Strengthening cybersecurity capacities of European SMEs with cybersecure AI-powered solutions

This grant supports the adoption and market uptake of innovative AI-powered cybersecurity solutions for European SMEs. It finances the deployment of up-to-date AI-driven cybersecurity tools and services to help SMEs prepare for, protect against, and respond to cybersecurity threats. Activities include developing and validating user-friendly AI-based toolkits for risk management, threat detection, incident response, and cyber hygiene improvement, tailored to the needs of SMEs. The objective is to advance cyber risk management, boost resilience, and foster a technologically advanced cybersecurity culture in SMEs across the EU.

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Agency	DIGITAL (EU)
Region	EU
Country	N/A
Legal form	Company, Other
Start date	1 Sep 2026
End date	14 Jan 2027
Max funding	Per grant: 3,000,000 EUR - 5,000,000 EUR
Budget	20,000,000 EUR allocated to this action (2026)
Coverage	Funding coverage procedures as per Digital Europe Programme standard rules. 3-5 grants are expected to be awarded.

Grant application conditions

Admissibility conditions	Proposal page limit and layout described in section 5 of the call document and in Part B of the Application Form.
Eligible countries	Applicants must be based in eligible countries as described in section 6 of the call document.
Other eligibility conditions	See section 6 of the call document for additional eligibility details.
Financial and operational capacity	Applicants must demonstrate adequate financial and operational capacity as described in section 7 of the call document.
Exclusion criteria	Exclusion arrangements are defined in section 7 of the call document.
Evaluation and award	Submission and evaluation process outlined in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual. Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in section 9 of the call document. Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in section 4 of the call document.
Legal and financial set-up	Legal and financial arrangements for the grants are described in section 10 of the call document.
Target applicants	Primarily European SMEs or consortia serving European SMEs with the capacity to adopt, develop, or deploy AI-based cybersecurity solutions.
Grant type	DIGITAL-JU-SME DIGITAL JU SME Support Actions
Documentation	https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/DIGITAL-ECCC-2027-DEPLOY-CYBER-11-AI4SME

Eligible expenses

Evaluation criteria

Reporting

Application process

Application requirements