Grant programmes

The PDF lists BraveNorway as a similar activity alongside BraveTechEU and BraveFrance. This entry is kept at programme level until a specific official call page is identified.

The PDF describes a EUR 50 million EDF plus EUR 50 million Ukrainian accelerator programme. It references a first phase with Defence Tech Forge events in Estonia and France, followed by an EDA testing and evaluation phase.

Spain's reference R&D financing line managed by CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación). Open year-round with rolling evaluation (4–6 months). Companies executing R&D projects receive an advance of up to 50% (capped at €300,000) without additional guarantees, plus a non-repayable tranche of 10–33%. No sector restrictions.

The DARPA I2O Office-Wide BAA (HR001126S0001) covers four thrust areas, with 'Fighting in the Information Domain' being the most directly relevant: cognitive and semantic operations, digital artifact tracking, adversarial influence, and transport mechanisms. The BAA explicitly seeks unconventional approaches capable of delivering decisive information and computational advantage. International entities may participate as subcontractors on US-led teams.

Cybersecurity calls under the Digital Europe Programme managed by the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC). Covers AI-powered cybersecurity solutions, SME cyber tool uptake, EU cybersecurity readiness testing, cyber hubs. Multiple annual deadlines. Typical grant range €1M–€20M+. Eligible: SMEs, cybersecurity firms, public sector.

DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-TECH-EDMO-09-HUBS finances independent national and regional EDMO hubs to monitor and analyse the online information ecosystem, detect and fact-check disinformation campaigns, conduct research on coordinated inauthentic behaviour, develop media literacy initiatives, and participate in the Rapid Response System of the Code of Conduct on Disinformation during elections and crises. Total budget €6 million, max €750,000 per hub. Closed November 2025.

Two EDF 2026 Research Actions focused on AI for defence: EDF-2026-RA-SIMTRAIN-MSAI funds AI frameworks for military training and simulation (including cognitive warfare environments); EDF-2026-LS-RA-CHALLENGE-DIGIT-AISAO/AISAP funds an AI swarming challenge. Both have the 29 September 2026 deadline.

EDF-2026-DA-EXP-DIGIT-MDOC-STEP funds the first military multi-domain operational cloud prototype for EU armed forces, enabling secure multi-domain operations across land, air, maritime, cyber, and space domains. The call addresses fragmented military information systems through standards-based interoperability, EU-secure data governance, chain-of-trust mechanisms, and edge computing in degraded environments. Budget €40 million, deadline 29 September 2026.

EDF-2026-LS-RA-SMERO-NT-STEP is an open (non-thematic) lump-sum research call exclusively for SMEs and research organisations pursuing any defence-relevant research. No prescribed topic — eligible areas include cognitive warfare, information domain, AI for decision-making, or digital governance in defence contexts. Budget €35 million, up to €5 million per proposal, 100% funding rate.

The keynote PDF describes EDIP common procurement as a mechanism to stimulate joint procurement and reduce fragmentation. The call breakdown below follows the categories summarised in the source material.

The PDF states that EUR 35.3 million will be invested into a defence innovation action under the BraveTechEU brand for Ukrainian and EU startups and SMEs.

The keynote PDF states that FAST will allocate EUR 100 million to Defence Equity Facility 2.0 to support defence SMEs, startups and small mid-caps.

The PDF describes EUR 260 million for Ukrainian and EU industry in cross-border cooperation, covering missiles and ammunition as well as unmanned and counter-unmanned systems.

The source PDF states that the civilian-only restriction has been lifted for specific defence-oriented challenges, with grants up to EUR 2.5 million and 2026 deadlines on 4 March, 6 May, 8 July, 2 September and 4 November.

The keynote PDF lists EIT InnoEnergy among relevant European innovation funding sources, especially for dual-use energy resilience themes.

Digital Europe Programme 2026 supports deployment of advanced digital technologies in public administration, AI for governance, information integrity infrastructure, GovTech, and digital skills. Calls opened April 2026 with deadline 1 October 2026.

EUDIS is an EDF-backed instrument to strengthen defence innovation within the EU, offering grants, financing instruments and coaching for SMEs, start-ups and other actors not traditionally part of the defence sector. In 2026 EUDIS measures account for €231 million of the total EDF budget. Cascade funding (FSTP) enables EDF consortia to sub-grant up to €60,000 per SME or start-up.

EDA is referenced in the PDF as a defence-focused EU actor and as part of the BraveTechEU testing and evaluation phase.

The EU's main defence R&D funding programme. The PDF material references a 2026 work programme of roughly EUR 1 billion across 31 topics and Ukraine's association to EDF.

The keynote PDF references the Defence Equity Facility 2.0 as the equity support vehicle backed through FAST for defence SMEs, startups and small mid-caps.

The keynote PDF lists Eurostars Eureka among relevant European funding instruments for innovative SMEs and collaborative R&D.

ASTRID (Accompagnement Spécifique des Travaux de Recherches d'Intérêt Défense) is a joint ANR/AID programme funding French academic and research institutions on defence-relevant science. The 2026 call explicitly welcomed expertise in mass analysis of social network data, natural language processing, disinformation, deepfake detection, and cognitive sciences. Grants up to €400,000 per project over 18–36 months. Annual call cycle; next call expected early 2027.

The keynote PDF references BPI France, the DIANA/CEA accelerator and BraveFrance as part of the French defence innovation ecosystem.

The keynote PDF references the German DTCF / SPRIND route as part of the national defence innovation landscape.

Horizon Europe Cluster 2 funds research on democracy, governance, disinformation, and information integrity. The 2026 Democracy and Governance call (HORIZON-CL2-2026-01-DEMOCRACY) has an overall budget of €112.5 million across 10 topics with a submission deadline of 23 September 2026.

Horizon Europe Cluster 3 civil security calls for 2026. Includes border surveillance (BM-01, €12M, 5 Nov), critical infrastructure resilience (INFRA-03, €8M, 15 Sep), security innovation (SSRI, €13.83M total across 4 topics, 5 Nov) and search & rescue (DRS-03, 5 Nov). Eligible: SMEs, research organisations, public procurers.

The keynote PDF lists Horizon Europe Cluster 4 among relevant EU instruments for digital, industrial and space technologies with dual-use relevance.

Horizon Europe cybersecurity call coordinated by the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) with a total budget of €56.2 million across 3 topics: secure software/hardware development (€20M), SecureAI — security of AI models (€21.2M), and advanced cryptographic schemes (€15M). Single stage. Deadline 15 September 2026.

Joint Horizon Europe / European Cybersecurity Competence Centre call (HORIZON-CL3-2026-02-CS-ECCC) with three topics totalling €56.2 million: software/hardware security (€20M), AI security (€21.2M), and post-quantum cryptography (€15M). Deadline 15 September 2026.

IARPA's Emerging Technology Accelerator BAA (DOI-ETA-FY26-30) includes the DECIPHER program — Detecting and Evaluating Coded and Intentionally-obscure Phrases in Hidden and Emergent Representations. DECIPHER creates capabilities to detect and define specialized language in multilingual text collections, targeting acronyms with multiple meanings, deliberately obfuscated language, and emergent jargon used in information operations. Awards are issued as Prototype Other Transaction Agreements.

The keynote PDF lists UK Research and Innovation alongside DASA in the UK national landscape.

EU programme supporting internal security, law enforcement cooperation, prevention of terrorism and serious crime, and critical infrastructure resilience. The 2026 thematic facility includes calls for counter-radicalisation, prevention of violent extremism, online security and CER framework strengthening. Total programme budget €1.93 billion (2021–2027). Eligible: public bodies, NGOs, companies, universities.

The source PDF lists NATO DIANA as a key defence innovation programme and references the published 2026 cohort of companies. This record intentionally keeps the programme entry without inventing an unsupported future call.

A €1 billion multi-sovereign venture capital fund backed by 24 NATO Allies that invests in early-stage deep-tech startups and other VC funds developing dual-use technologies for defence, security and resilience. Investment areas include energy, materials science, AI, data & computing, autonomy, quantum, biotechnology and space. Rolling applications.

NATO SPS funds collaborative multi-year research between NATO allies and partner countries. Priority areas explicitly include disinformation monitoring tools, AI/deepfake detection, societal resilience against hybrid threats, and cognitive manipulation countermeasures. Grants of €250,000–€400,000 per project. Phase 1 concept notes closed January 2026; Phase 2 invitations ongoing.

The PDF lists PESCO among the core EU defence instruments. It is kept as a programme-level record without synthetic calls.

The keynote PDF explicitly lists the DIANA/DASA accelerator and UK Research and Innovation among relevant UK defence innovation routes.