Strategic Innovation Open Call

EIT Urban Mobility invites innovators from across Europe to submit a proposal to its Strategic Innovation Open Call, designed to accelerate the deployment of impactful solutions that address the most pressing challenges in urban mobility.

The call focuses on supporting ambitious, market-critical projects that tackle clearly defined problems faced by cities, public authorities, and mobility providers. We aim to de-risk development and enable large-scale deployment by backing solutions with a clear path to market and the potential to scale across Europe.

Through this call, EIT Urban Mobility fosters innovation and strengthens Europe’s competitiveness by encouraging collaboration across the EIT Knowledge Triangle—education, research, and business—alongside a fourth essential partner: cities.

The Call will focus on five sectors in which we believe Europe has the potential to innovate and create impact: 

• Urban logistics,
• Public transport,
• Mobility data management,
• Electrification of transport and alternative fuels, and
• Health and mobility. 

In the future, the Call may also include specific topic scopes to address key market opportunities or urgent market failures that can be addressed through our funding.

EIT funding allocation

The total estimated funding allocated to this Call is 60 million EUR for the period 2026-2028 and has multiple cut-off dates The indicative funding for the first submission cut-off is: 9 million EUR.

Each project may receive up to 2 million EUR of EIT funding. EIT Urban Mobility will reimburse up to 65% of the eligible project costs, while the minimum co-funding rate for all proposals is 35%.

Who can apply?

This is a multi-beneficiary call for proposals and therefore there must be a minimum of two independent legal entities, working together. These entities must be established in two different European Member States, and/or Third countries associated with Horizon Europe.

For information on special cases, including Switzerland and Hungarian universities please refer to the Call Manual (see ‘List of documents to take into consideration’ section below).

How can you apply?

The Strategic Innovation Open Call is open from 2026-2028 with several cut-off dates as outlined below. The assessment of the proposals involves two stage: Stage 1 is the expert evaluation of proposals submitted via the   EIT Urban Mobility NetSuite platform (see section 4.2 of the Call Manual for submission steps), followed by Stage 2, which includes a panel hearing and selection by the Selection Committee.  

Key dates are:

• Call opens: 19 June 2025
• Info sessions: 1-3 July 2025 (see below section ‘Info Webinars’ for further information)
• Deadlines to apply: All submission windows close at 17.00 CET on the published cut-off date.
  • 1^st cut-off date: 23 September 2025
  • 2nd cut-off date: February 2026
  • 3rd cut-off date: June 2026
  • 4th cut-off date: February 2027
• Eligibility and admissibility check: Up to 1 week post-submission cut-off
• Evaluation and invitation to panel hearings: Up to 6 weeks post-submission cut-off
• Panel hearings and portfolio selection: Approximately 2 weeks post invitation to Panel Hearings
• Communication of results: Approximately 2 weeks post-Panel Hearings
• Start of the projects: Approximately 4 weeks post-communication of results

List of documents to take into consideration

• Call manual
• Glossary
• Eligibility of expenditures
• Financial sustainability guidelines
• Guidelines to applicants
• List of KPIs
• IP strategy checklist
• Pitch deck template
• Maturity radar template
• Appeal procedure
• Application form sample
• Project implementation handbook
• Financial Support Agreement (FSA) template
• Annotated Grant Agreement
• EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Agenda 2021-2027

Further information

A dedicated group for the Call in EIT Urban Mobility’s community platform Mobility Innovators has been created. Join Mobility Innovators to:

• Receive updates on the latest information on the call
• Register and participate in webinar info sessions
• Connect with fellow innovators to build strong consortia

Info webinars

EIT Urban Mobility will host online information sessions from 1-3 July 2025. Register for the online information sessions via the Mobility Innovators platform.

• Info webinar: Call content and Q&A | 10.00 – 11.30 CET, 1 July 2025
  • Slides
  • Recording
• Info webinar: Commercialisation and financial sustainability | 14.00 – 15.00 CET, 2 July 2025
  • Slides
  • Recording
• Info webinar: Intellectual property strategy | 9.30 – 10.30 CET, 3 July 2025
  • Slides
  • Recording
• Info webinar: Guidance to applicants | 14.30 – 15.30 CET, 3 July 2025
  • Slides
  • Recording

Contact details

All applicants may contact the Innovation Team at EIT Urban Mobility to resolve any concerns or doubts on the general/technical procedures and Call content: innovationcall@eiturbanmobility.eu