Building on the 2024-2028 strategy, and the 2024 open call focused on France and Ireland, the Tech and Democracy sub fund aims at expanding the cohort of organisations working to make online spaces safer, more trustworthy and inclusive by contributing to the efficient enforcement of EU tech regulations at national level.
This open call is focused on seven EU countries: Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Romania, and the Netherlands.
BACKGROUND
Technology has transformed our relationship to information production, access and consumption.
Social media platforms are influential spaces where societal questions are debated and where most people get access to news. Search engines are the gateways through which we access information in a quick and convenient way on a daily basis. However, while the original promise was to give us unlimited access to knowledge and information, these services often give us a selection of information and content that is skewed, partial and leaning towards the extremes.
The EU tech rulebook (Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, General Data protection Regulation – GDPR, Transparency and targeting of political advertising regulation, Artificial Intelligence Act, European Media Freedom Act etc.) attempts to address these issues by establishing transparency and accountability mechanisms for the tech industry, balancing free speech and freedom from harassment online, increasing the protection of online users and expanding citizens’ rights.
The national level is crucial for EU tech regulation enforcement as governments, national authorities, and civil society act as an essential support and counterbalance system to the European institutions by ensuring compliance, handling complaints, conducting investigations, and preventing any attempts to weaken or circumvent these protections.
ABOUT THE CALL
The total budget for this call is of €1,600,000.
Civitates is looking to support up to ten grantees that will be given flexible, core support of max €160,000 over two years.
The open call follows a two-steps approach where applicants are asked to submit a concept note, a budget and basic documents about the organisation. Civitates will shortlist the most promising applications and invite a limited number of organisations to submit full proposals and send additional documentation and information.
For more information on eligibility and selection criteria, please read carefully the guidelines available here.
The deadline for application is 14 March 2025, 11:30 PM (CET).
Successful applicants will be notified by mid-April 2025 and will be invited to the following stage of the selection process. The final funding decisions will be taken by July 2025.
Below you can access all the documents for the call:
- Guidelines
- Narrative proposal – concept note
- Simplified budget proposal
- Note on how to fill the simplified budget proposal
Applications must be submitted through NEF’s Optimy portal accessible here. Any submission by email will not be considered.
To help applicants, two info sessions are planned:
- February 26, 2025 11am-12pm CET . Please register here.
- February 27, 2025 2-3pm CET. Please register here.
Please note that we will provide the same information during the two webinars. To allow as many organizations as possible to participate, please a) register for only one webinar b) do not register more than two people per organisation c) if you are not able to attend the session cancel your registration using the link you have received via email.
Recordings of one of the sessions is available below. An FAQ will be published soon.
