Partnerships

28Digital (EIT)

28Digital (EIT)

Partnership website: https://28digital.eu/

28digital is the new name of EIT Digital since 2025. This is however not just a rebranding exercise but also signifies a moderate shift in their approach. It will from now on be centered around 3 keywords:  

  • Talent: development of digital skills and entrepreneurship
  • Tech
  • Trust and build relationships with the other members of 28Digital: it has the same kind of structure as before with a  headquarter and regional hubs. These offices liaise with their ecosystem which consists of European corporations, SMEs, startups, universities and research institutes, where students, researchers, engineers, business developers and investors address the technology, talent, skills, business and capital needs of digital entrepreneurship. This way new promising businesses are created or there is collaboration on EU-projects.

If you want to know more about their guidance, training,  financing, etc. or if you want to become a partner, please have a look at their website. if you want to know more about their open and upcoming calls you can click here

background information: The European Commission finances each knowledge and innovation community (KIC) of the EIT for a period a maximum 15 years. Afterwards it needs to finance itself through the benefits of its investments and other sources of funding. EIT digital reached this milestone in 2025 and to mark this transition, they decided to rename themselve. The name 28DIGITAL draws inspiration from this idea of a ‘28th regime’ (alternative to the regime/rules of the 27 member states). It is meant to be a truly European framework where digital innovation, talent and entrepreneurship can thrive across the Single Market. The number 28 also symbolises perfection in mathematics, as it is equal to the sum of its divisors (1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28) – a concept rooted in number theory, the foundation of cryptography, quantum algorithms, and supercomputing benchmarks.  

What are partnerships?

Partnerships group the EC and private and/or public partners, to coordinate and streamline the research & innovation initiatives and funding in some selected key domains.

How to use partnerships?

  • orientation
    Partnerships publish strategic documents, e.g. outlining the main research and innovation challenges or key focus points.
  • networking
    Partnerships often organise events, such as info days, brokerage events, etc. Meet potential partners and learn about the nuances that are not visible in the official documents.
  • ecosystem analysis
    Partnerships typically have an advisory board, and publish impact studies of previous actions. These are good sources of information to uncover the main R&D&I players in the domain.
  • steering the agenda
    Partnerships collaborate with the EC on outlining the strategy and the future funding opportunities in their domain, based on input from industry, academia, and other stakeholders.
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Pascal Verheye

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Testimonial

ROOT - Rolling Out OSNMA for the secure synchronization of Telecom networks

The ROOT project obtained funding under Horizon 2020 topic ‘EGNSS applications fostering societal resilience and protecting the environment’. The project, which ran from November 2020 to July 2022,  aimed to demonstrate the benefit of Galileo OSNMA signal to increase the robustness of critical telecom infrastructures.

The Flanders-based company Septentrio contributed substantially to completing this objective together with the other ROOT partners. The results of the project partially close a gap in the security of telecommunication networks dependent on satellite-derived time, with indirect benefits in curbing illegal attempts to disrupt network services.