Building capacity to deploy the EEHRxF and digital health services and systems to support the rights of citizens and reuse of health data under EHDS

Call DIGITAL-2026 (Digital Europe Programme) funds a single 48-month project with an indicative budget of €14.4 million to build capacity for deployment of the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF) and EHDS-compliant digital health services via three work strands: primary use capacity building, secondary use readiness, and service provider training. The selected multi-beneficiary consortium must include at least five independent beneficiaries from five different eligible countries and demonstrate previous experience managing grants for financial support to third parties to operate cascading sub-grant competitions. At least 85% of the EU grant must be allocated to financial support to third parties, with individual sub-grants capped at €120,000 and third-party recipients required to co-finance a minimum of 50% of their costs. Planned opening is 21 April 2026 with a submission deadline of 1 October 2026 (17:00 Brussels time); proposals are submitted via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and Part B is limited to 70 pages.

Building capacity to deploy the EEHRxF and EHDS digital health services

Call at a glance

What the action funds

A single DIGIT AL Grants for Financial Support project will manage cascading grants across three work strands: 1) guidance and large-scale deployment of EEHRxF‑compatible EHR services and capacity building for public authorities and healthcare providers (primary use); 2) a toolbox and support for data holders to create HealthDCAT-AP dataset descriptions and data quality/utility labelling and readiness for secondary use (secondary use); 3) a training framework, business model and community building for service providers (SMEs) to support EHDS implementation and dataset creation/maintenance.

What is funded:Deployment and upgrade of digital health services and EHR systems to adopt the EEHRxF; tools and labels for dataset description, data quality and secondary‑use readiness; training and capacity building for service providers and data holders.

Who can apply:Consortia (multi‑beneficiary) including public authorities, healthcare providers, research organisations, industry and not‑for‑profit bodies from eligible countries; consortium must include organisations experienced in managing financial support to third parties.

1. 1Single‑stage call (submission via Funding & Tenders Portal).
2. 2Consortium minimum: 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries (see call document).
3. 3Grant type: Grants for Financial Support (cascading grants to third parties).

Money and award rules

Total call budget €24,400,000; topic allocation for EHDS €14,400,000. The selected project will provide cascading grants to third parties up to €120,000 per third party; the consortium must allocate a large share of its EU grant to financial support to third parties (minimum shares specified per work strand). At least 40 sub‑grants are expected under work strand 1 and at least 25 under work strand 2.

Funding rate: 100% for Grants for Financial Support. Projects must manage a portfolio of individual grants (open cascade calls, transparent selection, minimum two‑month open calls) and demonstrate experience operating financial support to third parties. Project duration: 48 months (typical for this topic).

Deadlines and process:Planned opening 21 April 2026; submission deadline 1 October 2026 (17:00 Brussels time). One‑stage evaluation; standard admissibility, eligibility, capacity and award criteria apply per the call document ¹.

1. 1Apply via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal (register organisations and PICs beforehand).
2. 2Proposals limited to Part B max 70 pages; include mandatory annexes and evidence of capacity to manage cascading grants.
3. 3Selected consortium will sign a DIGITAL Action Grant (DEP MGA) and implement cascading calls to third parties.

Footnotes

1. 1Full call details, eligibility rules, budget breakdown, mandatory deliverables and templates are in the call document and annexes on the Funding & Tenders Portal: Call fiche DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-10.

Building capacity to deploy the EEHRxF and digital health services and systems to support the rights of citizens and reuse of health data under EHDS

Call summary and context

Call identifier: DIGITAL-2026. Programme: Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) — Accelerating Best Use of Technologies. Type of action: DIGITAL Grants for Financial Support under the DIGITAL Action Grant (Budget-Based) model. Single-stage call; planned opening 21 April 2026; deadline 01 October 2026 (17:00 Brussels time). Total topic budget (indicative): €14,400,000 and part of the overall call budget €24,400,000 for all topics. Project duration: 48 months. The selected project will implement a single multi-work-strand project that provides cascading financial support to third parties (sub-grants) across three work strands focused on EHDS primary and secondary use and on training service providers. The cascading funding mechanism requires the consortium to select and manage sub-grantees (third parties) and to ensure transparency, open calls, and monitoring of sub-grants ¹.

Regulatory and strategic background:This action is designed to support implementation of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation (EU) 2025/327 and the Digital Decade eHealth target. It supports adoption of the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF), the health extension of the DCAT-AP metadata model (HealthDCAT-AP), the obligations for dataset descriptions and data quality and utility labelling for secondary use, and interactions with Health Data Access Bodies (HDABs) and other EU actions such as i2X, QUANTUM, TEHDAS2 and relevant Digital Europe, EU4Health and Horizon activities ¹.

Objectives, scope and expected outcomes

The action is structured as a single project with three separate but integrated work strands. Each strand has expected outcomes, deliverables and KPIs. The overall objective is to build capacity across the health data value chain to implement EHDS primary use (citizen rights and EEHRxF adoption), prepare data for secondary use (dataset descriptions, data quality and utility labelling, integration into HDAB catalogues) and create a trained marketplace of service providers capable of supporting public authorities, healthcare providers and data holders to meet EHDS requirements.

1. 1Work strand 1 (Primary use capacity and EEHRxF adoption): guidance for public authorities and healthcare providers; community maintenance and expansion; large-scale deployment and capacity building for EEHRxF-supporting services and systems. KPI examples: at least 40 sub-grants; reports on each sub-grant; adoption statistics by public authorities and healthcare providers; number of services/systems supporting EEHRxF; number of users and staff trained.
2. 2Work strand 2 (Secondary use readiness and dataset labelling): toolbox for data holders (dataset description, data quality & utility labelling), support for publishing descriptions into HDAB dataset catalogues, organisational and technical arrangements for secondary use. KPI examples: at least 25 sub-grants; number of dataset descriptions and data quality/utility labels created; share integrated into HDAB catalogues.
3. 3Work strand 3 (Training and market development for service providers): development of a training framework and sessions for service providers (especially SMEs), business model and uptake strategy, creation of a community of trained service providers. KPI examples: number of training sessions; number of service providers trained and active; share of SMEs among providers.

Scope of cascading funding:The selected consortium will manage cascaded grants to third parties with a maximum amount of up to €120,000 per third party. The consortium must ensure open, widely published calls (minimum two-month open calls), transparent selection, publication of results and reporting on selected sub-grantees. At least 85% of the EU grant should be allocated to financial support to third parties overall; minimum allocations per strand are indicated (e.g. ≥40% in work strand 1; ≥25% in work strand 2). Third parties receiving financial support must co-finance a minimum of 50% of the total costs of their sub-projects under this topic. The consortium must demonstrate prior experience managing financial support to third parties and capability to operate this cascading mechanism ¹.

Detailed categorisation answers

Eligible Applicant Types

Eligible applicants (to form the project consortium) are legal entities established in eligible countries (EU Member States and countries associated to Digital Europe). Multi-beneficiary applications are mandatory for this topic: minimum 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries. Consortium may include public administrations, national/regional authorities, hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers, EHR system vendors, SMEs, IT consultancies, research institutions, academia, not-for-profit organisations (patients’ organisations, professional associations), and organisations with experience in managing funds to third parties. Affiliated entities, associated partners, subcontractors and other participants may be involved. Natural persons are not eligible except for self-employed natural-person beneficiaries where applicable. International organisations are eligible only in specific limited cases (see call document).

Funding Type

Primary funding mechanism: Grant. Specifically Grants for Financial Support (DIGITAL-GFS) that include cascading grants to third parties (sub-grants). The overarching instrument is a budget-based action grant (DIGITAL Action Grant).

Consortium Requirement

Consortium required: Multi-beneficiary (mandatory). Minimum composition: at least 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries. The application must be multi-beneficiary and include at least one organisation with demonstrated experience in managing financial support to third parties. Consortium agreement is mandatory.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility)

Geographic eligibility: Applicants must be legal entities established in eligible countries: EU Member States and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (EEA/associated). The action should cover a large number of Member States and eligible countries. Participation of entities from non-eligible countries is restricted and subject to call-specific provisions; grants require entities to be validated in the Participant Register and pass legal entity validation by REA.

Target Sector

Primary sectors and themes: health (digital health, EHR systems), data governance and secondary use of health data, interoperability (EEHRxF), data quality and metadata (HealthDCAT-AP), digital public services, capacity building and training for SMEs and service providers, health data infrastructures and secure processing environments. Cross-cutting areas: ICT, standards, data sharing, cybersecurity and legal/ethical compliance under EHDS and GDPR.

Mentioned Countries

Explicit countries: EU Member States (all). Region: EU and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (EEA/associated). No single non-EU country is specifically listed in the topic text beyond eligibility via associated countries; proposals must respect call eligibility for participating countries.

Project Stage

Expected project maturity: development, validation, demonstration and deployment. Work covers capacity-building and implementation activities (deployment of services/systems, conversion to EEHRxF, dataset descriptions and labelling, organisational and technical readiness for secondary use). The project will also include training and commercialization/market-readiness work for service providers.

Funding Amount

Topic budget indicative: €14,400,000 for this EHDS topic. The selected project will manage cascaded grants up to €120,000 per third party. The overall call budget (both topics) is €24,400,000. Expected number of grants: topic expects to fund one project for this topic (consortium managing cascaded grants).

Application Type

Submission method: Open single-stage call (open call). Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal Submission System. Paper submissions are not accepted. Applicants must register organisations in the Participant Register and complete Application Form Part A online and Part B uploaded as PDF; templates are provided in the Submission System.

Nature of Support

Beneficiaries will receive monetary support (grant funding) and must provide financial support to third parties (sub-grants). Non-monetary support (training, guidance, toolboxes, communities) is also expected as project outputs, but primary deliverable is financial support to third parties and associated services/outputs.

Application Stages

Number of evaluation stages: 1 (single-stage submission) followed by evaluation by an evaluation committee with independent experts; successful proposals invited to grant preparation and signature. Grant preparation includes legal entity validation, financial capacity checks, possible prefinancing guarantees and final adjustments prior to signature.

Success Rates

Success rates: not specified in the call. Given a single expected grant for this topic and a topic budget of €14.4M, competition will be strong; applicants should assume low numerical success probability and prepare high-quality multi-country consortia aligned to the call objectives. Reserve lists may be established.

Co-funding Requirement

For the cascading third-party recipients: recipients must co-finance at least 50% of the total costs of the sub-projects. For the main consortium grant, the action is 100% funded by the Digital Europe Programme (Grants for Financial Support have 100% funding rate for the consortium), but the beneficiaries must use the grant in line with budget rules; the sub-recipients' co-financing is mandatory and must be described in the call-for-sub-grants design and selection criteria. The Grant for Financial Support requires that the consortium allocate at least 85% of the EU grant to financial support to third parties and respect minimum shares per work strand.

Eligibility, administrative and implementation requirements

Key admissibility and eligibility: proposals are limited to 70 pages for Part B. Applicants must comply with admissibility rules (submission before deadline, use of Portal templates), eligibility for countries (see Participant Register), consortium composition (minimum 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries), and include at least one organisation with proven experience of managing financial support to third parties. Financial and operational capacity checks will be performed during grant preparation; public bodies are exempt from some financial checks. Ethics and security reviews will apply where relevant. Specific topic conditions: multi-beneficiary mandatory; equipment reimbursement option: depreciation and, for listed equipment, full costs allowed per call conditions; access rights to ensure continuity and interoperability obligations apply for this topic; some award-criterion parts are not applicable (see call).

1. 1Admissibility: Part B page limits and layout as in application form; proposals exceeding page limits will have excess pages disregarded.
2. 2Eligible countries: EU Member States and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme (see call document for the full list).
3. 3Other eligibility: minimum consortium composition: 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries; consortium must include at least one organisation with experience in managing financial support to third parties.
4. 4Financial & operational capacity: assessed during evaluation/grant preparation. Public bodies and grants <= €60,000 are usually exempt from full financial capacity checks.
5. 5Ethics & security: projects must comply with EU, national and international law, GDPR; ethics review mandatory where applicable; projects involving classified information require security scrutiny and may require facility security clearance.

Formal evaluation and award criteria:Award criteria and scoring: three award criteria — Relevance (max 5), Implementation (max 5), Impact (max 5). Individual thresholds: 3/5 per criterion; overall threshold 10/15. Certain parts of the award criteria (digital technology supply chain, overcoming lack of market finance, environmental sustainability) may be not applicable for this specific topic (see call). Evaluation is one-stage and proposals passing thresholds will be ranked and invited to grant preparation. Tie-break rules and portfolio balancing criteria are in the call.

Budget, costs, funding and financial arrangements

The topic budget (€14.4M) is intended to support one consortium that will distribute most of its funding as financial support to third parties (sub-grants). Maximum third-party grant per recipient: €120,000. Minimum shares of EU grant to sub-grants: at least 85% overall; at least 40% allocated to work strand 1 and at least 25% to work strand 2. Recipients of sub-grants must co-finance minimum 50% of total eligible costs of their activities. The main project grant is budget-based mixed actual cost (actual costs plus unit cost/flat-rate elements as applicable). Indirect costs are reimbursed at 7% flat-rate of eligible direct costs (A-D). Personnel costs may include average personnel unit costs where authorised; equipment cost rules differ per topic (depreciation, full-cost options). VAT non-deductible is eligible subject to conditions. Final grant amount will be calculated based on eligible costs and may be reduced for non-compliance.

Application templates, forms and major document requirements

Applications must be submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal. Part A is completed online in the Submission System. Part B (technical description) uses the standard DEP Application Form template (downloadable in the Submission System) and must be uploaded as PDF; maximum 70 pages for Part B. Annexes required include the list of previous projects (highlighting experience managing financial support to third parties) and other mandatory annexes as specified in the Submission System. The Grant Agreement will follow the DEP Model Grant Agreement (DEP MGA) and specific Annexes (Annex 1: Description of the action; Annex 2: Estimated budget; Annex 3: Accession forms; Annex 5: Specific rules).

Suggested Part B structure (based on DEP template and call expectations):1. Project summary / Abstract; 2. Relevance — detailed mapping to call objectives, EHDS Regulation, EEHRxF, HealthDCAT-AP and other EU actions; 3. Implementation — maturity, cascading mechanism design, selection criteria and transparency for sub-grants, procurement/subcontracting strategy, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation; 4. Impact — expected outcomes/deliverables, dissemination and exploitation plan, KPIs and measurement methods; 5. Work plan and budget — WPs for consortium management, work strands 1-3, cascading call operations, staff effort, purchases and equipment, financial support to third parties split by strand; 6. Ethics and security; 7. Risk management; 8. Declarations and annexes (experience list, CVs if required, proof of previous management of financial support to third parties).

Templates and mandatory application evidence

Mandatory documentation and templates referenced in the call: Application Form Part A (online), Application Form Part B (DEP template), Annexes templates (list of previous projects, details on management of financial support to third parties), DEP Model Grant Agreement (MGA), DEP Work Programmes, DEP Regulation references, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual and Terms & Conditions. The consortia must be registered in the Participant Register (PICs) and complete legal entity validation during grant preparation.

Selection and management of sub-grants (cascading funding mechanism)

The selected consortium must design and implement open calls to third parties following EU standards of transparency, equal treatment and confidentiality. Calls must be published on the Funding & Tenders Portal and consortium websites, remain open at least two months, and include clear eligibility, selection and award criteria, maximum amounts and co-financing rules. The consortium will select, coordinate and monitor sub-grantees, require sub-grantee reporting and publish results. Calls and lists of awarded third parties must be published and include project descriptions and countries. The consortium is accountable for the management and results of all sub-grants and must provide reporting, evaluation and audits as required by the granting authority.

Key obligations relating to third-party funding:Third-party calls must: be open and widely advertised; run for at least two months; be published on the Portal and consortium websites; ensure objective selection criteria; publish outcomes; provide a clear European dimension and ensure the sub-grants support the EHDS objectives. Third-party recipients must co-finance 50% of costs and comply with conditions in the call and Grant Agreement (e.g. ethics, data protection, reporting).

KPIs and mandatory deliverables

Applicants must propose clear measurable KPIs and provide measurement methods for expected outcomes and deliverables. The call specifies mandatory KPIs per work strand (examples listed in the call). Mandatory deliverables for the action include an initial dissemination and exploitation deliverable within the first six months and specific reports and deliverables tied to the implementation of cascading grants; these will be included in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement and managed through the Portal Grant Management System.

1. 1Work strand 1: At least 40 sub-grants awarded; reports on each sub-grant; numbers of public authorities/healthcare providers adopting guidance; number of EEHRxF-supporting services/systems; users and staff trained.
2. 2Work strand 2: At least 25 sub-grants awarded; number of data holders actively using the toolbox; number of dataset descriptions and data quality/utility labels created; share integrated into HDAB catalogues.
3. 3Work strand 3: Number of training sessions; number and share of service providers trained; share of trainees actively supporting participants in strands 1 and 2; SME participation share.

Ethics, security and legal considerations

All proposals must comply with high ethical standards and relevant EU and national law (including GDPR). Proposals involving personal data, clinical data, AI systems or other sensitive areas will require ethics self-assessment and review; actions involving classified information must undergo security scrutiny and may require facility security clearances. Projects must ensure compliance with EHDS safeguards for primary and secondary use, pseudonymisation/anonymisation where required, secure processing environments for secondary use, and alignment with HealthDCAT-AP for dataset descriptions and HDAB catalogue integration.

Standards and technology references to use:Relevant standards and technical references: EEHRxF for EHR exchange; HealthDCAT-AP (health extension of DCAT-AP) for dataset descriptions and metadata (including access rights classification: public, restricted, non-public); HealthData@EU dataset catalogues and validator services; QUANTUM project outputs on data quality and utility labelling; interoperability and conformity assessment elements of EHDS; secure processing environment specifications for secondary use; DCAT-AP, CSVW, ODRL and DQV where applicable. Projects should reference call annexes and DEP MGA terms for IPR, data management and access rights obligations ¹.

How to prepare a competitive proposal

Key elements to maximise competitiveness: build a balanced multi-country consortium with the mandated minimum of 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 eligible countries; include at least one partner with proven experience in managing financial support to third parties; present a clear cascading funding design (open calls, selection criteria, timelines, sub-grantee support, monitoring and evaluation); provide concrete plans for large-scale deployment and capacity building for EEHRxF adoption across Member States; include clear toolbox specifications and piloting plans for dataset descriptions and labelling aligned with HealthDCAT-AP and QUANTUM outputs; detail the training framework and business model for service providers (including SME uptake); propose measurable KPIs and monitoring methods; explain complementarity with existing EU actions (i2X, QUANTUM, EEHRxF Support Centre, TEHDAS2, etc.); demonstrate budget realism and distribution with high proportion of funds to sub-grants and ensure sub-grantee co-financing model.

Application process summary and timeline

Call opens 21 April 2026. Deadline 01 October 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Evaluation period October–December 2026. Information on evaluation results January 2027. Grant Agreement signature targeted June 2027. Submission via Funding & Tenders Portal; 2-step submission process: organisation registration (PIC) and online Part A; prepare Part B using DEP template and upload with annexes. Use the Online Manual, Portal IT Helpdesk and call-specific Q&A for support.

Contact and help resources:For submission IT issues contact the IT Helpdesk via the Portal; non-IT questions related to the call should be addressed to the contact indicated on the topic page (Write to us link). Use the Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, DEP call document and Model Grant Agreement (DEP MGA) to guide preparation. Partner search announcements can be published on the Portal by LEARs, account administrators or persons with a public Person profile.

Quick reference: Key facts at a glance

1. 1Call ID: DIGITAL-2026
2. 2Programme: Digital Europe (DIGITAL) — Accelerating Best Use of Technologies
3. 3Type: Grants for Financial Support (DIGITAL-GFS); budget-based action grant
4. 4Topic budget (indicative): €14,400,000
5. 5Max third-party sub-grant: €120,000 per recipient
6. 6Consortium minimum: 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries
7. 7Submission: single-stage via Funding & Tenders Portal; Part B max 70 pages
8. 8Opening: 21 April 2026 — Deadline: 01 October 2026 (17:00 Brussels time)
9. 9Project duration: 48 months
10. 10Funding rate for consortium: 100% (co-financing obligations apply for recipients of sub-grants: minimum 50% co-financing)

Summary: What this opportunity is about and how to explain it

This Digital Europe call finances a single multi-work-strand project intended to build EU-wide capacity to implement the European Health Data Space for primary and secondary uses of electronic health data. The consortium will receive a budget-based action grant and must operate a cascading financial support mechanism (sub-grants) to third parties (public authorities, healthcare providers and data holders) with a high allocation of funds to support local deployments, dataset description and labelling, cataloguing in HDAB catalogues and training/market creation for service providers (especially SMEs). The action seeks to accelerate adoption of the EEHRxF, ensure dataset discoverability and quality through HealthDCAT-AP alignment and data quality labels, and create a sustainable community of public actors and service providers able to implement EHDS obligations. Applicants must form a strong international consortium (minimum 5 beneficiaries from 5 eligible countries), show prior experience managing financial support to third parties, design robust open calls and selection processes for sub-grants, and provide rigorous KPIs, monitoring and dissemination plans. Legal, ethical and security compliance (including GDPR and EHDS safeguards) are mandatory. The selected consortium will be responsible for selecting, coordinating, monitoring and reporting on the portfolio of cascaded grants ensuring coherent execution and maximising uptake across Member States and priority EHDS data categories ¹.

Footnotes

1. 1Primary source: Call document and annexes for DIGITAL-2026 available on the Funding & Tenders Portal and the Digital Europe Work Programme 2025-2027 (Call fiche and DEP Call Document). See also HealthDCAT-AP Release 5 documentation, QUANTUM project outputs and HaDEA capacity building calls referenced in the topic description.

EU Funding Opportunity: DIGITAL-2026-BESTUSE-10-EHDS

Overview

This call under the Digital Europe Programme seeks a single consortium to manage a portfolio of cascading grants across three work strands to build capacity for deploying the European Electronic Health Record Exchange Format (EEHRxF) and digital health services supporting citizens rights and health data reuse under the European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation (EU) 2025/327. The action fosters an interconnected healthcare ecosystem by supporting public authorities, healthcare providers, data holders, and service providers, particularly SMEs, in implementing EHDS primary and secondary use requirements.

Key Dates:Planned opening: 21 April 2026. Deadline: 1 October 2026, 17:00 Brussels time. Single-stage submission. Expected project duration: 48 months.

Budget:€14.4 million total budget for one project. Grants for Financial Support (GFS) with 100% funding rate for the consortium. Cascading grants to third parties up to €120,000 each, with recipients co-financing at least 50% of their costs. Minimum 85% of EU grant allocated to financial support to third parties.

Objectives and Work Strands

The action addresses EHDS implementation through three work strands implemented via cascading grants.

Work Strand 1: Primary Use Capacity Building

• Provide guidance for public authorities and healthcare providers to deploy EEHRxF-compliant digital health services supporting citizens rights (access, portability, rectification, restriction).
• Support large-scale deployment and capacity building (training, process reengineering).
• Maintain/expand community of public authorities and providers.
• Minimum KPIs: At least 40 sub-grants; reports on each; number of entities adopting guidance; EEHRxF-supported services/users; trained staff.

Work Strand 2: Secondary Use Capacity Building

• Develop toolbox for data holders to create dataset descriptions (HealthDCAT-AP extension), data quality/utility labels, and secondary use readiness.
• Support publication in HDAB catalogues and organisational/technical arrangements.
• Establish/expand data holders community.
• Minimum KPIs: At least 25 sub-grants; toolbox users; dataset descriptions/labels created; HDAB integration share.

Work Strand 3: Service Provider Training

• Develop training framework/sessions for SMEs/service providers to support EEHRxF adoption, EHDS services, dataset labelling.
• Create business model/uptake strategy; build trained providers community.
• Complement projects like EEHRxF Support Centre, i2X, QUANTUM.
• KPIs: Training sessions; trained providers by country/type/SME share; active support in strands 1-2.

Eligibility and Consortium Requirements

Legal entities from EU Member States (including OCTs), EEA countries, and associated countries. Minimum 5 independent beneficiaries from 5 different eligible countries. Multi-beneficiary mandatory. Consortium must include at least one entity with proven experience managing financial support to third parties. Proposals limited to 70 pages (Part B). Eligible countries detailed in call document section 6.

Evaluation and Award Criteria

Evaluation: October-December 2026. Grant agreement signature: June 2027. Award criteria emphasise alignment with EHDS objectives, implementation capacity (including cascading grants), and impact on eHealth targets/Digital Decade.

Funding and Financial Set-up

Type of Action:DIGITAL Grants for Financial Support (GFS). Budget-based Action Grant (DIGITAL-AG). 100% funding rate. Equipment: depreciation + full cost for listed items.

Payments:Prefinancing(s), interim, balance. Minimum 85% to third parties; 40% to strand 1, 25% to strand 2.

Key Complementary Projects

• i2X Capacity Building for Secondary Use Link Title
• QUANTUM Link Title
• EEHRxF Support Centre, MyHealth@MyHands, Xt-EHR, TEHDAS2, x-Share, SHAIPED

Action must cover large number of Member States, all EHDS priority data categories, complement Digital Europe/EU4Health/Horizon Europe projects. Contributes to Digital Decade eHealth target (100% EHR access by 2030) and European Data Union.

Application Process

1. 1Register in Participant Register (PIC required).
2. 2Submit via Funding & Tenders Portal: Part A (online), Part B (max 70 pages PDF), annexes (previous projects list).
3. 3Include list of previous projects demonstrating cascading grant management experience.
4. 4Ethics/security self-assessments in Part A.

Detailed conditions (admissibility, eligibility, financial/operational capacity, exclusion) in call document sections 5-7. Model Grant Agreement: DIGITAL-AG. Apply via Funding & Tenders Portal. Call fiche: Call Fiche¹.

Risks and Considerations

Consortium must demonstrate cascading grant expertise. Covers large Member States share, all EHDS data categories. Complementary to ongoing projects; avoid overlap. Detailed conditions in call document (admissibility, eligibility, evaluation, legal/financial set-up). No profit allowed; strict eligibility rules.

Footnotes

1. 1Official call fiche and work programme available via EU Funding & Tenders Portal.