Deadline: 23 September 2019

SIDN Fund and Adessium Foundation are making a joint call for proposalsinvolving the development of alternative technologies, such as strategies and/or tools that reinforce democracy and protect privacy.

SIDN Fund and Adessium Foundation are calling for proposals for responsible solutions, with a view to reinforcing the information position of individuals within the democratic process. They are encouraging organisations to put forward strategies and/or tools that: strengthen the agency of online news consumers and/or facilitate information provision to individuals.

Both funding organisations are committed to promoting a strong internet in a healthy, open and democratic society. In recent years, digitisation has increasingly affected the information position of individuals and, consequently, the health of our democracies. In the context of this call, SIDN Fund and Adessium Foundation are therefore joining forces with the aim of addressing those issues.

Proposals might, for example, involve:

• Insight into why individual users’ newsfeeds are adjusted, and how such adjustments can be influenced or circumvented
• Insight into how personal data is processed in the context of online news consumption, and how the individual news consumer can influence the processes of data collection involved
• Strategies and tools that give individuals more control in relation to political micro-targeting
• Strategies and tools that give individuals more control over the processes by which they seek and gather information on societal issues
• Strategies and tools that give individuals more control in relation to content that has been removed, e.g. because it was deemed ‘harmful’ by a platform

Funding Information

They want to fund ten projects with grants of up to 40,000 euros each.

Eligible Projects

• The project must serve the public interest; it must deliver added value for the community. The project must not therefore focus on a particular organisation or person; it must have general social significance and impact.
• The project results must be freely available, and the knowledge and experience gained must be shared.
• Geographical scope: the project must have a discernible effect in the Netherlands, and potential added value at the European level.

Eligibility Criteria

• The proposal must be submitted by a legal entity (or a legal entity currently in formation, which will be in existence by the time of the grant award, if made). A legal entity is, for example, a foundation, an association, a cooperative, a mutual guarantee company, a public limited company, or a private limited company.
• The proposer must demonstrably possess the capacity and expertise to successfully undertake the project. Wherever possible, the team itself should possess the required expertise, and not be reliant upon third-party providers.
• Diversity within the team is desirable.
• The proposer must have a strong contact network.

Selection Criteria

• A high-quality description of the idea/project must be provided. Quality will be assessed by reference to the problem outline and the rationale given for the proposed solution.
• The project must be innovative. That implies the application of an existing idea in a new context, the development of a new idea, or the application of new digital technology. The proposal must clarify the innovative aspects of the proposed project.
• The project must be scalable: the underlying principle must be transferrable to larger groups of users, and the upscaling pathway must be clear.
• The project must be potentially capable of achieving long-term impact in relation to the objectives of the call.
• The project must be result-oriented. The proposal must state what steps the proposer has taken to gauge the need and demand for the project within the target group. The proposal must also identify the target group and the means by which that group is to be reached.
• The project duration must be no more than one year, starting 1 January 2020.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted online via given website

For more information, please visit https://www.adessium.org/new-call-sidn-foundation/