EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Innovation Open Call (2026-2028)

EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Innovation Open Call (2026-2028)

EIT Urban Mobility’s Strategic Innovation Open Call funds collaborative projects that can move tested urban mobility solutions toward real-world use and wider adoption. It is built around practical problems faced by cities, public authorities, and mobility providers. The call aims to reduce the risk of development and deployment, help innovators test with European stakeholders, and give public and private partners a route to develop solutions that can be procured and scaled.

The current 2026-2028 call period has multiple cut-offs. The third cut-off has passed, but the fourth remains open: proposals are due by 17.00 CET on 28 January 2027. The official call page also lists a fifth cut-off on 3 June 2027. Applicants targeting that later window should check the official page and portal for its live application form and any intervening changes. The relevant live deadline in this listing is the currently open fourth cut-off.

Current round at a glance

The published fourth cut-off allocation of €12 million is a round-level estimate, not an award guarantee for an individual applicant. The €60 million figure covers the call period as a whole. A project may request up to €2 million in EIT funding, subject to the call’s assessment and the eligible-cost rules. EIT Urban Mobility states that its contribution may cover up to 65% of eligible project costs, so applicants need a credible plan for at least 35% co-funding. The official call documents govern what counts as eligible expenditure and how the financial contribution is calculated.

What the call is intended to support

This is an implementation-oriented opportunity. EIT Urban Mobility describes the target as tested solutions with strong market potential and a credible path to market by the end of project implementation. Projects should show how development and validation will help cities or mobility providers make informed decisions about adoption, procurement, and further deployment. A proposal built mainly around an early concept, with no convincing use context or route beyond the funded activity, may be poorly matched to that aim.

The call groups its scope into five fields: urban logistics; public and shared transport; mobility data management; electrification of transport and alternative fuels; and health and mobility. The scope is broad enough to cover different technologies and service models, but a proposal should make a direct connection between its work plan and a defined urban mobility problem. The narrative should identify who experiences that problem, how existing practice falls short, and what evidence a pilot or demonstration will produce.

EIT Urban Mobility frames collaboration across education, research, business, and cities as a core feature. A useful partnership therefore has operational roles, rather than a list of organisations assembled only to satisfy a minimum. A city, public authority, transport operator, or other end user can provide the environment and decision context for testing. Businesses can lead product development and commercialization. Research or education partners can contribute appropriate testing, analysis, or skills. The composition should fit the proposed work and make responsibilities clear.

Eligibility and consortium structure

The call is multi-beneficiary. At least two independent legal entities must work together, and they must be established in two different European Union Member States and/or third countries associated with Horizon Europe. A single company cannot submit alone under this structure. The official call page refers applicants to the Call Manual for special cases, including Switzerland and Hungarian universities, so an organisation affected by those cases should consult the manual instead of assuming that a general location rule settles its status.

Before committing to a submission date, partners should check their legal names, registration details, country eligibility, and independence. They should also agree who leads the work, who owns each deliverable, how costs and co-funding are distributed, and which organisation will provide access to the real-world setting. These checks matter both for admissibility and for showing that the consortium can carry out the proposed project. A partner included only on paper may weaken the case if its contribution is not visible in the work plan.

The call page welcomes collaboration among public and private European innovators and describes roles for industry, cities, SMEs, research institutes, and universities. That description is not a substitute for the formal country and beneficiary rules. Each participant should verify its own status using the current call documents and portal guidance, especially where a special country or organisation category applies.

Funding and co-funding plan

The official call page gives a total estimated allocation of €60 million for 2026-2028, including approximately €13 million earmarked for proposals developing new innovations in EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (RIS) countries. It also sets a maximum EIT contribution of €2 million per project and an EIT reimbursement rate of up to 65% of eligible costs. For the fourth cut-off, the call manual and its associated information notice identify €12 million as the estimated allocation. These allocations are indicative and may be adjusted based on the proposals received. Those figures define the opportunity’s scale but do not mean every proposal will receive the maximum or that every cost in a project budget will be eligible.

Applicants should build the budget from the project’s activities and applicable cost rules. The co-funding share must be addressed across the consortium: identify the source of partner contributions, show which organisation is responsible for each share, and distinguish secured resources from assumptions. For example, if the eligible project cost base is €1 million and the requested EIT share is at the maximum 65% rate, the remaining €350,000 must be covered from non-EIT resources. This is an illustration of the stated percentages, not a budget entitlement or an instruction to request the maximum rate.

Use the current Eligibility of Expenditures document and Call Manual to prepare the budget. The official page lists these among the documents applicants should take into consideration. Keep project costs, requested EIT support, and own co-funding consistent wherever they appear in the application. Do not assume that a cost is eligible just because it is necessary to the project; follow the published definitions and the portal’s current fields.

How to apply

Applications are submitted through the EIT Urban Mobility Programmes Portal. The official instructions direct applicants to locate the currently open cut-off under Grant Management and then Open Calls. The practical sequence is:

1. Confirm the proposal fits one or more of the five published sector areas and the implementation focus of the call.
2. Form a consortium that meets the minimum entity and cross-country requirements. Confirm each partner’s legal and portal registration information early.
3. If an organisation is not registered, use the portal’s Register process, select “I am an organisation/individual,” and complete the Partner Information Form. If registration is blocked because a PIC number or email address is already associated with an entity, the call page directs applicants to contact the Innovation Team.
4. Open the fourth cut-off entry in the portal and follow the live application form and submission instructions. The page states that applications must be submitted within the given deadline; all listed windows close at 17.00 CET on their cut-off date.
5. Prepare the required application information and supporting documents using the current call materials. The official page lists the Call Manual, Glossary, Eligibility of Expenditures, Guidelines for Applicants, KPI list, IP strategy checklist, pitch deck template, letter of commitment or support template, and maturity radar template, among other reference documents. Check the live application form and manual for which items are mandatory for this cut-off and how they must be uploaded.
6. Review the complete submission with all partners, check that the budget and co-funding align, and submit through the portal before the cut-off closes. Retain a copy of the submitted application and confirmation for consortium records.

The published assessment has two stages. Stage 1 is expert evaluation of proposals submitted through the portal. Stage 2 includes a panel hearing and selection by the Selection Committee. The call page gives indicative process timing: eligibility and admissibility checks are approximately two weeks after the cut-off; evaluation and invitations to panel hearings can take up to eight weeks; hearings and portfolio selection take approximately two weeks after invitations; results are communicated approximately two weeks after hearings; and projects are expected to start approximately four weeks after result communication. These are planning estimates from the call page, not individually guaranteed decision dates.

Build a proposal around delivery

Start the case with the mobility challenge and the people or organisations who need it solved. Describe the present service, process, or infrastructure context, then explain the gap the proposed solution addresses. Use evidence from the intended users or deployment partner where available. A well-framed challenge makes it easier for reviewers to understand why the project belongs in the selected topic area and why a European partnership is useful.

Make the validation plan specific. Identify the solution’s current state, what the consortium will change or test, where testing can take place, who will participate, and which indicators will establish whether the work succeeded. Separate technical performance from adoption evidence: a system may function as designed while still failing to meet an operator’s workflow, procurement, accessibility, or cost needs. Explain how the project will address both dimensions where relevant.

Set out a credible path from project activity to use after the grant. Name the likely customer, buyer, operator, or public decision-maker. Explain what evidence they need to adopt, procure, or replicate the result, and which partner can act on that evidence. If commercialisation depends on intellectual property, data access, certification, interoperability, or a procurement route, assign those issues to concrete tasks and responsible partners.

The official call page lists a KPI document, IP strategy checklist, pitch deck template, letter of commitment or support template, and maturity radar template. These materials signal the kinds of planning applicants should review. Read the current versions and ensure that the application, supporting documents, work plan, and budget use the same assumptions. In particular, partner commitments should be consistent with the roles and resources described in the proposal.

Planning dates and keeping information current

The call opened on 19 June 2025. Its published cut-offs were 23 September 2025, 12 February 2026, and 18 June 2026, followed by the current fourth cut-off on 28 January 2027 and a fifth listed for 3 June 2027. The previous dates are useful for understanding the sequence, but they are closed windows. For an application being prepared now, the operative published date is the fourth cut-off. The official page says submissions close at 17.00 CET on the cut-off date.

EIT Urban Mobility also lists a refresher information webinar on 19 October 2026 from 10.00 to 11.30 CEST on the event page. It is an opportunity to hear updates, review examples from earlier cut-offs, and ask questions. Attendance is useful for applicants who want clarification, but it does not replace the written call documents or the portal instructions. The official page includes a call community where applicants can receive updates and connect with potential consortium partners.

Build an internal schedule backward from the published cut-off. Allow time to validate the consortium, complete portal registration, assign writing and budget responsibilities, gather commitments, and check the submitted files. Make an earlier internal approval point so the lead partner can resolve inconsistencies across work packages, partner budgets, and evidence before final submission. Because the official timing is expressed in CET, teams in other time zones should convert the closing hour carefully and avoid treating the final minutes as usable contingency.

The fifth cut-off on 3 June 2027 is also listed on the official page, but its existence does not guarantee that a proposal can be transferred unchanged from the fourth round or that all materials will remain identical. Applicants considering the later window should verify the relevant portal entry and current supporting documents when preparing that application. The listing’s single deadline remains the fourth cut-off so that readers see the nearest open submission date.

Questions applicants should resolve

Can a single startup apply? No. The call is multi-beneficiary and requires at least two independent legal entities from eligible countries. A startup may take part as one beneficiary in a compliant consortium, but should not treat the call as a solo application route.

Does the maximum grant mean a project will receive €2 million? No. It is the maximum EIT funding per project stated on the call page. The actual request must fit the eligible budget, funding rate, and selection outcome. The fourth cut-off’s €12 million estimated allocation applies to that cut-off overall.

Is the call limited to one kind of applicant? The published call describes collaboration involving businesses, cities, education, and research. Formal eligibility rests on the multi-beneficiary and country rules and on the current manual, not on a single organisation type.

Can a consortium rely on the fifth cut-off instead? The official page lists that later window, but teams should verify its live portal entry and requirements. This listing identifies 28 January 2027 as the current fourth cut-off deadline.

Official source and applicant support

Use the EIT Urban Mobility Strategic Innovation Open Call page as the primary reference for dates, call scope, eligibility overview, portal route, funding figures, and linked applicant documents. The application is made through the EIT Urban Mobility Programmes Portal linked from that page. For procedural or call-content questions, the official page directs applicants to the EIT Urban Mobility Innovation Team at [email protected].

Before submitting, verify the fourth cut-off entry and closing time in the portal, check special eligibility cases against the Call Manual, and use the current financial and application templates. The figures and steps summarized here reflect the official call information published for this cycle; the live call page and portal remain the controlling sources if a document or portal instruction changes.