-quality, secure IT systems for everyday use, without tracking or exploitation, that run everywhere and scale effortlessly. The project is based on NixOS, a Linux distribution known for its unique approach to package and configuration management.

The opening date for submissions is April 1, 2025, and the deadline for submission is June 1, 2025, at 17:00 (Brussels time). The expected duration of participation is flexible, ranging from 1 to 12 months. The total funding available is 380,000.00 EUR. The project acronym is Fediversity, and the full name of the EU funded project is Fediversity. The grant agreement number is 101136078. The relevant topic is HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-12 - Pilots for the Next Generation Internet (IA).

Projects can be submitted through https://NLnet.nl/propose. Applicants should consult this page and the guide for applicants before preparing their proposal. Anyone can apply, including private individuals and organizations of any type. Project proposals should align with the NGI vision and have research and development as their primary objective. Proposals should be complete, concise (no longer than two pages for the main application), and have a clear European dimension.

Projects will be evaluated based on a 7-point scale, considering technical merit (30% weight), strategic relevance to the Next Generation Internet and expected contribution to the goals of NGI Fediversity (40% weight), and overall value for money (30% weight). To be selected, projects must achieve a total weighted score above 5.0 (out of 7).

The following activities are eligible for financial support, provided they are cost-effective and directly relevant to NGI Fediversity's topics and objectives:

Scientific research
Design and development of open source software and open hardware
Validation or constructive 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, including educational materials
Standardization activities, including membership fees of standards bodies
Understanding user requirements and improving usability/inclusive design
Necessary measures in support of broader deployability, such as packaging
Participation in technical, developer, and community events like hackathons, IETF, W3C, RIPE meetings, FOSDEM, etc. (admission fee, travel and subsistence costs)
Other activities relevant 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 novel software and hardware created must be published under a recognized free and open source license in its entirety.

More information, including the call text, proposal guidelines, and an FAQ, can be found at https://NLnet.nl/fediversity. Additional information is available on the official project website: https://fediversity.eu.

The call addresses the challenges of deploying internet-based services, which are often complex and require significant effort to maintain and secure. Fediversity aims to simplify this process by providing easy-to-use, hosted cloud services with service portability and personal freedom at their core. It seeks to enable individuals and organizations to maintain internet services at scale, achieving high availability and data security.

Fediversity is based on NixOS, which offers a declarative and reproducible approach to package and configuration management, making it suitable for complex deployment scenarios. The project aims to support the deployment of state-of-the-art services for the Fediverse, such as PeerTube, Mastodon, Owncast, and Lemmy, as well as more traditional services like e-mail servers, VPNs, and private cloud storage.

The call invites contributions to help reshape the state of play and create an open, trustworthy, and reliable internet for all. A total of 450,000 EUR in small to medium-size R&D grants will be awarded, with project proposals ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 EUR. Successful projects may have the opportunity to scale up in other programs funded by NLnet, such as the NGI0 Commons Fund.

In summary, the NGI Fediversity open call is a funding opportunity for projects that contribute to the development of easy-to-use, secure, and portable cloud services based on NixOS. It aims to address the challenges of deploying and maintaining internet services by fostering innovation in areas such as open source software, security, usability, and deployability. The call encourages a wide range of activities, from scientific research to community engagement, and seeks to create a more open, trustworthy, and reliable internet for everyone.

Eligible Applicant Types: The opportunity is open to anyone, including private individuals and organizations of any type.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically small to medium-size R&D grants. It is cascade funding.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity does not specify whether a single applicant or a consortium is required. It appears that both single applicants and consortia are eligible.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The proposal should have a clear European dimension, suggesting that applicants from the EU or countries closely associated with the EU are preferred.

Target Sector: The program targets the ICT sector, specifically focusing on the Next Generation Internet (NGI), cloud services, service portability, personal freedom, open-source software and hardware, and the Fediverse.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the call emphasizes a "clear European dimension," implying a focus on the European Union and associated countries.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project is research and development. The call seeks to enable contributions to help Fediversity and bring the next generation of mobile solutions closer, suggesting projects in the development phase.

Funding Amount: The funding range is between 5,000 and 50,000 euros. The total funding available for this call is 380,000 euros, while the text mentions 450,000 euros in small to medium-size R&D grants.

Application Type: The application type is an open call.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of R&D grants.

Application Stages: The deadline model is single-stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned.

Co-funding Requirement: The co-funding requirement is not explicitly mentioned.

Summary:

This opportunity is an open call for proposals under the NGI Fediversity project, seeking to award small to medium-sized R&D grants ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 euros to projects that contribute to the development of easy-to-use, hosted cloud services with service portability and personal freedom at their core. The call is open to anyone, including private individuals and organizations of any type, provided that the project proposals align with the NGI vision and have research and development as their primary objective. The total funding available is 380,000 euros.

The Fediversity project aims to provide high-quality, secure IT systems for everyday use, without tracking or exploitation, in a way that runs everywhere and scales effortlessly. It is based on NixOS, a Linux distribution with a unique approach to package and configuration management. The call encourages contributions that address the challenges of deploying internet-based services and enabling the community to maintain internet services at scale.

Eligible activities include scientific research, design and development of open-source software and open hardware, validation of technical solutions, software engineering, security proofs and audits, documentation, standardization activities, user requirement analysis, measures to support deployability, participation in technical events, and project management. All scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and any novel software and hardware created must be published under a recognized free and open-source license.

Projects will be evaluated based on technical merit (30%), strategic relevance to NGI and contribution to NGI Fediversity goals (40%), and value for money (30%). Proposals should be concise (no longer than two pages) and have a clear European dimension. The deadline for submission is June 1, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time. The expected duration of participation is 1-12 months.