HEDGE-IoT open call 1 successfully closed
Guest/partner contributor
Posted on: 22 December 2025
The first HEDGE-IoT open call closed on 24 October 2025 with an impressive 147 applications from 30 Horizon Europe-associated countries.
The first HEDGE-IoT open call, which launched on 22 July 2025, has demonstrated strong interest from Europe’s most innovative SMEs and startups in shaping the future of IoT-enabled, data-driven energy services.
This remarkable response highlights the growing demand for digital solutions that enhance energy efficiency, grid resiliency and consumer engagement - key goals of the HEDGE-IoT project, which is developing a distributed, interoperable and secure IoT and Edge Computing framework for the energy domain.
By enabling real-time data sharing and intelligence at the edge, the project aims to accelerate the digitalisation and decarbonisation of energy systems across Europe.
Empowering innovators
HEDGE-IoT Open Calls are designed to empower SMEs and startups by providing financial support and technical resources to develop innovative energy services within the HEDGE-IoT framework. Through a cascade-funding mechanism, selected third parties will contribute to the project’s technological advancements and validate their solutions in real-world demonstrators across Europe.
Under open call 1, up to 12 successful applicants will be selected to receive financial support - with a total of €700,000 available and a maximum of €60,000 per project (or consortium).
Driving innovation
The call invited applicants to address fifteen key technical topics, each aligned with specific HEDGE-IoT pilots in Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovenia. These topics ranged from AI-driven flexibility pricing and DER optimisation tools to standardised IoT protocols, federated learning, and data space integration - all focused on creating interoperable, scalable, and secure digital energy services.
Selection and next steps
Each proposal will be carefully reviewed based on excellence, impact, technical quality and feasibility.
Once the evaluation is complete, the selected projects will be notified and invited to join the HEDGE-IoT ecosystem - bringing fresh ideas, new business models and cutting-edge technologies to advance Europe’s energy transition.
