NGI Zero Core

Project Information

NGI0 Core

Grant agreement ID: 101092990

DOI

10.3030/101092990

EC signature date 16 November 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 11 499 375,00

EU contribution

€ 11 499 375,00

Coordinated by

STICHTING NLNET
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NGI0 Core (NGI Zero Core)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The larger aim of NGI Zero is to deliver shared technological building blocks for the Next Generation internet: an open, trustworthy, human-centric internet that benefits all.

The program is the fourth NGI Zero grant making programme, focusing on fostering open source and open hardware solutions to upgrade the internet architecture and address the current limitation of decentralized technologies. leverages the proven successful NGI Zero program to fund internet research and development projects with a light-weight granting procedure and orthogonal support services to address internet-scale requirements. extends this program to contribute to a more resilient network that is increasingly supportive of open en decentralized technologies and services.

The NGI0 Core program focuses on fostering free and open source/open hardware solutions, with among others the goal to address internet architecture evolution. NGI0 Core levers the meanwhile proven NGI Zero approach to fund internet research and development projects in its own way - with a light-weight granting procedure and orthogonal support services to address internet-scale requirements. NGI0 Core in particular aims to contribute to more trustworthy data management tools and decentralized identity management solutions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

NGI Zero has created a unique portfolio of projects, and stands to make a firm contribution to that portfolio based on a wide choice of proposals. In all, NGI0 Core so far had 767 incoming project proposals, originating from 39 countries – including all 27 EU member states. The total amount requested was € 31 495 984, thus the average amount requested was €  41 171. From that influx of proposals 112 projects were accepted originating from 28 countries. The total amount accepted was € 4 109 059, out of the planned 8.8 m€ - so 46.7%. The average amount granted per project was € 36 688. Quite some projects involve more than one person or legal entity, so the amounts that individual entities will receive will be a fraction of this.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

NGI Zero funds small projects for which the R&D itself process takes significant time, and regularly the effort is spread over a long period. In many cases, the work is also interspersed with other duties. Because budget is incrementally donated when work is actually completed and verified, spending follows allocation with a predicable time lag. There is a buffer of work done which is completed but not yet claimed, but the vast majority of projects is still underway and will only complete their work in the second reporting period.