GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

The European Defence Fund (EDF) is the Commission’s initiative to support collaborative defence research and development, and to foster an innovative and competitive defence industrial base.

The grant will be a lump sum grant. This means that it will reimburse a fixed amount, based on a lump sum or financing not linked to costs. The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget and a funding rate of up to 35% (up to 100% for additional sector costs for access to finance).

You can apply for a higher project funding rate (up to 45%) if your project is a ‘priority action’, i.e. concerns:

• new cross-border cooperation — a project creating a genuine new cross-border cooperation between entities established in Member States or ASAP associated countries, as described in Article 8(3)(b) ASAP Regulation; the new entity(ies) entering into the cooperation must have together a relevant role in the action (more than 10% of the total costs of the action)
• priority to common procurement — a project where the applicants commit to prioritise, for the duration of the action, orders stemming from the common procurement of relevant defence products (i.e. ground-to-ground and artillery ammunition as well as missiles) by at least three Member States or ASAP associated countries.
• priority to procurement for Ukraine — a project where the applicants commit to prioritise, for the duration of the action, orders stemming from the procurement of relevant defence products (i.e. ground-to-ground and artillery ammunition as well as missiles) by at least one Member State which are intended for Ukraine.
• SME/mid-cap action — a project where the majority (i.e. more than 50%) of beneficiaries participating in the consortium are SMEs or mid-caps established in Member States or ASAP associated countries.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
  • non-EU countries: listed EEA countries (‘ASAP associated countries’; see list of participating countries)
• have their executive management structure established in eligible countries
• must not be subject to control by a non-associated third country or nonassociated third-country entity (unless they can demonstrate that they have already been subject to a FDI screening and, where necessary, to mitigation measures or they can provide guarantees (see Annex) approved by the Member State or ASAP associated country where they are established).