SMART ERA 2nd Open Call for Followers Micro-Pilots — Replicating Smart Innovation Packages in New Rural "Follower Regions"
Up to €90,000 per consortium (or up to €60,000 for individual applicants) to replicate SMART ERA’s rural innovation methodology in four new “Follower Regions” across Europe.
About SMART ERA
SMART ERA project aims to transform rural areas by addressing their socio-economic and environmental challenges through advanced technology and innovative solutions, with impacts spanning technology, governance, business, society and policymaking.
The project’s core instrument is the Smart Innovation Package (SIP): a combination of technological and non-technological solutions, business and sustainability models, and governance policies, co-designed and validated directly with local communities. SIPs are built to exploit synergies between these elements to tackle pressing challenges such as depopulation, mobility or access to services.
The project follows a four-step approach: Inception (methodology design), Development (1st Open Call, inviting solution providers into the six pilot regions), Piloting (validation of SIPs in the six regions) and Transition, where results are capitalised on and extended beyond the original pilots.
This 2nd Open Call sits within the Transition phase and uses the Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) mechanism. It follows a 1st Open Call for Pilot Add-ons (closed), which funded up to 11 innovators with up to €60,000 each and a nine-month support programme to address the six pilot regions’ Rural Innovation Challenges.
About SMART ERA’s 2nd Open Call for Followers Micro-Pilots
The objective of this call is to transfer SMART ERA’s results, methodology and validation strategies to four new “Follower Regions”, proving the replicability and impact potential of the approach beyond the original six pilots.
Follower Regions must be rural regions located within one of four EU Macro-Regional Strategies (MRS), and must not be among the six original SMART ERA Pilot Regions:
- EUSALP. EU Strategy for the Alpine Region.
- EUSBSR. EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
- EUSAIR. EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region.
- EUSDR. EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
The Guide for Applicants illustrates the expected type of project through two example profiles that combine a core technological solution with non-technological, policy and business ingredients tailored to the region’s specific gap.
- A Romanian consortium replicating a shared-mobility solution connecting elderly residents with healthcare services, paired with a local voucher-based governance model and an intergenerational digital-literacy scheme.
- A North Macedonian consortium building a B2B/B2C rural tourism networking platform, paired with a multi-actor governance board and a participatory onboarding process for local operators.
Why Apply to SMART ERA’s 2nd Open Call for Followers Micro-Pilots
This call will select up to 4 Follower Micro-Pilots. Funding is granted as a lump sum and depends on the application format:
- Consortium: up to €90,000 total — up to €30,000 for the Community Activator and up to €60,000 for the Pilot Orchestrator.
- Individual applicant: up to €60,000 total, covering both roles.
The lump sum is paid across the three stages of the Support Programme, tied to specific deliverables where beneficiaries must demonstrate that project implementation aligns with the milestones set in their Individual Mentoring Plan. Each selected team also joins a 12-month Support Programme with mentoring from SMART ERA’s Technical Partners.
Who Can Apply?
Applicants can apply in one of two ways:
- As a Consortium of two entities: a Community Activator (a public administration, university, NGO or association with strong ties to the local community) responsible for engagement, needs identification and co-design workshops; and a Pilot Orchestrator (an SME or Technical Provider), responsible for the technical adaptation of the solution, data integration, SIP deployment and technical mentoring. The participation of a technology provider is compulsory.
- As an Individual applicant: a single legal entity (e.g. an SME or Tech Provider/Developer) capable of covering both roles.
Priority in selection is given to:
- Regions facing structural socio-economic challenges (demographic decline, limited access to services, economic restructuring, low innovation intensity).
- Regions with emerging or moderately developed innovation ecosystems and limited or fragmented data availability, but a clear willingness to engage in data-driven approaches.
- Regions with no previous experience participating in multi-actor approach projects.
- Diversity across macro-regions and rural typologies, to maximise learning, comparability and transferability of results.
Public bodies, higher education institutions and research organisations from EU and associated countries must have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place.
How to Apply to SMART ERA’s 2nd Open Call for Followers Micro-Pilots
Applications are submitted exclusively through SMART ERA’s online application system. Proposals must be written in English — if mandatory sections are submitted in another language, the proposal is rejected; non-mandatory sections in another language are simply not evaluated.
Only one proposal per applicant is allowed; if more than one is submitted, only the one closest to the deadline is considered. Once submitted, a proposal can still be modified until the deadline, but no information can be added afterwards, so applicants must ensure completeness before then.
Important Dates
- Call opens: 12 June 2026, 09:00 CEST.
- Submission Deadline: 15 September 2026 at 13:00 CEST.
- Pitching Days and Final Consensus Meeting: October 2026 (indicative).
- Support Programme start: January 2027 (indicative).
Proposal Requirements
Proposals, with the new SIP to be co-designed must include, at minimum: one technological solution, one non-technological ingredient, one policy ingredient and one business ingredient. The proposed technological solution must have an initial TRL of at least 4 (validated in lab) and reach a final TRL of at least 6 (demonstrated in a relevant environment) by the end of the deployment as this is a replication and validation call, not an early-stage R&D call.
Digital solutions must implement robust security measures (encryption at rest and in transit, authentication/authorisation, regular vulnerability assessments, ISO/IEC 27001 alignment) and comply with GDPR and the SMART ERA data management plan. Projects are encouraged, where applicable, to use open-source AI models, the OpenAPI approach, and to publish output data free of charge in open data portals.
Evaluation and Selection Process
The evaluation follows several phases:
- First check. Proposals are reviewed against the eligibility criteria, based on the applicants’ own declarations.
- Pre-scoring. Applied only if more than 60 eligible proposals are received overall (or more than 15 per Macro-Region). In that case, proposals are automatically scored up to 120 points on 4 criteria: characteristics of the rural region, excellence, impact and implementation.
- Independent Individual Evaluation. Each proposal is scored by 3 independent external experts on three criteria (Excellence, Impact, Implementation), each on a 0–5 scale. The threshold is 3/5 per criterion and an overall threshold of 10 points.
- Pitching Days and Final Consensus Meeting. The top 3 ranked proposals per Macro-Region are invited to pitch before the SMART ERA Selection Committee, expected in October 2026. The Committee decides a Provisional List of recipients and a Reserve List, considering potential impact, the team’s vision and attitude, and scalability potential. The initial goal is to select 4 projects (1 per Macro-Region).
- Formal check and Subgrant Agreement signature.
Additional support beyond funding
Selected teams join a 12-month Support Programme (starting indicatively in January 2027), including an on-line Welcome Event and matching with SMART ERA Mentors. The programme unfolds in three stages, each tied to a deliverable and a payment tranche:
- Stage 1 – On-boarding (2 months): definition of the Individual Mentoring Plan (IMP), including planned activities, KPIs, milestones and budget.
- Stage 2 – Mobilisation (3 months): delivery of the Report on Community Engagement.
- Stage 3 – Deployment (7 months): completion of the Technical Solution.
Performance at each stage is reviewed by SMART ERA’s Technical Partners at Milestone Reviews. Each review is scored 0–10, and beneficiaries need to reach a threshold of 7 points to receive the corresponding payment and continue in the programme.
Final Thoughts on SMART ERA’s 2nd Open Call for Followers Micro-Pilots
This 2nd Open Call is not designed to fund new technology development, but to test whether an already-proven methodology travels well: applicants must bring solutions validated at TRL 4 and demonstrate they can reach TRL 6 within a rural context different from SMART ERA’s original six pilots. The requirement to build each SIP around four distinct ingredients (technological, non-technological, policy and business) keeps the emphasis on replicating a systemic approach rather than deploying an isolated piece of technology.
The explicit priority given to regions with no prior experience in multi-actor projects can work in an applicant’s favour. Combined with the option to apply individually, covering both the community-facing and technical roles, the call opens the door to smaller or less consortium-experienced organisations that can still demonstrate technical maturity and genuine ties to a follower region.
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