Calls for social economy and local green deals supporting SMEs to become more resilient are now open. The Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) encourages participating ICC cities to apply and that all applicants consult the Local Green Deal Blueprint as a source of inspiration and guidance. Raising awareness and applying the Local Green Deals Blueprint in the development and implementation of the Local Green Deals is explicitly mentioned as one of the call’s specific objectives.
The selected themes for the call can include, for example:
- Innovative and collaborative models for green transformation of businesses and SMEs
- Green infrastructure
- Local sustainable value chains
- Green and social procurement
- Other relevant theme
Objectives
The objectives of the ‘Local Green Deals’ topic are summarised below:
- To provide support to SMEs, regional and local economic operators to lead the twin green and digital transition collaboratively through transnational and cross-city cooperation.
- Implement actions aiming to direct the local economy towards a sustainable and inclusive pathway. These actions should clearly identify stakeholder commitments and timeframes.
- Create new jobs.
- Mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
- Accelerate a new, green and fairer recovery.
Whilst the Social Economy Missions for community resilience topic aims to meet the objectives of supporting projects which focus on resilience and capacity building of regional or local public administrations, social economy SMEs and civil society, especially in times of difficulty and crises.
Expected impact
The long term expected impact of the call is ambitious. The Local Green Deals topic is aimed at increasing the innovation, sustainability and awareness of EU funding. The call will enhance the preparation and capacity for Local Green Deals movements of local economic operators and SMEs. Under the Social Economy Missions for community resilience topic, it is hoped that a more sustainable business environment which will support growth and offer inspiration for other areas, will be fostered by local economic operators and local or regional administrations.
Available budget
A total budget of EUR 4 000 000 is available for this call. This is broken down into EUR 2 000 000 for Local Green Deals and EUR 2 000 000 for Social Economy Missions for Community Resilience.
Deadline: 24 November 2021, 17:00 (CET)
To find out more information about the call, please click here and carefully check all the call conditions and documents before starting your application.