Deadline Date: July 13, 2026
The Work Strand 3 (WS3) Call for Pilots under the LDT4SSC project invites public administrations, businesses, technology developers, research institutions, academia, and non-governmental organisations to develop advanced AI-based capabilities for Local Digital Twins (LDTs) across Europe.
The key focus areas and objectives of the call include connecting existing LDTs from cities and communities to create a federation of LDTs across the EU, expanding existing local LDTs with new open-source LDT services based on shared needs of cities and communities, complementing the EU LDT Toolbox with additional AI-based and innovative services, developing advanced AI-driven value-added services built on LDTs, integrating predictive, modelling and immersive AI solutions, improving decision-making processes and citizen interaction, reducing risks, costs and downtime, enhancing resilience and sustainability of LDT platforms, enabling interoperability and replicability, and supporting the sharing of AI-related assets through the EU LDT Toolbox Marketplace.
The WS3 call aims to support the development of innovative AI-driven services that respond to real community challenges such as climate adaptation, mobility optimisation, and energy efficiency. These services will be developed and validated within pilot communities and designed to be replicated by other cities and communities across Europe.
The total EU funding available for the pilots under this call amounts to at least €2.9 million. The maximum grant awarded per third-party across pilots is €500,000, while the maximum cumulative grant per consortium is €1,000,000. Applicants are required to cover at least 50% of the total pilot costs.
The LDT4SSC project is funded through the Digital Europe Programme and focuses on strengthening interoperability among Local Digital Twins at cross-sector, cross-city, and cross-border levels. The initiative also aims to scale up European common data sets and open-source solutions while facilitating the participation of less advanced cities and communities in the EU LDT ecosystem.
Work Strand 3 specifically supports the addition of advanced AI-based capabilities and innovative open-source components to the EU LDT Toolbox. Participating communities will design AI-based services by leveraging tools available through the LDT4SSC Knowledge Hub and the EU LDT Toolbox. These services will be documented with their data models, algorithms, deployment processes, and governance arrangements to ensure easy adoption and adaptation by other communities.
Participation in the open call is open to a wide range of stakeholders, including public administrations at local, regional, and national levels, European Digital Infrastructure Consortia such as the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC, businesses, technology developers, suppliers, research institutions, academia, NGOs, non-profit organisations, and other civil society actors.
Eligible countries include EU Member States, including their outermost regions and overseas countries and territories, as well as non-EU countries such as Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Eligibility is also extended to listed European Economic Area countries and Digital Europe Programme Associated countries that joined the programme before 2025.
For more information, visit LDT4SSC.
