Digital Europe Programme is the first EU programme that aims to accelerate the recovery and drive the digital transformation of Europe.

Worth €7.6 billion (in current prices), the Programme is a part of the next long-term EU budget, (the Multiannual Financial Framework), and it covers 2021 to 2027. It will provide funding for projects in five crucial areas: supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, and ensuring the wide use of digital technologies across the economy and society.

The Programme is fine-tuned to fill the gap between the research of digital technologies and their deployment, and to bring the results of research to the market – for the benefit of Europe’s citizens and businesses, and in particular SMEs. Investments under the Digital Europe programme supports the Union’s twin objectives of a green transition and digital transformation and strengthens the Union’s resilience and strategic autonomy.

The objective is to support the progressive establishment of Regional Cable hubs, one per sea basins of the EU, whose role will be to concretely enhance threats detection and operational security around these strategic infrastructures.

This action is therefore aimed at supporting the set-up of processes, tools and services for detection and analysis of emerging threats, to establish a near real time situational awareness to protect the undersea cables. It includes the capacity to aggregate data and security information from all available sources (including established systems such as the Integrated Maritime System, or CISE, or National Cyber Hubs) and analyse them in an automated way. The action will support also the establishment of a reporting incident function and a procedure for information sharing between relevant national authorities.

50%

• Energy
• Environment and Climate Change
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Justice - Security
• Other Services
• Shipping - Marine Transports
• Space
• Telecommunications

• Businesses
• Central Government
• Fishermen, Aquaculturists, Owners of Vessels
• Legal Entities
• Legal Entities under Public Law
• National Contact Points - NCPs
• Other Beneficiaries
• Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
• Semi-governmental organisations
• Services Providers
• State-owned Enterprises

Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds wholly (or at least in part) to the topic description for which they are submitted.

Eligible participants (eligible countries)

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • EEA countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein)

Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc.

Please be aware that all topics of this call are subject to restrictions due to security, therefore entities must not be directly or indirectly controlled from a country that is not an eligible country. All entities will have to fill in and submit a declaration on ownership and control.

Moreover:

• participation in any capacity (as beneficiary, affiliated entity, associated partner, subcontractor or recipient of financial support to third parties) is limited to entities established in and controlled from eligible countries
• project activities (included subcontracted work) must take place in eligible countries
• the Grant Agreement may provide for IPR restrictions.

applicants@eccc.europa.eu

• Funding and Tenders
• Call document