NGI0 Commons Fund, co-funded from the Horizon Europe programme, 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 (NGI) initiative and to contribute to a resilient, trustworthy and sustainably open internet.

The goal of this new fund is to help deliver, mature and scale new internet commons across the whole technology spectrum, from libre silicon to middleware, from P2P infrastructure to convenient end user applications.

They are looking for troubleshooters that help society tackle the hard but very important challenges ahead under the quadruple helix model — the collaboration of the public sector, aligned companies, academia and civil society — to restore the internet back to health. The aim is to create a strong and open internet for all, and bring about new paradigms like the European Commissions vision for Web 4.0 which aim to harness upcoming technologies like virtual and augmented reality, generative AI and intelligent mediators in a responsible way so they may sustainably serve society.

They are looking for new ideas and disruptive technologies, while at the same time evolving and growing existing technologies that are still future-proof.

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 digital commons and the objectives set out in call:

• 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;
• 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.