Experimental local action for EU missions: knowledge institutions as focal points of transdisciplinary research and innovation activities with European outreach

The Citizen Solutions to Sustainability Challenges community grant is intended for local experiments and solutions related to climate-resilient mobility, energy and/or food in Tampere, implemented by the communities and residents of the Tampere Region, Finland.

The grant is based on European Commission’s FSTP funding, i.e. financial support for third parties. In this funding mechanism, the Urban Prosumers project distributes part of its own EU funding to smaller actors through a grant application. The community grant is awarded by Tampere University.

Eligible applicants are non-profit organisations, SMEs, micro-enterprises, start-ups, private entrepreneurs and cooperatives, whose registered domicile is in one of the municipalities of the Tampere Region, Finland (Tampere, Kangasala, Lempäälä, Nokia, Orivesi, Pirkkala, Vesilahti and Ylöjärvi).

The call will be opened on the Urban Prosumers project’s website on 1 July 2026.

The Finnish web address of the call is https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/yhteisoavustus. The English web address of the call is https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/community-grant.

The application can be submitted either in Finnish or English.

The community grant is applied by using an electronic application form available on the project website on 1 July 2026. The amount applied for is EUR 5,000 – 60,000 per grant.

Each eligible application will be evaluated by 2–3 evaluators during October–November 2026. The evaluators are experts in their fields, as well as representatives of the Urban Prosumers project partners. Any conflicts of interest are taken into account before the assessment, and the reviewers are impartial and subject to confidentiality.

The evaluators will score the applications according to the evaluation criteria. The assessment criteria are: 1) Responding to the objectives of the call, 2) Novelty, feasibility and scalability, 3) Effectiveness and sustainability, and 4) Quality of the implementation plan. See the detailed assessment criteria in the application instructions.

The final decision on the Community grants to be awarded will be made by the General Assembly of the Urban Prosumers project in December 2026. The decision is based on the scores given by the evaluators, the thematic coverage and diversity of the community projects, and how well the application meets the objectives of the call.

Applicants will be notified of the decisions by 31 December 2026.

The Citizen Solutions to Sustainability Challenges community grant is implemented as part of the Urban Prosumers research project coordinated by Tampere University. The project is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, and it supports the implementation of the EU's Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission in the Tampere region.

1. Urban Prosumers project website: https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/in-english/
2. Community grant call: https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/community-grant/
3. Application instructions: https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/community-grant/application-instructions/
4. Helpdesk: [email protected] (not monitored between 3 July and 5 August 2026)
5. Information slides (PDF): community-grant-infoslides.pdf
6. The draft of the application template form (final version can be found on the Community grant website on 1.7.2026): https://projects.tuni.fi/urbanprosumers-fi/community-grant/materials/