[OSGeo-UK] Fwd: OSGEO & EU Horizon Call - A services and business incubator for geospatial open-source developments

[Nick Bearman]

Hi OSGeo:UK,

As Chair of OSGeo:UK I have been approached by Ksenia Grant, from 
University of Edinburgh and EDINA, to see if we know anyone who is 
bidding for the EU Horizon Call:  A services and business incubator for 
geospatial open-source developments and/or whether we are interested in 
collaborating with them. I have circulated this around the OSGeo Discuss 
and Europe lists as well.

The timescale is relatively short (mid-April submission) and they are 
keen to emphasise their willingness to undertake the heavy admin burden 
of a EU Bid.

Of note, it is bidding for up to €6m, and it is designated that a 
minimum of 45% and up to 60% of this will be provided as 'cascading 
funds' - i.e. money given to companies and organisations to do stuff, 
rather than used by the project partners as such.

This seems like an interesting opportunity, and any comments / advice / 
suggestions are welcome. We (OSGeo:UK) have not been involved with 
something like this before (to my knowledge) so any comments are welcome.

If you have any links, or are interested, please do reach out to Ksenia 
or myself.

Best wishes,
Nick.

Nick Bearman | OSGeo:UK Chair

On 25/02/2026 14:06, Ksenia Grant wrote:
>
> Dear Nick
>
> Tom (cc’ed) shared your email address with me.
>
> I work for the University of Edinburgh and I have been speaking to 
> colleagues from EDINA <https://edina.ac.uk/> about the EU Horizon call 
> and looking for contacts at OSGeo and I was introduced to Tom who 
> directed me to you.
>
> More info about the call here: EU Funding & Tenders Portal 
> <https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL6-2026-03-GOVERNANCE-06?isExactMatch=true&status=31094501,31094502,31094503&callIdentifier=HORIZON-CL6-2026-03&order=DESC&pageNumber=1&pageSize=50&sortBy=startDate>
>
> As you may be aware, the call seeks to establish an incubator for 
> geospatial open-source developments. I believe organizations such as 
> OSGeo are key to any proposal for this call. Deadline for applications 
> is quite soon - in mid-April. Therefore, I am wondering if OSGEO is 
> already involved in any consortium of partners putting a proposal 
> together and if we (EDINA) could support and offer further input into 
> the consortium.
>
> If you are not aware of any proposals involving OSGeo already, it 
> would also be also useful to discuss if OSGeo would be interested in 
> partnering with us and others across Europe on a potential proposal 
> for this call.
>
> UoE and other organisations I am speaking too are experienced in 
> putting EU Horizon calls proposals together so we are looking for 
> insights and engagement from OSGEO (rather than sharing any of the 
> administrative burdens of putting a proposal together which I 
> appreciate might be off-putting for a volunteer-run organisation).
>
> If this sounds of interest and you might want to discuss further, 
> could you please let me know when is good for a call please?
>
> Friday this week is very flexible for me if that may work for you too. 
> Monday next week is looking good too.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you and discussing further.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Ksenia
>
> Ksenia Grant MSc, MBA
>
> Business Development Manager
>
> Information Services
>
> The University of Edinburgh
>
> www.ed.ac.uk
>
> Mobile: 07407 794 883
>
> IoT Research & Innovation Service
>
> Digital Curation Centre
>
> EDINA
>
> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in 
> Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann 
> carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, 
> àireamh clàraidh SC005336. 

-- 
Nick Bearman
+44 (0) 7717745715
nick at nickbearman.com

Please let me know if I can make any adjustments related to disability or neurodivergence to improve how we interact.

Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/uk/attachments/20260302/26d65240/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 27662 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/uk/attachments/20260302/26d65240/attachment-0001.png>