NGI Assure
More about: Guide for Applicants | Who is behind this? | Eligibility | FAQ
NGI Assure was a programme that ran from September 1st 2020 to August 31st 2024. The first call opened up in December 2020, and the final call of NGI Assure closed on February 1st 2023. In total 152 projects were executed, there is an overview of NGI Assure projects.
Check out our currently active funds, and if you have a good idea for a project of your own consider handing in your own proposal today!
Download Trust from the ground up, a handy book with an overview of all the projects within NGI Assure.
The internet lies at the heart of our modern economies and societies, but it was not designed to be used in the way we use it now. Additional innovations are needed, in particular to make usage of remote resources on the internet more trustworthy and secure. The goal of NGI Assure is to support projects that design and engineer reusable building blocks for the Next Generation Internet as part of a complete, strong chain of assurances for all stakeholders regarding the source and integrity of identities, identifiers, data, cyberphysical systems, service components and processes. Furthermore contributions can be made to address underlying real-world challenges in deploying and validating such building blocks, such as energy efficiency and sustainability, scalability and throughput, security, privacy/confidentiality, plausible deniability, robustness and crypto-agility, side-channel resistance, interoperability, governance and compliance to regulatory frameworks - where needed to turn the above into reproducible and trustworthy end-to-end solutions that can withstand the hostile battle grounds of the modern internet.
Trust is the basis for social value and self-organisation, but technical assurances are what help make it trustworthy.
NGI Assure is looking for building blocks that contribute to providing such assurances include (but are not limited to) quantum-proof cryptography, public key infrastructure, (augmented) authenticated key exchange, ratchet mechanisms (such as the Noise protocol) that securely chain key material, distributed hash tables and DAGs to make P2P interaction more secure, conflict-free replicated data types, mixnets and onion routing mechanisms, consensus protocols, distributed ledgers and (post) blockchain technologies that create redundant data sets managed independently by mutually distrustful parties, a priori usage control, symbolic and formal proofs, and tamperproof open hardware implementations of core cryptographic primitives. The work needs to become available under free and open source licenses.
We are looking for deep tech components; the outcomes of NGI Assure shall contribute towards identifying and solving current issues, but do not need to provide a complete solution by themselves. NGI Assure enables collaboration among humans without unjustified trust.
We need your contributions to help reshape the state of play, and to help create an open, trustworthy and reliable internet for all. And of course such contributions do not happen automatically. This is why between now and 2023 we will award 5.6 million euro in small to medium-size R&D grants towards R&D efforts and free and open source projects that can deliver the above. We are looking for new ideas and core technologies that help society tackle hard but very very important questions, each of which has significant social and economic consequences.
We are seeking project proposals between 5.000 and 50.000 euro's - with the potential to scale them up if there is proven potential. Instead of just handing over problems we would like to put powerful new solutions in the hands of future generations, as building blocks for a fair and democratic society and an open economy that benefits all. Today we create the internet of tomorrow, with ideas that even yesterday might have seemed impossible to many. Don't be afraid to send something completely out of the box if you think you can contribute to this topic.
The thirteenth and final call of NGI Assure closed on February 1st 2023. Check out the guide for applicants and the frequently asked questions, or have a look at the ongoing projects.
Next Generation Internet
We want an open Internet that allows every citizen to interact and, from all walks of life, to take part in the online society. We want an internet that empowers citizens not discriminates them
- Roberto Viola
The overall mission of the Next Generation Internet initiative is to re-imagine and re-engineer the internet for the third millennium and beyond to shape a value-centric, human and inclusive society for all. How we share and retrieve information is an essential part of that equation. The internet can and should bring out the best in all of us. It should enable human potential, mobility and creativity at the largest possible scale — while dealing responsibly with our natural resources. Doing so is essential to preserve and expand the European way of life. The Next Generation Internet initiative aims to mobilise the best ideas to improve how we find and connect people, devices, services and ideas.
Acknowledgements
NGI Assure was made possible with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology. In order to better reflect the goals of the project, the name and acronym of the project were changed - previously the project was known as NGI-GO2S.
This programme received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 957073.
