Data Space for Manufacturing

This grant supports the development and expansion of a data space for manufacturing in the EU, aiming to collect large, high-quality data from diverse industrial environments. The initiative focuses on enabling authorized AI developers to access pooled data to train generative AI models tailored to industrial needs, thereby boosting productivity and fostering collaboration among key manufacturing sectors. The scope covers projects in areas such as predictive maintenance, process automation, supply chain management, product development, and sustainability in production.

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Agency	DIGITAL (EU)
Region	EU
Country	N/A
Legal form	Company, NGO, Government organization, Other
Start date	4 Nov 2025
End date	3 Mar 2026
Max funding	Up to EUR 3 million per project, co-funded by Digital Europe.
Budget	EUR 9,000,000 for the call.
Coverage	Co-funding; approximately three projects will be supported.

Grant application conditions

Admissibility Conditions	Proposal page limit and layout must comply with the application form in the Submission System and call document section 5.
Eligible Countries	Eligibility as specified in section 6 of the call document.
Other Eligibility Criteria	Must comply with other conditions as described in section 6 of the call document.
Financial and Operational Capacity	Applicants must fulfill financial and operational capacity requirements and not be subject to exclusion as per section 7 of the call document.
Legal Form	Open to consortia including companies, NGOs, government organizations or other eligible entities.
Sector Restriction	Projects must be relevant for the manufacturing sector and should address the needs of major EU manufacturing sectors such as automotive, chemical, aeronautics, and energy-intensive industries.
Project Structure	Consortia are encouraged; inclusion of data intermediaries and AI Factories is considered an advantage.
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/DIGITAL-2026-DSM-AI-09-DS-MANUFACTUR-STEP

Eligible expenses

Evaluation criteria

Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are detailed in section 9 of the call document.

Alignment with real-world manufacturing needs, identification of target sectors and stakeholders, and preliminary agreements for data exchange.

Impact: Solutions enabling productivity gains, advanced AI model development, and uptake by EU manufacturing sectors.

Effectiveness of technical, legal, and business solutions supporting sustainable data sharing and AI development.

Coordination with European data space initiatives and demonstration of financial sustainability.

Business exclusions

Reporting

Application process

Application requirements