The Next Generation Internet (NGI) is a European Commission initiative that aims to shape the development and evolution of the Internet into an Internet of Trust. An Internet that responds to people’s fundamental needs, including trust, security, and inclusion, while reflecting the values and the norms all citizens enjoy in Europe.
Free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) and hardware, open standards, open data and artificial intelligence, Open Science, creative commons and open educational resources are democratising innovation and learning, and are together driving society and industry forward at an unprecedented pace.
- NGI Zero Commons Fund program, within the NGI initiative, aims to help deliver, mature and scale new internet commons across the whole technology spectrum, from libre silicon to middleware, from P2P infrastructure to convenient end-user applications. This holistic, full-stack approach is needed to reclaim the public nature of the Internet. The program assists researchers and developers to create powerful technologies and helps to put them in the hands of future generations as building blocks for a fair and democratic society and a sustainable and open economy that benefits all.
Only through enough critical mass of shared building blocks and collective resources will our governments, businesses and civil society be able to count on digital security and long-term operational availability. The same approach that empowers individuals to take full control of their digital lives, will also steer towards more fair, innovative economies and societies.
The 11th call of the NGI Zero Commons Fund opened up on December 1, 2025, with a deadline of February 1, 2026.
Project proposals should be written in English, be in line with the NGI vision, and have research and development as their primary objective.
- Anyone can apply: collectives and individuals, developers and FLOSS teams, researchers and academics, students and young innovators, institutions, SMEs, public sector, non-profits, etc.
- The application form is simple and straightforward.
- You can ask for research and development grants between €5,000 – €50,000 to build the digital commons.
- Outcomes must be open: all scientific outcomes must be published as open access, and any software and hardware must be published under a recognised open source license in its entirety.
Project results always become available under a free or open source license, so anyone can read and validate the source code, and anyone can use the code or open data to create solutions that fit their own purposes. The right to reuse and right to repair not only allow for unrestricted scrutiny and permissionless innovation, but also help to reduce e-waste. And the use of standards enables interoperability and redundancy in implementation to reduce the risk of compromise and failure.
One of the huge benefits of all projects releasing their results under free/libre/open source licenses, is that it allows for incremental permissionless innovation. The investment is in ideas and technology commons, not in individual businesses or particular business models.
Free software allows literally anyone to use whatever they want in whatever way fits their needs. As long as there is someone interested in developing or using the software, they can do so without asking anyone. Obviously, under those rather unique conditions, evolutionary sustainability is much improved over the situation where the ‘owner’ restricts development and may pull the plug at any time.
Do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute to improving the Internet — and apply for funding to develop your idea!
If you have any questions, please contact the Regional Representative of NGI Zero in Moldova.
If you have found a spelling error, please, notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.
