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BOWI project will distribute € 900 000 to support the growth of developing digital innovation hubs.

The EU Horizon 2020 BOWI project is launching an Open Call for developing digital innovation hubs (DIHs) to join the BOWI network and take part in cross-border technology and service transfer programme. The DIHs can apply by submitting their applications from 15th December 2020 until 1st of March 2021.

Nine applicants will be selected to take part in a two-stage BOWI support programme of experience exchange and technology application. Participation in the programme will aid the chosen DIHs to become stronger players in their regional scene, connect to a network of experienced international experts, gain access to specific facilities, and receive up to € 100 000 of funding per beneficiary. During the BOWI support programme selected hubs will be able to refine their technology offering, business models and their role in own regional ecosystem by applying the knowledge shared by the more experienced - mature - DIHs. BOWI’s mature DIHs – TNO Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (Netherlands), VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland) and RWTH Aachen University (Germany) – have long-term experience in tackling the most challenging projects and a wide network of partners that newly selected DIHs will be able to benefit from.

The 1st stage runs for 11 months and is supported with € 20 000 of funding to cover the costs. During this stage, the chosen DIHs will receive mentoring and training from BOWI's mature hubs and work together to create a roadmap for stronger smart technology acceleration in their respective region. This will include working on the Smart Specialization Strategy’s development acceleration and setting-up a dialogue with local public authorities, development agencies, investors, and other relevant organisations.

The 2nd stage of the programme will take place in 2022 in the form of 10-month long cross-border technology transfer experiments. In this stage selected applicants will be working together with BOWI's mature DIHs to support their local SMEs or midcaps to refine their digital solutions that afterwards will help the companies to reach new market potential and scale. During the experiments, the mature DIHs will keep working in close collaboration with the developing DIHs and assist them in solving complex challenges and refining their operational model.

Proposals can be submitted by DIHs already included or to be included in the European Catalogue of Digital Innovation Hubs and located in pre-defined regions of Albania, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Turkey, Serbia, Poland, Portugal and others. The applicants also needed to have experience in promoting regional application of technologies in at least 3 of the following technology areas: low energy computing powering CPS, cyber-physical and embedded systems, Internet of Things, robotics or manufacturing, flexible and wearable electronics, man/machine interfaces, laserbased manufacturing, cloud computing or others.

For full list of eligibility conditions, criteria, and support actions, please visit BOWI project's website www.bowi-network.eu.