Key deadlines and updates in Digital Europe programme
DIGITAL calls for proposals per programme area:
- HPC AI Gigafactories call expected to be opened in spring 2026
- Artificial Intelligence: Large-Scale Pilots of AI and GenAI for Medical Imaging call opening 21 Apr 2026, closing 1 Oct 2026
Digital Europe Programme 2025-2027, amended 19 Mar 2026
DIGITAL EUROPE
Accelerating Europe’s digital transformation and strengthening strategic autonomy
Digital Europe programme
The Digital Europe programme (DIGITAL) is the European Union’s funding programme focused on strengthening Europe’s digital capacity and accelerating the deployment of advanced digital technologies. With a budget of approximately €8.1 billion for 2021–2027, Digital Europe supports strategic investments in six capacity areas: supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, ensuring the wide use of digital technologies across the economy and society, and semiconductors. Digital Europe focuses on deployment, scaling and capacity building.
The Digital Europe programme aims to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty, accelerate the adoption of advanced digital technologies, increase resilience in cybersecurity, expand high-performance computing capacity and develop advanced digital skills across Europe. There is strong alignment with the targets of the EU Digital Decade with emphasis on cross-border collaboration and large-scale implementation projects. The programme is implemented by the European Commission and related executive agencies through competitive calls and tenders.
What does the Digital Europe programme support?
Examples of the areas that the funding calls of the Digital Europe programme supports:
High-performance computing (HPC)
Supports the deployment and use of advanced supercomputing infrastructure and services across Europe.
Artificial intelligence, data and cloud
Funds deployment of AI solutions, data spaces, cloud-to-edge infrastructure and digital innovation hubs.
Cybersecurity and trust
Strengthens Europe’s cybersecurity capacity, infrastructure and cross-border cooperation.
Advanced digital skills
Supports training programmes and specialised education to close digital skills gaps.
Deployment of digital technologies
Accelerates the uptake of digital solutions in industry and public services, including digital public infrastructure and interoperability solutions.
Competitiveness and resilience of semiconductor industry
Strengthens the semiconductor industry in the European Union, safeguards supply chain resilience, and minimizes external dependencies.
Who is eligible?
Many calls by the Digital Europe programme require multinational consortia, involving partners from several EU Member States or participating countries in DIGITAL.
Funding type
Typically Simple Grant with up to 50% funding. Funding rates and eligibility conditions vary depending on the call topic.
Eligible entities:
Public authorities
Companies, including SMEs and large enterprises
Research and technology organisations
Digital innovation hubs
Universities and training providers
Industry associations and clusters.
What evaluators really look for
This is where many DIGITAL funding proposals fail. Evaluators assess funding proposals based on the following criteria:
Relevance: Alignment with call objectives and EU digital policy priorities.
Impact: Contribution to digital capacity, competitiveness and societal benefit.
Implementation: Strong governance, technical feasibility and realistic budget.
European added value: Clear cross-border impact and scalability.
Strong project ideas lose points when:
- Deployment logic is limited
- Sustainability or business model is weak
- Cross-border cooperation is insufficient
- The focus is too technical focus, lacking strategic impact.
Why Spinverse?
We support companies and public organisations in identifying suitable Digital Europe calls, concepting and developing competitive consortia and funding proposals as well as in managing successfully funded digital transformation projects. Our experts combine digital domain expertise, funding strategy knowledge and experience in managing multinational EU projects. We help you transform your digital transformation strategy into a structured and competitive Digital Europe funding proposal.
We support organisations through:
Call analysis and positioning
Consortium building across Europe
Proposal preparation and structuring
Impact and deployment logic development
Budget preparation
Grant agreement preparation (GAP) support
Project management and reporting of funded project.
How the application process works
- Problem definition and assessment of the fit with the DEP funding
- Project concept development and consortium building
- Relevance and Implementation building
- Impact logic, indicators and deployment strategy
- Full proposal preparation (single stage application)
- Submission and evaluation
- Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) for selected projects.
Preparation time:
Early planning and strong consortium alignment significantly improve competitiveness.
We strongly recommend getting started 6-9 months before deadline, especially for larger or multi country projects.
Successful projects with our customers
Spinverse has already worked with several customers in securing funding for their extensive Digital Europe projects.
FiCCC
FiCCC Finnish Chips Competence Centre
The Finnish Chips Competence Centre (FiCCC) connects Finnish and European companies with the latest semiconductor research, expertise, piloting facilities, and valuable networks. FiCCC provides expert services for those looking to innovate and experiment. With up-to-date knowledge of emerging opportunities, it also facilitates access to the expertise of other European Chip Competence Centres.
Talk to our expert
Get in touch to discuss whether the Innovation Fund is the right instrument for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Janne Kaukojärvi
Talk to our expert
Get in touch to discuss whether the Innovation Fund is the right instrument for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Talk to our expert
Get in touch to discuss whether the Innovation Fund is the right instrument for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Talk to our expert
Get in touch to discuss whether the Innovation Fund is the right instrument for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Janne Kaukojärvi
Janne Kaukojärvi
Talk to our experts
Get in touch to discuss whether Digital Europe is the right funding programme for your project and how we can support you in building a competitive funding proposal.
Janne Kaukojärvi
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