Nets4Dem puts forward a Network of Networks approach to establish and develop a European network of practitioners and researchers in the field of democracy, civic deliberation, participation and citizenship education. The Consortium, brings together widely networked organisations with long-term expertise in democratic innovation across a broad range of areas (including digital democracy, rule of law, climate change, also through cultural and creative approach). It is composed of umbrella organisations, that will draw on their already existing networks to contribute to the call outcomes. The unique approach that Nets4Dem puts forward is to ‘weave’ more and better connections between existing actors and networks already active in the wider democracy field, taking advantage of each other’s strengths and reducing duplication. Nets4Dem will focus its efforts on four main objectives: (1) creating, fostering and sustaining stronger Network of policy makers, practitioners and researchers; (2) systematizing and connecting the fragmented knowledge on democratic innovation and governance research; (3) establishing a coordinated European approach to promote systematic accessibility of democratic innovation; (4) raising the ambition of policy making through policy recommendations to strengthen democracy at all levels of governance. We will seek to address the challenges we’ve identified: the need for better collaboration and networking in the democratic field, the need to connect existing knowledge on democracy and governance and make it more accessible, so that policymakers and practitioners are better equipped to the address complex challenges they are facing for inclusive societies and more resilient democracy To address these and potential new challenges, substantial efforts are required from researchers, practitioners, policy makers and citizens. One of the most impactful ways to support this work is by connecting the efforts of all those who are pursuing the same goal

This FPA provides comprehensive programming and support for the European Commission’s Mission of 100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. It builds on the NetZeroCities (NZC) project, coordinated by CKIC. Combined, these two initiatives set out actions as follows: (a) Create and operate a Cities Mission Platform as a ‘one-stop-shop’ to access the expertise, capabilities, services, and solutions necessary to achieve climate neutrality. This Platform will provide tailored and intensive support to cities participating in the Mission and will ensure open access to the knowledge and resources of the Platform. (b) Help all Mission Cities with the co-creation and use of Climate City Contracts (CCC) to enable an ambitious pursuit of the goal of climate neutrality by 2030. This FPA expressly seeks to ensure all Mission Cities are supported and builds directly on the initial scope of NZC. In addition, support will be offered to additional cities seeking to follow closely the Mission. (c) Assist Mission cities in the development of tailor-made investment plans, project preparation and finance for the cities participating in the Mission; (d) Deliver substantial resources to Mission cities for ongoing research and innovation activities critical to achieving climate neutrality by 2030. This support will be in the form of ‘pilot’ funding to test and demonstrate actions needed to deliver climate neutral outcomes. This pilot activity will work together with the Platform and CCC processes in the cities, operationalizing emerging knowledge and insights about how cities can achieve the Mission objectives; and (e) Ensure ongoing monitoring and evaluation of cities in their progress toward climate neutrality and deploy peer-based learning to ensure full appropriability of the result from the Mission. The FPA periods extends through 2027 and provides for two planned Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) phases, where a precise plan, targets and metrics will be established.

A social contract is a political-theoretical concept which describes the (fictive) basic agreement between the members of a polity on the principles of this polity. There is a long legacy of various definitions of a social contract in political theory. There is also a long historical legacy of practiced social contracts, in countries inside and outside the European union. To grasp the impact of the social contract between individuals and groups as well as between the demos and the state across societies, it is crucial to understand the concept in plural and analyse how definitions and practises shape also the scope, implications, and resilience of social contracts in the face of societal transformations. This requires a high-level of context sensitivity and ability to shift between local, regional, national, and transnational settings. Based on the analyses of the limitations of, and challenges to the social contracts in political theorising and practices, CO3 aims at developing and promoting a more democratic, more inclusive and more open model of social contracts, which manifest political and social resilience in the face of major societal challenges, crises, and anti-democratic tendencies. Drawing from 8 empirical case studies in EU member states, and in 3 non-member states, CO3 researchers safeguards and mechanisms for resilient social contracts overtime. While the theoretical ambition of the CO3 project is to analyse how the contemporary theories of the social contract contribute to our understanding of the social contracts in the current crises-driven European political environment, the empirical ambition is to investigate contradictions and tensions between practices, narratives and lived experiences in social contracts across EUrope through concrete cases. As a result, CO3 generates evidence-based knowledge on the safeguards and mechanisms for promoting resilient social contracts, which support citizen involvement and democracy across EUrope.

Drastic decrease in transport emissions of 55% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 is required for European cities to reach climate neutrality. This is hindered by inconvenient mobility infrastructure, inadequate services and insufficient governance for short-distance travel, negatively impacting active modes’ safety and security. REALLOCATE’s main objective is to pave the way towards climate-neutral, safe, inclusive and smart European cities through integrated and innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions that will address the needs of diverse groups and communities, while rebalancing street space allocation. The project will empower 10 twinned Mission Cities (Gothenburg-Tampere, Heidelberg-Utrecht, Lyon-Warsaw, Budapest-Zagreb, Barcelona-Bologna) by providing horizontal thematic expertise, supporting them to build a local innovation ecosystem to develop and deploy zero-emission, shared, inclusive, active and human-centred mobility interventions. Pilots in 15 urban and peri-urban unsafe areas will demonstrate innovative urban space management and reallocation strategies for sustainable modes (with a specific focus on active modes), having in mind safety, inclusivity, affordability and a just transition to climate neutrality overall. Solutions include innovative urban design, behavioural nudging, smart technological and data-driven solutions to reduce actual and perceived road safety risks, all contributing to achieving climate neutrality by 2030. The pilots will be the learning and testing environments for integrated approaches to foster knowledge transfer and collaborative learning to staff in cities through mentoring and capacity building, knowledge exchange, twinning and work shadowing. The project’s impact will be exponentially increased by engaging 10 Cascade Cities in capacity building activities, and providing them with replication packages and guidelines resulting in implementation plans for replicating at least one of the innovative solutions piloted.

Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Union's policies on environmental and social sustainability requires a comprehensive measure of human progress that does not focus solely on GDP. However, the evidence on alternative approaches is fragmented and the lack of consensus on competing indicators and policy frameworks is a mAchieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the European Union's policies on environmental and social sustainability requires a comprehensive measure of human progress that does not focus solely on GDP. However, the evidence on alternative approaches is fragmented and the lack of consensus on competing indicators and policy frameworks is a major obstacle to setting policy goals that promote multi-dimensional well-being and to monitoring and measuring progress. MERGE addresses these challenges by providing a forum for dialogue, co-creation and knowledge exchange, and by linking cutting-edge research and policy practice. A consortium of leading researchers and key communities in the field, MERGE brings together three recently launched higher education research consortia (SPES, ToBe, WISE Horizons) and an ERC grant (REAL). To scale up results, MERGE provides a framework for creating and strengthening a multidisciplinary community of researchers, a technical and knowledge network, a policy network and a network of civil society actors. Through these networks, MERGE aims to build a broad consensus on easy-to-use and acceptable indicators and frameworks for measuring multidimensional well-being within planetary boundaries in the EU and Member States, as well as in global organisations and civil society. MERGE participants will benefit from collaborative and training events, analyses, indicators, datasets and policy briefings. Through knowledge exchange, stakeholders and researchers can adopt and develop a systematic and coherent understanding of the sustainable economy paradigm in their own work.