2nd Call for applications for a grant to support the education and training of developers of cyber security solutions, within the framework of financial support to third parties

The EU grant opportunity titled "2nd Call for applications for a grant to support the education and training of developers of cybersecurity solutions" is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) registered in the Slovak Republic. It is part of the TestCert-SK project, which focuses on enhancing cybersecurity capabilities by enabling SMEs to train employees in compliance with the EUCC cybersecurity certification scheme. The total funding available for this initiative is €87,900.

Eligible applicants must be legal entities classified as SMEs under EU Regulation 651/2014 and must provide or intend to provide products with digital elements, as defined by the Cyber Resilience Act. They must also have approved accounts for the last two financial years and can submit only one application for the grant.

The funding type is a non-repayable grant that covers 100% of eligible expenses. Grants range from a minimum of €3,210 to a maximum of €9,630, depending on the number of trainees (1 to 3 employees). Each grant includes an education allowance and a flat rate for indirect expenditures.

The application type is an open competitive call with a single-stage submission process. The deadline for applications is September 30, 2025, and they must be submitted electronically via the Slovak Central Public Administration Portal, signed with a qualified electronic signature.

The project focuses on professional development, specifically training employees to achieve certification in cybersecurity products. There is no co-funding requirement, and all costs associated with eligible training will be fully covered by the grant. The selection process is based on pre-defined criteria, and success rates will depend on the number of applications received relative to the total funding available.

Overall, this initiative aims to strengthen the cybersecurity skillset in Slovakia, enabling SMEs to develop and offer more secure digital products while ensuring compliance with EU standards.

The opportunity is the 2nd Call for applications for a grant to support the education and training of developers of cyber security solutions, within the framework of financial support to third parties. The project acronym is TestCert-SK. The full name of the EU funded project is Testing and Certification Capabilities in Slovakia. The grant agreement number is 101127837. The topic is DIGITAL-ECCC-2022-CYBER-03-TEST-CERT-CAPABILTIES - Testing and Certification Capabilities.

The opening date is 07 July 2025. The deadline model is single-stage. The deadline date is 30 September 2025 18:00 (Brussels time). The call is open for submission. The expected duration of participation is until 2026-03-30T17:00:00.000Z. The total funding available is 87,900.00 €.

The completed application form shall be signed by the statutory body with a qualified electronic signature or a qualified electronic signature bearing a mandate certificate or a qualified electronic seal. The applicant shall send the application signed in this way to the Authority in electronic form, as an annex to the electronic submission, via the Authority’s electronic mailbox established within the Central Public Administration Portal www.slovensko.sk via the ‘General Agenda’ service. An application that is not received by the Authority in the form indicated above will not be considered to have been submitted and will be disqualified from the evaluation process. The method of delivery of the application set out in Annex 2 to the call ‘Conditions for granting a grant’ is further detailed.

In order to establish the ranking of applications, each grant application is assessed with the application of the Criteria for the selection of projects, which form Annex 4 to the call. By applying the criteria for selecting projects, the Authority creates a descending ranking of applicants whose grant applications met the conditions for granting a grant, starting from the application that obtained the most points based on the criteria. The purpose of applying the criteria for selecting projects is to determine the ranking of applicants, according to which the Authority sends a notification of compliance with the conditions for granting a grant. At the same time, it immediately sends the draft grant agreement to those applicants (in the order determined based on the project selection criteria) for whom the grant is fully covered by the amount of call funds available. For applicants for whom the grant is not fully covered by the amount of available allocation of the call funds, the Authority will not send a draft grant agreement due to the lack of funds intended for exhaustion within the call.

Only projects aiming at obtaining a certificate of completion of a education/training course in the field of product certification under the EUCC cybersecurity certification scheme and Commission Implementing Regulation 2024/482 for a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 employees of the applicant shall be considered eligible under this call. The minimum requirements for the scope of the educational activity/training are set out in Annex 7 to this call. An applicant may submit only one application for a grant. In the event of multiple applications, the Authority shall take into account the last application submitted.

In the context of this call, eligible applicants are legal entities pursuant to Section 2(2)(a) of the Commercial Code, which meet all of the following conditions:

meet the definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME),
at the date of submission of the application, they are registered in the territory of the Slovak Republic,
they have, at the date of submission of the application, approved accounts for:
a completed financial year which is not a financial year of less than 12 months and which is also immediately preceding the financial year in which the application is submitted, or
a completed financial year which is not a financial year of less than 12 months and which is also immediately preceding the financial year referred to in the preceding indent.
In the case of SMEs resulting from a merger or division, the period of business of the longest-running merging company, the capital or part thereof of which has been transferred to the successor company, shall also be taken into account for the purposes of assessing the period of business.
demonstrate, at the date of submission of the application, that they intend to provide or are providing a product with digital elements to customers (according to REGULATION (EU) 2024/2847 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 October 2024 on horizontal cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements and amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013 and (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 (Cyber Resilience Act), which is defined as application software, i.e. software that runs on any platform and performs tasks on behalf of a user or system owner. It can be a variety of software, such as office packages, development environments, server-client applications, thin clients, communication tools, software implementation of a network device that is connected to an IP network and plays the role of transmission security or control of IP packet flow within that network, cryptographic data protection applications, smartphone applications, etc., or HW equipment within which such application SW is implemented.

Grants for eligible applicants will amount to 100% of the total eligible expenditure and will be implemented on the basis of the submitted payment application and under the conditions laid down in this call and its related documents. The minimum amount of grant is € 3 210 (excluding VAT). The maximum amount of grant is € 9 630 (excluding VAT).

The maximum amount of non-refundable grant is based on the number of employees who successfully complete the educational activity/training as follows:

Number of trainees: 1
Amount of education allowance: EUR 3000 excluding VAT
Flat rate for indirect expenditure: €210
Total grant granted: EUR 3210 (excluding VAT)

Number of trainees: 2
Amount of education allowance: EUR 6000 excluding VAT
Flat rate for indirect expenditure: €420
Total grant granted: EUR 6420 (excluding VAT)

Number of trainees: 3
Amount of education allowance: EUR 9000 excluding VAT
Flat rate for indirect expenditure: €630
Total grant granted: EUR 9630 (excluding VAT)

This grant opportunity, under the TestCert-SK project, aims to bolster cybersecurity capabilities in Slovakia by providing financial support to SMEs for the education and training of their employees in the field of product certification under the EUCC cybersecurity certification scheme. The grant covers 100% of eligible expenses, with amounts varying based on the number of employees trained, ranging from approximately €3,210 to €9,630 (excluding VAT). Eligible applicants must be SMEs registered in Slovakia that provide or intend to provide products with digital elements, particularly application software, to customers. The application process requires a qualified electronic signature and submission through the Central Public Administration Portal. The selection process involves ranking applications based on predefined criteria, with grant agreements offered to those whose projects align with the call's objectives and available funding. This initiative directly supports the Cyber Resilience Act by enhancing the cybersecurity expertise of companies developing products with digital elements.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are legal entities that meet the definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) according to Annex I of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014. These SMEs must be registered in the territory of the Slovak Republic at the date of application submission. They must also have approved accounts for a completed financial year of not less than 12 months, immediately preceding the financial year in which the application is submitted, or the financial year before that. Furthermore, the SME must demonstrate that they intend to provide or are providing a product with digital elements to customers, as defined by REGULATION (EU) 2024/2847 (Cyber Resilience Act). This includes application software, such as office packages, development environments, server-client applications, thin clients, communication tools, software implementation of a network device connected to an IP network, cryptographic data protection applications, and smartphone applications, or HW equipment within which such application SW is implemented.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant. The grants will cover 100% of the total eligible expenditure.

Consortium Requirement: A single applicant is required. The text explicitly states, "An applicant may submit only one application for a grant."

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is limited to the Slovak Republic. Applicants must be registered in the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Target Sector: The program targets the cybersecurity sector, specifically focusing on the education and training of developers of cybersecurity solutions and product certification under the EUCC cybersecurity certification scheme. It also targets companies providing products with digital elements, including application software and hardware incorporating such software.

Mentioned Countries: Slovak Republic.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on obtaining certification of completion of an education/training course. This suggests a development or validation stage, where the focus is on upskilling employees to meet certification requirements.

Funding Amount: The funding range is between €3,210 (excluding VAT) and €9,630 (excluding VAT). The specific amount depends on the number of employees (between 1 and 3) who successfully complete the educational activity/training. The grant includes an education allowance and a flat rate for indirect expenditure. For one trainee, the total grant is EUR 3,210 (EUR 3,000 education allowance and EUR 210 indirect expenditure). For two trainees, the total grant is EUR 6,420 (EUR 6,000 education allowance and EUR 420 indirect expenditure). For three trainees, the total grant is EUR 9,630 (EUR 9,000 education allowance and EUR 630 indirect expenditure).

Application Type: The application type is an open call, as indicated by "2nd Call for applications for a grant". The deadline model is single-stage.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant to cover the costs of education and training.

Application Stages: The application process appears to be single-stage, as indicated by the "single-stage" deadline model. The applications are assessed based on the Criteria for the selection of projects, which form Annex 4 to the call. The Authority creates a descending ranking of applicants based on the points obtained.

Success Rates: The success rate is not explicitly mentioned. However, the text indicates that draft grant agreements are sent only to those applicants for whom the grant is fully covered by the available funds. This suggests that the success rate depends on the available budget and the ranking of the applications based on the selection criteria. Applicants for whom the grant is not fully covered will not receive a draft grant agreement.

Co-funding Requirement: No co-funding is required. The grants will cover 100% of the total eligible expenditure.

Summary: This opportunity is a call for grant applications aimed at supporting the education and training of developers of cybersecurity solutions in SMEs registered in the Slovak Republic. The call, named TestCert-SK, is part of the EU-funded project "Testing and Certification Capabilities in Slovakia". The goal is to enable these SMEs to obtain certification under the EUCC cybersecurity certification scheme for their employees. Eligible SMEs must provide or intend to provide products with digital elements, including application software. The grant amount ranges from €3,210 to €9,630 (excluding VAT), depending on the number of employees (1 to 3) who complete the training. The application process is single-stage, with a deadline of September 30, 2025. Applications must be submitted electronically via the Central Public Administration Portal www.slovensko.sk, signed with a qualified electronic signature. The grants cover 100% of eligible expenses, and the selection is based on criteria outlined in Annex 4 of the call. The available funding for this call is 87,900 EUR. This initiative supports the Cyber Resilience Act by enhancing the cybersecurity skills of SMEs in Slovakia, enabling them to develop and offer more secure products with digital elements.