This round of investment will cover the area of building confidence in the digital transformation, with €32 million for projects related to a Network of Safer Internet Centres that will help minors tackle online risks and enable citizens to anonymously report online child sexual abuse material.

There will also be investment in the hubs of the European Digital Media Observatory contributing to the fight against disinformation across Europe, the EU energy saving reference framework, which will facilitate the development of an application to help citizens reduce energy consumption, as well as an IT system to support the removal of online child sexual abuse material.

In addition, €31 million will support projectsin the area of data, with investment in the Genome for Europe project to establish a European reference genome database that will foster break-through advances in research, innovation, disease prevention and healthcare delivery.

Projects in the area of cloud to edge infrastructure will receive €25 million in grants to support the Cloud Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) Exploitation Office, which will support and disseminate the cloud-to edge results of the IPCEI, as well as to support the development of a secure collaborative platform for the aeronautics and security industries.  

There will also be €18 million for projects in the area of Artificial Intelligence and €16 million to promote advanced digital skills, with funding for reinforcing skills in semiconductors, as well as boosting digital skills of young pupils with a focus on young girls.

The deadline to apply to these calls is 26 September 2023 and information regarding applications is available online. Additional calls under the 2023-2024 Work Programme will be published at the end of May and later this year. The 2023-2024 Work Programme has a total budget of €909,5 million, of which €392 million will be deployed for actions in 2023.

2023-2024 Main Work Programme

Source of news: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-opens-new-calls-invest-over-eu122-million-digital-technologies-and-competences

*The eligibility of the Western Balkans is currently under negotiation. It is expected that these economies will be eligible in the call retroactively through their association but it is not contractually secured yet. This entry will be updated once the eligibility has been confirmed by the European Commission.