New CEF Telecom call opened: 5 million euros for Open Data projects

CEF TELECOM 2019-2
November 14 2019

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom branch finances the deployment of pan-European telecommunications infrastructure for the interconnection of Member States. To this end, each year the European Union allocates funding for both digital service platforms and general services that integrate these platforms with national structures. One of the areas included in the initiative is open data.  

In this context, the call for general services in the area of ​​open data was published on July 4. Specifically, 5 million euros are allocated to boost the development of information products and services based on the reuse and combination of public and commercial data across the EU.

The suggested products and services must reuse data sets available through the European Data Portal, and combine them with other sources of information. In addition, these proposals are intended to be relevant for more than one Member State in terms of geographic data coverage and / or utility.

The EU encourages proposals that address categories or areas of geographic coverage that need additional improvements in terms of content, interoperability and data quality, as well as proposals that would lead to the improvement of existing data platforms. Specifically, the proposals submitted must address all the challenges listed below:

  • Support the deployment of new innovative services by integrating/developing ecosystems supported by open platforms.
  • Harmonisation in terms of data content, paying special attention to the level of detail (granularity), data structure and semantics.
  • Address both technical and legal issues, including the adoption of harmonised conditions for re-use.
  • Address priority domains as defined in European Commission notice 2014/C 240/01"Guidelines on recommended standard licences, datasets and charging for the reuse of documents" and in annex I to Directive (EU) 2019/1024 on open data and the re-use of public sector information. These categories are: the domains of geospatial, earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, mobility and companies’ data (for example, business records). Other categories can be considered, when duly justified.
  • Facilitate the re-use of data, making use, as much as possible, existing or newly developed APIs.
  • Provide mechanisms for assessing the impact of solutions, through concrete Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and collect examples of re-use.
  • Datasets generated by the Actions will have to be discoverable and available through one or more Member State open data portals and through the European Data Portal. 

The deadline for submitting the proposals ends on November 14, 2019. Then, an evaluation period will begin, culminating in the resolution in April-May 2020 (estimated date).

You can read the full call here, and get inspired by last year's winners.