Innovation investments Strand 1 - DIGIT
European Comission
Objective :
Digital technologies present an enormous growth potential for Europe. According to the Europe fit for the digital age strategy, this call for proposals targets investments in businesses and administrations. In order to unlock digital growth potential and deploy innovative solutions (both for businesses and citizens), to improve the accessibility and the efficiency of services and bridge the persisting digital divide, the present call under this topic will support interregional investments projects in the following areas:
a) Digital economy and innovation
b) Digitalisation of the public administration
c) Digitalisation of healthcare
At least 70% of the grant must be allocated to investments in companies.
If the proposal is related to digital transition in the manufacturing, then the applicant should submit the proposal under the smart manufacturing topic 3.
Scope :
Themes and priorities
The present call for proposals under this topic encourages applications in one or more or combination of the following investment areas (a), (b), (c) (non-exclusive list):
a. Digital economy innovation
- The deployment of innovative solutions for businesses digitalisation and digital services, including the use of artificial intelligence;
- ICT up-take in SMEs applied to traditional and emerging sectors; B2B; B2C; Customer to Customer, including infrastructures and services to support this (digital innovation hubs, living labs, etc.);
- Demonstration of innovative digital technologies in view of the commercialisation of research results and a better integration in EU value chains;
- User driven innovation and valorisation of traceability and big data;
- Companies reinforcing EU cybersecurity value chain and protecting from hacking, ransomware and identity theft;
- “Digital based” open innovation, supporting entrepreneurial discovery processes and cooperation between academia and businesses in the framework of smart specialisation;
- Digital skills for companies adopting innovative digital technologies (upskilling and reskilling) in the framework of investments relevant for Smart Specialisation.
b. Digital transformation of the public administration
- New or significantly upgraded services for e-government, including the take-up of Europe wide interoperable services which improve the efficiency of services delivered by public administrations to citizens, companies and other public bodies by using information and communication technologies such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity;
- Investments in innovative solutions helping administrations to make services user-friendly, accessible and more interoperable. Those investments might include the demonstration of the validity of new digital technologies in view of the large-scale adoption of new IT systems.
c. Digitalisation of healthcare
- Innovative investments in security of health data across borders (including cybersecurity);
- Investments related to the use of digital tools to stimulate prevention, enable feedback and interaction with the healthcare providers;
- Investments connected the digitisation of healthcare systems, providing solutions to interoperability issues;
- Investments in digital health infrastructure (needed for demonstration processes), telemedicine, m-health and other innovative solutions for personalised medicine;
- Investments related to the acquisition of digital skills needed for the adoption of innovative technologies in healthcare. Expected Impact :
Short-term
- Innovative technologies tested and adopted by companies and public administration
- Deployment of innovative solutions improving businesses confidence, competences and means to digitalise and grow
- Contribution to digitisation and health systems transformation, through various types of innovation and the supply of IT services
Medium-term
- Increased companies productivity and efficiency
- Improved user-friendly, accessible and interoperable public services
- Improved level of digital skills
- Improved EU innovation capacity and competitiveness
Long-term
- Improved way of living and of doing business
- Increased social and territorial cohesion as well as personal well-being
- Improved education and vocational training systems (indirectly).
Conditions
- Admissibility conditions: described in section 5 of the call document
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
- Eligible countries: described in section 6 of the call document
3 . Other eligibility conditions: described in section 6 of the call document
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in section 7 of the call document
Evaluation and award:
Submission and evaluation processes : described section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual
- Award criteria, scoring and thresholds: 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 of the grants: described in section 10 of the call document
Call documents:
Standard application form ([ToA]) — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Letter of Support (MS S3 Endorsement)
Additional documents:
Smart Specialisation Platform (S3)
Commission Decision C(2021) 6152 final - approving the I3 Work Programme
Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 - CPR
Regulation (EU) 2021/1058 - ERDF
EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual