Brussels, 11 May 2023
Today, the Commission opened the first set of calls for proposals under the 2023-2024 Main Work Programme of the Digital Europe Programme to strengthen digital technologies and competences across the EU. The calls, worth over €122 million, are open to businesses, public administrations, and other entities from the EU Member States, EFTA/EEA countries, and associated countries.
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 projects in 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 i.a. 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.
Source – EU Commission