Making Europe greener and more digital are the twin challenges that the European Union aims to address over the next years. The European Commission has set up a new framework programme, the Digital Europe programme (DIGITAL), as part of the next long-term EU budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, to support the digital transition in the EU.

Digital technology and infrastructure play a critical role in both private lives and business environments. We rely on them to communicate, work, advance science and answer current environmental problems. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted not only how much we rely on our technology to be available to us, but also how important it is for Europe not to depend on systems and solutions coming from other regions of the world.

The DIGITAL Programme will provide strategic funding to address these challenges, supporting projects in key capacity areas, such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced computing, data infrastructure, advanced digital skills, and ensuring a wide use of digital technologies across the economy and society, including through Digital Innovation Hubs.

With a planned overall budget of €7.5 billion (in current prices), it aims to accelerate the economic recovery and shape the digital transformation of Europe’s society and economy, bringing benefits to everyone, but in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Digital Europe Programme will not address these challenges in isolation, but rather complement the funding available through other EU programmes, such as the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation and the Connecting Europe Facility for digital infrastructure, the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Structural funds.