Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NGI Enrichers (NGI International Collaboration – Transatlantic Fellowship Programme)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-03-01 al 2025-08-31
NGI Enrichers aims to be the EU gateway for NGI innovators to both the US and Canada. By implementing an agile and flexible programming and management of a Transatlantic Fellowship programme, the NGI Enrichers’ consortium reinforces established collaboration ties between EU-US NGI innovators and create new ones, while developing a whole new collaborative network of Internet innovators and researchers between the EU and CA and integrates them into the NGI community.
The NGI Enrichers programme supports European NGI researchers and innovators to spend 3-6 months in the US or Canada to work and collaborate with US and Canadian hosts, to promote knowledge-sharing and establishing long-term collaborations on NGI technologies, services, and standards. The programme provides travel funding, living allowance, and visa for visiting fellows from Europe, and supports both fellows and their hosts, with bootcamps, mentors, visibility, community building and more.
The main planned outcomes of the project are as follow:
• Up to 70-90 fellows making expeditions to the USA or to Canada
• Enhanced EU-US and EU-Canada cooperation in the development of Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards
• Supporting the EU internet policy objectives by sharing the EU vision and values with US and Canadian counterparts and forging bonds through concrete collaborations
• A transatlantic ecosystem of top researchers, high-tech start-ups / SMEs and Internet-related communities collaborating on the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach
The NGI Enrichers programme supports European NGI researchers and innovators to spend 3-6 months in the US or Canada to work and collaborate with US and Canadian hosts, to promote knowledge-sharing and establishing long-term collaborations on NGI technologies, services, and standards. The programme provides travel funding, living allowance, and visa for visiting fellows from Europe, and supports both fellows and their hosts, with bootcamps, mentors, visibility, community building and more.
The main planned outcomes of the project are as follow:
• Up to 70-90 fellows making expeditions to the USA or to Canada
• Enhanced EU-US and EU-Canada cooperation in the development of Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards
• Supporting the EU internet policy objectives by sharing the EU vision and values with US and Canadian counterparts and forging bonds through concrete collaborations
• A transatlantic ecosystem of top researchers, high-tech start-ups / SMEs and Internet-related communities collaborating on the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach
NGI Enrichers successfully put in place a fellowship programme allowing top researchers and innovators to pursue a 3 to 6 months fellowship programme in the US or in the CA for their NGI related projects.
A multiple actions and activities were performed to put in place such a vibrant community, both with the fellows and the hosts.
The following list presents main activities and achievements of the NGI Enrichers programme:
• 68 fellows have been selected and 59 have been funded, among them 3 Swiss applicants have been funded with Swiss funds. (14 applications were selected during the second period / on the 3rd call)
• Three rounds of open calls have successfully conducted. (One during the second period)
• NGI Enrichers team funded 282 individual payments to fellows (payments "tranches", travel cost reimbursements and travel cost for the final event in Davos reimbursements)
• 17 new partnerships with US host organisations have been established. (3 during the second period)
• 10 new partnerships have been established with CA host organisation.(3 during the second period)
• 22 partnerships with former host organisations have been reconducted. (1 during the second period)
• 28 expert evaluators were selected during the first period and recontacted during the second period.
• 3 bootcamps(The 1st bootcamp was held in Rome May 15th-16th 2023. The second was also held in Rome February 28th-29th 2024. The third was held in the Paris Area October 23rd-24th 2024) and 3 Virtual Award ceremony took place. (The third bootcamp and 2 award ceremonies were held during the second period)
• 179 mentoring sessions, including 52 peer-to-peer sessions. (44 peer-to-peer sessions were done during the second period)
• NGI Enrichers team realised 96 personalised technical assistance sessions. (53 sessions were done during the second period)
• 117 vetted mentors and 127 mentoring sessions took place.(97 vetted mentors and 82 mentoring sessions during the second period)
A multiple actions and activities were performed to put in place such a vibrant community, both with the fellows and the hosts.
The following list presents main activities and achievements of the NGI Enrichers programme:
• 68 fellows have been selected and 59 have been funded, among them 3 Swiss applicants have been funded with Swiss funds. (14 applications were selected during the second period / on the 3rd call)
• Three rounds of open calls have successfully conducted. (One during the second period)
• NGI Enrichers team funded 282 individual payments to fellows (payments "tranches", travel cost reimbursements and travel cost for the final event in Davos reimbursements)
• 17 new partnerships with US host organisations have been established. (3 during the second period)
• 10 new partnerships have been established with CA host organisation.(3 during the second period)
• 22 partnerships with former host organisations have been reconducted. (1 during the second period)
• 28 expert evaluators were selected during the first period and recontacted during the second period.
• 3 bootcamps(The 1st bootcamp was held in Rome May 15th-16th 2023. The second was also held in Rome February 28th-29th 2024. The third was held in the Paris Area October 23rd-24th 2024) and 3 Virtual Award ceremony took place. (The third bootcamp and 2 award ceremonies were held during the second period)
• 179 mentoring sessions, including 52 peer-to-peer sessions. (44 peer-to-peer sessions were done during the second period)
• NGI Enrichers team realised 96 personalised technical assistance sessions. (53 sessions were done during the second period)
• 117 vetted mentors and 127 mentoring sessions took place.(97 vetted mentors and 82 mentoring sessions during the second period)
The NGI Enrichers project aimed to have short, medium and long-term impacts on EU-US and EU-Canada cooperation in NGI topics at the same time contributing to a human-centred and ethical development of digital and industrial technologies. NGI fosters the vision that “The Internet of the future should be more open, provide better services, more intelligence, greater involvement and participation, and reflect the social and ethical values: free, open and more interoperable”.
Maximisation of the impact has been achieved via increased inclusiveness, by supporting a human-centered approach to technology development. NGI Enrichers fellows have been encouraged to develop the projects that comply the NGI vision, supporting human-centric internet values: autonomy, humanities, cooperation, openness, inclusivity, data protection, data sovereignty, data privacy, transparency.
The other important impact includes sustainable, high-quality jobs by targeting skills mismatches, the need to empower workers, and ethical considerations relating to technological progress. To maximise the impact fellows have been supported to develop their projects, engaging with various investors, creating start-ups etc.
An interlinked and humancentric NGI Enrichers community was paramount to achieve NGI Enrichers objectives and to maximise the positive impact on the EU community. A strong desire to connect with one another have been witnessed from the fellows and the NGI Enrichers team facilitates putting community at the place, taking advantage of the mentors and team partners.
Furthermore, the NGI Enrichers developed numerous connection with hosts in the US and in CA, with mentors, ambassadors, evaluators and even thematic experts who intervened during the bootcamps. The community has been growing, but more importantly with people who are fully relevant and actively sharing and networking with the other members.
Maximisation of the impact has been achieved via increased inclusiveness, by supporting a human-centered approach to technology development. NGI Enrichers fellows have been encouraged to develop the projects that comply the NGI vision, supporting human-centric internet values: autonomy, humanities, cooperation, openness, inclusivity, data protection, data sovereignty, data privacy, transparency.
The other important impact includes sustainable, high-quality jobs by targeting skills mismatches, the need to empower workers, and ethical considerations relating to technological progress. To maximise the impact fellows have been supported to develop their projects, engaging with various investors, creating start-ups etc.
An interlinked and humancentric NGI Enrichers community was paramount to achieve NGI Enrichers objectives and to maximise the positive impact on the EU community. A strong desire to connect with one another have been witnessed from the fellows and the NGI Enrichers team facilitates putting community at the place, taking advantage of the mentors and team partners.
Furthermore, the NGI Enrichers developed numerous connection with hosts in the US and in CA, with mentors, ambassadors, evaluators and even thematic experts who intervened during the bootcamps. The community has been growing, but more importantly with people who are fully relevant and actively sharing and networking with the other members.