European Defence Fund: €1.2 billion to boost EU defence capabilities and new measures for defence innovation
The calls are expected to be opened for submission on 15 June with a deadline for submission of 22 November.
The Commission has adopted the third annual work programme under the European Defence Fund (EDF). The EDF work programme will allocate an additional €1.2 billion to support collaborative research and development projects and innovation in Europe’s defence sector. The funding priorities are commonly agreed upon with the Member States and take into consideration defence technologies and capability needs as well as emerging threats amplified by the changed security environment.
With the adoption of this work programme, the Commission has decided to invest more than €3 billion in collaborative defence since the entry into application of the EDF Regulation in May 2021.
The 2023 EDF work programme addresses 34 topics structured along four thematic calls for proposals, as well as three bottom-up calls focused on disruptive technologies and SMEs. It targets defence technologies and capabilities in line with the EU capability priorities commonly agreed by Member States and further elaborated in the Strategic Compass.
Additionally, the 2023 work programme introduces new measures to promote defence innovation under the umbrella of the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), such as the organisation of defence hackathons, financial support to organisations for developing innovation test hubs and supporting continuation of EU civil-funded research to test its applicability for military end users.
