Internet Foundation Austria - netidee - Netidee Project Call

netidee Project Call

You will receive up to 60,000 EUR to set up an internet project in Austria. The grant will run for a maximum of 18 months. The funds will be paid out in three instalments as soon as your project reaches the relevant milestones. The funding comes from the Internet Foundation Austria (Internet Stiftung), which runs ‘netidee’, Austria’s largest funding programme for the internet. Each round has a total budget of up to 300,000 EUR. You will receive funding to develop or improve internet technology, infrastructure, applications or usage. Examples include a proof of concept for a new technology, a grassroots civil society project, or a product or service that makes the internet more open, secure or transparent. One key condition: you must publish all your results (source code, content, hardware documentation) free of charge under an open-source licence, so that anyone can use and reuse them.

Who can apply

• Who you are: You may be a private individual, a student, a start-up, a social entrepreneur, a business, a university or an association.
• Where you live or are based: You are of legal age (18+) and resident in Austria, or a legal entity with a business address in Austria.
• Field: Any subject area is eligible, provided the project contributes to the internet in Austria.
• Nationality: Applicants of any nationality are welcome to apply. The decisive factor is your place of residence or business address in Austria.
• Team option: Up to five partners may apply jointly for a project. Each partner must receive a share of at least 10% of the funding.
• Open source: You agree to make all project results freely available under an open-source licence.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted online via the netidee application portal. The deadline for applications is 7 July. Your application must include a project description, a breakdown of costs and a short pitch video. An independent panel (the Funding Advisory Board) will then assess the projects and make recommendations as to which ones should receive funding.

How realistic are your chances?

The call for entries is open to almost anyone in Austria, which is why so many people apply, and the jury only selects a fraction of them. In the final round, 18 projects were selected from 138 applications. What matters most is the strength of your idea, a clear open-source outcome, and a compelling team and video – not who you are. If you have a genuinely useful internet project and can present it well, your chances are good.