Digital Europe Programme

Programme objectives

The general objectives of the Programme shall be to support and accelerate the digital transformation of the European economy, industry and society, to bring its benefits to citizens, public administrations and businesses across the Union, and to improve the competitiveness of Europe in the global digital economy while contributing to bridging the digital divide across the Union and reinforcing the Union’s strategic autonomy, through holistic, cross-sectoral and cross-border support and a stronger Union contribution.
The Programme shall be implemented in close coordination with other Union programmes as applicable, and shall aim:
(a) to strengthen and promote Europe’s capacities in key digital technology areas through large-scale deployment;
(b) in the private sector and in areas of public interest, to widen the diffusion and uptake of Europe’s key digital technologies, promoting the digital transformation and access to digital technologies.

The Programme shall have five interrelated specific objectives:
(a)Specific Objective 1 – High Performance Computing
(b)Specific Objective 2 – Artificial Intelligence
(c)Specific Objective 3 – Cybersecurity and Trust
(d)Specific Objective 4 – Advanced Digital Skills
(e)Specific Objective 5 Deployment and Best Use of Digital Capacity and Interoperability.

Specific Objective 1- High Performance Computing
The financial contribution from the Union under Specific Objective 1 – High Performance Computing shall pursue the following operational objectives:
(a)deploy, coordinate at Union level and operate an integrated demand-oriented and application-driven world-class exascale supercomputing and data infrastructure that shall be easily accessible to public and private users, in particular SMEs, irrespective of the Member State in which they are located, and easily accessible for research purposes, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1488;
(b)deploy ready to use operational technology resulting from research and innovation in order to build an integrated Union HPC ecosystem, covering various aspects in the scientific and industrial value chain segments, including hardware, software, applications, services, interconnections and digital skills, with a high level of security and data protection;
(c)deploy and operate post-exascale infrastructure, including integration with quantum computing technologies and research infrastructures for computing science and encourage the development within the Union of the hardware and software necessary for such deployment.

Specific Objective 2 – Artificial Intelligence
The financial contribution from the Union under Specific Objective 2 – Artificial Intelligence shall pursue the following operational objectives:
(a)build up and strengthen core AI capacities and knowledge in the Union, including building up and strengthening quality data resources and corresponding exchange mechanisms, and libraries of algorithms, while guaranteeing a human-centric and inclusive approach that respects Union values;
(b)make the capacities referred to in point (a) accessible to businesses, especially SMEs and start-ups, as well as civil society, not-for-profit organisations, research institutions, universities and public administrations, in order to maximise their benefit to the European society and economy;
(c)reinforce and network AI testing and experimentation facilities in Member States;
(d)develop and reinforce commercial application and production systems in order to facilitate the integration of technologies in value chains and the development of innovative business models and to shorten the time required to pass from innovation to commercial exploitation and foster the uptake of AI-based solutions in areas of public interest and in society.

Specific Objective 3 – Cybersecurity and Trust
The financial contribution from the Union under Specific Objective 3 – Cybersecurity and Trust shall pursue the following operational objectives:
(a)support the building-up and procurement of advanced cybersecurity equipment, tools and data infrastructures, together with Member States, in order to achieve a high common level of cybersecurity at European level, in full compliance with data protection legislation and fundamental rights, while ensuring the strategic autonomy of the Union;
(b)support the building-up and best use of European knowledge, capacity and skills related to cybersecurity and the sharing and mainstreaming of best practices;
(c)ensure a wide deployment of effective state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions across the European economy, paying special attention to public authorities and SMEs;
(d)reinforce capabilities within Member States and private sector to help them comply with Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council (25) including through measures supporting the uptake of cybersecurity best practices;
(e)improve resilience against cyberattacks, contribute towards increasing risk-awareness and knowledge of cybersecurity processes, support public and private organisations in achieving basics levels of cybersecurity, for example by deploying end-to-end encryption of data and software updates;
(f)enhance cooperation between the civil and defence spheres with regard to dual-use projects, services, competences and applications in cybersecurity, in accordance with a Regulation establishing the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre and the Network of National Coordination Centres (the ‘Cybersecurity Competence Centre Regulation’).

Specific Objective 4 – Advanced Digital Skills
The financial contribution from the Union under Specific Objective 4 – Advanced Digital Skills shall support the development of advanced digital skills in areas covered by the Programme in order to contribute to increasing Europe’s talent pool, bridge the digital divide and foster greater professionalism, especially with regard to high performance and cloud computing, big data analytics, cybersecurity, distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain), quantum technologies, robotics, AI, while taking gender balance into account. In order to tackle skills mismatches and to encourage specialisation in digital technologies and applications, the financial contribution shall pursue the following operational objectives:
(a)support the design and delivery of high-quality, long-term training and courses, including blended learning, for students and for the workforce;
(b)support the design and delivery of high-quality, short-term training and courses for the workforce, in particular in SMEs and in the public sector;
(c)support high-quality on-the-job training and work placements for students, including traineeships, and the workforce, in particular in SMEs and in the public sector.

Specific Objective 5 – Deployment and Best Use of Digital Capacities and Interoperability
The financial contribution from the Union under Specific Objective 5 – Deployment and Best Use of Digital Capacities and Interoperability shall pursue the following operational objectives while bridging the digital divide:
(a)support the public sector and areas of public interest, such as health and care, education, judiciary, customs, transport, mobility, energy, environment, cultural and creative sectors, including relevant businesses established within the Union, to effectively deploy and access state-of-the-art digital technologies, such as HPC, AI and cybersecurity;
(b)deploy, operate and maintain trans-European interoperable state-of-the-art digital service infrastructures across the Union, including related services, in complementarity with national and regional actions;
(c)support the integration and use of trans-European digital service infrastructures and of agreed European digital standards in the public sector and in areas of public interest to facilitate cost-efficient implementation and interoperability;
(d)facilitate the development, update and use of solutions and frameworks by public administrations, businesses and citizens, including of open-source solutions and the re-use of interoperability solutions and frameworks;
(e)offer the public sector and the Union industry, in particular SMEs, easy access to testing and piloting of digital technologies and increase the use thereof, including their cross-border use;
(f)support the uptake by the public sector and the Union industry, in particular SMEs and start-ups, of advanced digital and related technologies, including in particular HPC, AI, cybersecurity, other leading edge and future technologies, such as distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain);
(g)support the design, testing, implementation, and deployment and maintenance of interoperable digital solutions, including digital government solutions, for public services at Union level which are delivered through a data-driven reusable solutions platform aiming to foster innovation and establish common frameworks in order to unleash the full potential of the public administrations’ services for citizens and businesses;
(h)ensure the continuous capacity at Union level to lead digital development, in addition to observing, analysing and adapting to fast-evolving digital trends, and share and mainstream best practices;
(i)support cooperation towards achieving a European ecosystem for trusted data sharing and digital infrastructures using, inter alia, services and applications based on distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain), including support for interoperability and standardisation and by fostering the deployment of Union cross-border applications based on security and privacy by design, while complying with consumer and data protection legislation;
(j)build up and strengthen the European Digital Innovation Hubs and their network.

ACTIONS

Technical description of the Programme: scope of actions

Specific Objective 1 – High Performance Computing
The Programme shall implement the European strategy on HPC by supporting a full Union ecosystem that provides the necessary HPC and data capabilities for Europe to compete globally. The strategy aims to deploy a world-class HPC and data infrastructure with exascale capabilities between 2022 and 2023, and with post-exascale facilities between 2026 and 2027 to endow the Union with its own independent and competitive HPC technology supply, achieve excellence in HPC applications and widen the availability and use of HPC.
Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective shall include:

1. A joint procurement framework enabling a co-designed approach for the acquisition of an integrated network of world-class HPC, including the acquisition of exascale supercomputing and data infrastructure. That network will be easily accessible to public and private users, in particular SMEs, irrespective of the Member State in which they are located, and will be easily accessible for research purposes, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1488.
2. A joint procurement framework for the acquisition of post-exascale supercomputing infrastructure, including the integration with quantum computing technologies.
3. Coordination and adequate financial resources at Union level to support the development, procurement and operation of such infrastructure.
4. Networking of Member States HPC and data capacities and support for Member States wishing to upgrade or acquire new HPC capacities.
5. Networking of national High Performance Computing competence centres, at least one per Member State and associated with their national supercomputing centres to provide HPC services to industry, in particular SMEs, the academic community and public administrations.
6. The deployment of ready to use operational technology, in particular supercomputing as a service resulting from research and innovation to build an integrated European HPC ecosystem, covering all segments of the scientific and industrial value chain (hardware, software, applications, services, interconnections and advanced digital skills).

Specific Objective 2 – Artificial Intelligence
The Programme shall build up and strengthen core AI capacities in Europe, including data resources and repositories of algorithms, and make them accessible to all public administrations and businesses, and shall reinforce and network existing and newly established AI testing and experimentation facilities in Member States.
Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective shall include:

1. The creation of common European data spaces that make accessible data across Europe, including information gathered from the re-use of public sector information, and become a data input source for AI solutions. The spaces should be open to the public and private sectors. For increased usage, data within a space are to be made interoperable, in particular through data formats that are open, machine readable, standardised and documented, both in the interactions between the public and private sectors, within sectors and across sectors (semantic interoperability).
2. The development of common European libraries or interfaces to libraries of algorithms that make them easily accessible to all potential European users on the basis of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Businesses and the public sector are to be able to identify and acquire whichever solution would work best for their needs.
3. Co-investment with Member States in world class reference facilities for testing and experimentation in real setting focusing on the applications of AI in essential sectors such as health, earth or environment monitoring, transport and mobility, security, manufacturing and finance, as well as in other areas of public interest. Those facilities are to be open to all actors across Europe and connected to the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs. Those facilities are to be equipped with or connected to large computing and data handling facilities, as well as latest AI technologies, including emerging areas such as neuromorphic computing, deep learning and robotics.

Specific Objective 3 – Cybersecurity and Trust
The Programme shall stimulate the reinforcement, building and acquisition of essential capacities to secure the Union’s digital economy, society and democracy by reinforcing the Union cybersecurity industrial potential and competitiveness, as well as by improving capabilities of both the private and public sectors to protect citizens and businesses from cyber threats, including by supporting the implementation of Directive (EU) 2016/1148.
Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective shall include:

1. Co-investment with Member States in advanced cybersecurity equipment, infrastructures and knowhow that are essential to protect critical infrastructures and the Digital Single Market at large. Such co-investment could include investments in quantum facilities and data resources for cybersecurity, situational awareness in cyberspace as well as other tools to be made available to public and private sector across Europe.
2. Scaling up existing technological capacities and networking the competence centres in Member States and making sure that those capacities respond to public sector and industry needs, including through products and services that reinforce cybersecurity and trust within the Digital Single Market.
3. Ensuring wide deployment of effective state-of-the-art cybersecurity and trust solutions across the Member States. Such deployment includes strengthening the security and safety of products, from their design to their commercialisation.
4. Support closing the cybersecurity skills gap by, for example, aligning cybersecurity skills programmes, adapting them to specific sectorial needs and facilitating access to targeted specialised training.

Specific Objective 4 – Advanced digital skills
The Programme shall support access to advanced digital skills and training opportunities on those skills, in particular in HPC, big data analytics, AI, distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain) and cybersecurity for the current and future workforce by offering, inter alia, students, recent graduates, current workers and citizens of all ages in need of upskilling, wherever they are situated, with the means to acquire and develop those skills.
Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective shall include:

1. Access to on-the-job training by taking part in traineeships in competence centres and businesses that deploy advanced digital technologies.
2. Access to courses in advanced digital technologies which are to be offered by higher education institutions, research institutions and industry professional certification bodies in cooperation with the bodies involved in the Programme (topics are expected to include AI, cybersecurity, distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain), HPC and quantum technologies).
3. Participation in short-term, specialised professional training that have been pre-certified, for example in the area of cybersecurity.
   Interventions shall focus on advanced digital skills related to specific technologies.
   The European Digital Innovation Hubs provided for in Article 16 shall act as facilitators for training opportunities, liaising with education and training providers.

Specific Objective 5 – Deployment and Best Use of Digital Capacities and Interoperability
Projects serving the deployment and the best use of digital capacities or interoperability shall constitute projects of common interest.
I. Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective related to the digital transformation of areas of public interest shall include:

1. Modernisation of public administrations:
   1.1. Support Member States in the implementation of the principles of the Tallinn Declaration on eGovernment in all policy domains, creating, where necessary, the necessary registries and interconnecting them in full compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
   1.2. Support the design, piloting, deployment, maintenance, evolution and promotion of a coherent eco-system of cross-border digital services infrastructure and facilitate seamless end-to-end, secure, interoperable, multi-lingual cross-border or cross-sector solutions and common frameworks within public administrations. Methodologies for assessing the impact and benefits shall also be included.
   1.3. Support the assessment, updating and promotion of existing common specifications and standards as well as the development, establishment and promotion of new common specifications, open specifications and standards through the Union’s standardisation platforms and in cooperation with European or international standardisation organisations as appropriate.
   1.4. Cooperate towards a European ecosystem for trusted infrastructures, possibly using services and applications based on distributed ledger technologies (e.g. blockchain), including support for interoperability and standardisation and fostering the deployment of Union cross-border applications.
2. Health
   2.1. Ensure that citizens have control over their personal data and can access, share, use, and manage their personal health data across borders securely and in a way that guarantees their privacy, irrespective of their location or the location of the data, in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. Complete the eHealth digital service infrastructure and extend it by new digital services in relation to disease prevention, health and care and support the deployment of such services, building on a broad support by Union activities and Member States, in particular in the eHealth network according to Article 14 of Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).
   2.2. Make available better data for research, disease prevention and personalised health and care. Ensure that European health researchers and clinical practitioners have access to the necessary scale of resources (shared data spaces, including data storage and computing, expertise and analytical capacities) to achieve breakthroughs in major as well as in rare diseases. The target is to ensure a population-based cohort of at least 10 million citizens.
   2.3. Make digital tools available for citizen empowerment and for person-centred care by supporting the exchange of innovative and best practices in digital health, capacity building and technical assistance, in particular for cybersecurity, AI and HPC.
3. Judiciary
   Enable seamless and secure cross-border electronic communication within the judiciary and between the judiciary and other competent bodies in the area of civil and criminal justice. Improve access to justice and to legal information and procedures for citizens, businesses, legal practitioners and members of the judiciary by providing semantically interoperable interconnections to databases and registers as well as by facilitating online out-of-court dispute resolution. Promote the development and implementation of innovative technologies for courts and the legal profession based, inter alia, on AI solutions which are likely to streamline and speed-up procedures (for example, ‘legal tech’ applications).
4. Transport, mobility, energy and environment
   Deploy decentralised solutions and infrastructures required for large-scale digital applications such as connected automated driving, unmanned aerial vehicles, smart mobility concepts, smart cities, smart rural areas or outermost regions, in support of transport, energy and environmental policies and in coordination with the actions for digitalising the transport and energy sectors under Connecting Europe Facility.
5. Education, culture and media
   Provide creators, creative industry and cultural sectors in Europe with access to the latest digital technologies from AI to advanced computing. Exploit the European cultural heritage, including Europeana, to support education and research and to promote cultural diversity, social cohesion and European society. Support the uptake of digital technologies in education, as well as private and publicly funded cultural institutions.
6. Other actions supporting the Digital Single Market

Support actions such as fostering digital and media literacy and raising awareness among minors, parents and teachers regarding risks minors may encounter online and ways to protect them, tackling cyberbullying and the dissemination of child sexual abuse material online by supporting a pan-European network of Safer internet Centres. Promote measures aimed at detecting and combatting intentional disinformation spread, thereby increasing the Union’s overall resilience; support a Union observatory for the digital platform economy as well as studies and outreach activities.

The actions referred to in points 1 to 6 may be partly supported by European Digital Innovation Hubs through the same capacities developed to assist industry with their digital transformation (see point (II).

II Initial and, where appropriate, subsequent actions under this objective related to the digital transformation of industry shall include:
Contribution to the upscaling of the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs to ensure access to digital capacities for any business, in particular SMEs, in any region across the Union. Such contribution includes:

1. Access to common European data spaces and AI platforms and European HPC facilities for data analytics and compute intensive applications
2. Access to AI large scale testing facilities and to advanced cybersecurity tools
3. Access to advanced digital skills

The actions referred to in the first subparagraph will be coordinated with, and will complement, the innovation actions in digital technologies supported, in particular, under Horizon Europe, as well as investments in European Digital Innovation Hubs supported under the ERDF. Grants for market replication may also be provided from the Programme, in compliance with state aid rules. Support for access to financing for further steps in their digital transformation will be achieved with financial instruments making use of the InvestEU Programme.