Digital Europe

Digital Europe funds not research but deployment: the programme pays for a digital technology that is already mature to start working in companies, hospitals, universities and public authorities. This is the main difference from Horizon Europe, which funds development. If a solution is still at a low TRL, it does not belong here.

Regulation (EU) 2021/694 set an envelope of €7.588 billion in current prices; following amendments the European Commission quotes an overall budget of over €8.1 billion.

Six pillars of the programme

The Regulation defined five specific objectives: supercomputing (objective 1), artificial intelligence, cloud and data (objective 2), cybersecurity (objective 3), advanced digital skills (objective 4) and deployment and best use of digital capacity, including the network of digital innovation hubs and the interoperability of public services (objective 5). In September 2023 a sixth area was added: semiconductors.

Ukraine’s status

The agreement associating Ukraine to the programme was signed in September 2022 and applies from 1 January 2021. The association is partial: under the current list of participating countries Ukraine takes part in objectives 1, 2, 4 and 5. Cybersecurity and semiconductors are not on that list.

Even within the open objectives a work programme may restrict the participation of entities from associated countries for security reasons, so eligibility is checked in the document of each call.

Types of action and rates

Unlike Horizon Europe, where research actions are covered at 100%, here co-financing is almost always required. In the 2026 call documents:

• Simple Grants – the most common type, at a rate of 50%;
• SME Support Actions – 50%, and 75% for small and medium-sized enterprises;
• Coordination and Support Actions – up to 100%, but these are small coordination and support actions with no investment.

The type of action is stated in each topic and determines how much own funding will be needed. A business should check its SME status in advance: it decides the difference between 50% and 75%.

Digital innovation hubs in Ukraine

European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) are regional centres where businesses and public bodies can test a technology before investing, train staff and find financing. In the call for associated countries six Ukrainian hubs were selected with a budget of €4.5 million, and they joined the network on 1 January 2025. The programme covers 50% of a hub’s costs, the rest comes from national, regional or private sources. For a small business or a municipality, turning to a hub is far simpler than applying to a call on their own.

Who runs it and how to apply

Programme policy is set by the European Commission’s Directorate-General CNECT. Calls on skills, artificial intelligence, cloud, data and the use of technologies are run by the executive agency HaDEA, supercomputing by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, and cybersecurity by the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre.

All calls are published on the Funding & Tenders Portal, and each participant needs a PIC. Most topics require a consortium from several countries, so it makes sense to start with partner search and with the budget: explain where the other half of the money will come from, and check the eligibility of costs.