SUMMARY
Based on mandates by the European Council and the Council of UE, EDA encourages strong involvement of Small-and-Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in EU funding programmes and facilitates Defence stakeholders’ access to relevant EU funding mechanisms.
To this end, within the priorities identified under the Capability Development Plan (CDP), the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA) and the identified Key Strategic Activities (KSA - i.e. technologies, manufacturing facilities, skills), EDA works on:
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building capacity both among Ministries of Defence (MoDs) and across the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB on how to access EU funding opportunities
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informing wider European Union (EU) policies to make EU funding more accessible to the defence sector
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supporting access to funding at European level both for national and cooperative defence projects
- To deliver and update continuously EDA’s “European Funding Gateway for Defence”, which identifies and compares within a single portal a wide spectrum of funding and financing sources accessible to Defence at European level, e.g.: European Defence Fund (EDIDP), European Structural and Investment Funds, Horizon 2020, European Investment Bank, COSME, Structural Reform Support Programme, Erasmus+, LIFE.*
- To deliver, update continuously and upgrade the “IdentiFunding”, EDA’s online tool enabling any defence-related stakeholder (particularly SMEs) to match projects and entities with eligible funding at European level, so “to deforest” effectively the spectrum of opportunities, thereby saving time, budget and human resources.*
- To apply internally tailored and diversified analytic versions of the “IdentiFunding” for specific EDA initiatives, e.g. KSA and Energy in Defence, as well as to contribute to EDA’s work on Industry Engagement Roadmaps.*
- To support EDA’s direct access to EU funding as mandated by the Agency’s Steering Board on e.g. circular economy in European defence
- To provide selected defence projects with concrete and tailored technical assistance to maximise their chance to access EU grants, also in order to build successful pilot cases proving the eligibility and feasibility for defence projects to access funding at European level.*
- To develop dynamic platforms, video tutorials and interactive web-mapping and identifying authorities in charge of deploying and allocating funding nationally and financing from EU budget (so-called “indirect management”)
To pursue close working relations and interface with the European Commission’s Directorate Generals (e.g. DG DEFIS, GROW, ENV, EMPL, REFORM, EAC, ECFIN, REGIO, R&I, ENER) and other EU institutions/agencies (e.g. EIB Group, EASME, EACEA, JRC) in order to support Member States (MS) in exploiting wider EU policies, as well as to inform the latter with a view to provide focused and tailored EU funding to Defence based on MS’ prioritisation conducted in the EDA within the CDP-OSRA-KSA framework.