FAST 2021 Announcement of Opportunity

EdTech Accelerator is sponsored by European Commission — Digital Europe Programme. Expected Outcome: Deliverables: ​​​​​​ Three open calls for pilots (at least one call per year) launched and managed providing financial support to third parties to at least 20 EdTech start-ups/SMEs from across Member States and eligible countries. A minimum of 60% of the total budget should be spent on Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP) and the maximum amount per third party can amount up to 150.000 EUR to allow short pilots testing in real education or training environments; Developed and implemented a yearly 12-months incubation and acceleration programme providing a mix of mentoring, networking services, consultancy, training and/or business and access-to-market support to the selected companies; Short pilots implemented in real education and training environments to gather impact assessment data of the selected solutions. Human-centric design methods involving users and strong linkages with learning design methodologies are recommended for the piloting phase. European-wide communication and awareness raising activities; At least one big event per year organised to reach a large number of investors, market partners, ministries of education (or other ministries), education establishments, learning content providers, training providers, and other stakeholders in the field. Objective: During recent years, the education and training landscape has been significantly impacted by rapid technological advancements. Innovations like generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), robotics, or extended Reality, to name a few examples, have significant power to reshape the way we teach and learn. There is a crucial need to support the Education Technology (EdTech) sector in Europe, and in particular European start-ups and SMEs, to develop innovative solutions and technologies meeting European values in terms of ethics, inclusion, accessibility, privacy, security and strong pedagogical foundations . This is particularly crucial given the fast-developing technological landscape. This topic is expected to contribute to the nurturing of an EdTech ecosystem in Europe that drives innovation, creates jobs, and fuels economic growth, while also ensuring pedagogically driven solutions that reach clear educational outcomes. The purpose of this topic is therefore to assist European EdTech startups and SMEs in transforming concepts for educational solutions into products ready for the market. This topic will also help support the effective and ethical application of GenAI technologies to education and training, in alignment with the objectives of the GENAI4EU initiative. [1] This call will contribute to the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) and in particular its objective to support the private actors in the digital education ecosystem. This action should also take into consideration previous work done by the Digital Education Hub Accelerator. 1 The ‘GenAI4EU' initiative aims to support the development of novel use cases and emerging applications in Europe's 14 industrial ecosystems, as well as the public sector. Application areas include robotics, health, biotech, manufacturing, mobility, climate and virtual worlds ( Commission launches AI innovation package ). Scope: The scope is to encompass the establishment of an EdTech-specific environment for nurturing and accelerating growth, providing both business guidance and access to markets for chosen startups and SMEs. Additionally, the scope involves streamlining the integration of the supported solutions into the educational and/or training landscape, which includes schools, universities, training facilities, and other informal learning environments. This integration is crucial for empowering end-users, particularly teachers/trainers and students, along with other stakeholders, in the development and application of educational solutions. Furthermore, testing of these solutions in real educational or training settings should be included for obtaining impact assessment data through shor Programme areas: DIGITAL Keywords: Communication, Curricular education activities with enterprises, Ecosystem building, Education, Education and Training, Education-enterprises partnerships, Enhancing personal skills, Identification of skills needs, Innovation, Knowledge triangle between education, Learning outcomes, New skills and competences for teachers, Personal development, Short - cycle tertiary, Technological innovation, Accelerator, Digital Education Action Plan, Digital Learning, EdTech, Financial Support, Incubation programme, Lifelong Learning, Pedagogy, SMEs, Stakeholder Engagement, Startups

Regional Infrastructure Accelerator Demonstration Program is sponsored by Transportation Department; Office of the Secretary. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, enacted in December 2015, authorized the establishment of a Regional Infrastructure Accelerators Demonstration Program (the Program) to assist entities in developing improved infrastructure priorities and financing strategies for the accelerated development of a project that is eligible for funding under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Credit Program. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, enacted on December 27, 2020, appropriated $5 million for this Program. A NOFO was issued in December 2020 and five accelerators were selected from the initial round of applicants. The Build America Bureau (the Bureau) is issuing a second NOFO to further expand the Program and solicit applications for designating and funding Regional Infrastructure Accelerators (RIA) that: (1) Serve a defined geographic area; (2) act as a resource to qualified entities in the geographic area in accordance with the FAST Act; and (3) demonstrate the effectiveness of an RIA to expedite the delivery of projects eligible for the TIFIA credit program. Projects are not required to apply for or receive TIFIA credit assistance to be eligible; however, applicants who are considering the appropriateness of innovative financing methods such as TIFIA, the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) credit program, Private Activity Bonds (PABs), project bundling, private investment, and other innovative financing methods to accelerate the delivery of eligible projects are strongly encouraged to apply. Action: Notice of funding opportunity. Published in the Federal Register on 2022-01-06. Federal Register document number: 2021-28552.