Data Space for Manufacturing

This grant opportunity, titled "Data Space for Manufacturing," is part of the AI Continent initiative under the Digital Europe Programme. The core goal is to enhance the data space for the manufacturing sector by establishing infrastructure for collecting and sharing high-quality industrial data. This initiative aims to support three major data collection projects, each receiving approximately EUR 3 million in co-funding from the Digital Europe Programme, with a total budget of EUR 9 million allocated for this call.

Eligible applicants include various legal entities established in EU Member States or countries associated with the Digital Europe Programme, encompassing manufacturing companies, AI developers, research institutions, and service providers. A consortium of at least three independent entities from three different eligible countries is required. Projects should focus on real-world applications within the manufacturing sector, particularly in automotive, chemical, aeronautics, and energy-intensive industries.

The funding award will support solutions for collecting large datasets to facilitate training generative AI models, addressing challenges such as predictive maintenance, process automation, supply chain management, and sustainability. Projects must demonstrate collaboration with AI Factories and incorporate data governance frameworks ensuring secure data access while respecting data holders' rights.

The application process is a single-stage submission, with the call opening on November 4, 2025, and closing on March 3, 2026. Submission will be electronic, and the evaluation will focus on the quality and viability of proposals addressing real-world needs.

Financial sustainability is emphasized, requiring projects to establish sound financial models for the long-term operation of Common European Data Spaces beyond the funding period. Overall, the initiative seeks to bolster Europe's industrial competitiveness through enhanced data utilization while adhering to EU regulations and principles.

This EU grant opportunity, titled "Data Space for Manufacturing," falls under the AI Continent (DIGITAL-2026-DSM-AI-09) call within the DIGITAL program. It is a DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Actions type of action, utilizing a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG] Model Grant Agreement. The deadline model is single-stage.

The planned opening date for submissions is November 4, 2025, and the deadline for submission is March 3, 2026, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcomes of awarded proposals include:

Solutions for collecting large, high-quality data from real industrial environments across different manufacturing systems and sectors.
Solutions that enable access to these large datasets for training Generative AI models that address real-world industrial needs and challenges, ideally using trusted third parties to host data and provide training compute resources for authorized AI developers.
Agreements with specific AI factories that provide information on available datasets and the conditions for their use in training AI models.
An interoperability and governance framework for manufacturing data spaces, including those at the national level, to ensure that mechanisms for aggregating data for AI training can be adopted at the EU level.

The primary objective of this action is to support the continued adoption and expansion of the data space for manufacturing. It aims to develop legal, technical, and business solutions to pool sufficient data and enable authorized AI developers to have direct or indirect data access to train generative AI models specifically for the manufacturing sector. This initiative seeks to reinforce the role of the data space for manufacturing as a major productivity enhancement and collaboration mechanism within the EU.

The scope of this initiative involves supporting up to three data-collection projects, each receiving around EUR 3 million in co-funding from Digital Europe. These projects will focus on manufacturing use cases to unlock advanced AI models, such as those used for predictive maintenance, process automation, supply chain management, product design and development, and sustainability in production. The goal is to increase productivity in industrial environments, including purchases, logistics, resource planning, and production halls.

These projects aim to collect massive, high-quality data from real industrial environments, ensuring proper labelling where relevant, that could be used to train or finetune generative AI models for the manufacturing sector. The data collection must be relevant for developing AI applications that can significantly benefit major EU manufacturing sectors, such as automotive, chemical, aeronautics, and energy-intensive industries. The project proposal must clearly identify the target sectors, the stakeholders, and have preliminary agreements about the intended data exchange.

The data-collection projects will develop both technical and business solutions to enable authorized AI developers to have direct or indirect data access and utilize these large datasets while fully respecting the data holders' control over their data. Each data-collection project should propose clear use cases to ensure alignment with real-world needs and challenges. Ideally, the AI developers interested in using such data should be already identified in the proposal.

The proposal will also ensure technical and legal solutions to make the generated datasets available to users of AI Factories. This will also enable AI Factories to leverage these datasets for the development of AI applications. To this extent, the inclusion of AI Factories in the project will be considered an advantage.

Consortia are encouraged to use data intermediaries, as outlined in Chapter III of the Data Governance Act, or other appropriate mechanisms to manage the secure access to and processing of these datasets.

The initiative must also work in close partnership with the Data Spaces Support Centre to ensure alignment and interoperability with the broader ecosystem of data spaces implemented with the support of the Digital Europe Programme. Additionally, the action must coordinate with AI Factories to ensure that the datasets generated can be effectively used in conjunction with data already available facilitating in this way collaborative approaches for the development of advanced AI models.

Financial sustainability from the outset is crucial in the development of Common European Data Spaces to ensure their long-term viability and effectiveness. By establishing a sound financial model, developers can secure the resources necessary to adapt to evolving technological landscapes and user needs, ensuring that data spaces remain robust and beneficial over time.

The conditions for this call are as follows:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout are described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries are described in section 6 of the call document.
3. Other Eligible Conditions are described in section 6 of the call document.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in section 7 of the call document.
5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.
5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in section 9 of the call document.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement are described in section 4 of the call document.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants are described in section 10 of the call document.

The call document and annexes include:

CALL DOCUMENT
Application form templates:
Standard application form (DEP) available in the Submission System
Ownership control declaration
Model Grant Agreements (MGA):
DEP MGA
Additional documents:
DEP Work Programmes
DEP Regulation 2021/964
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
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The budget overview for the topic DIGITAL-2026-DSM-AI-09-DS-MANUFACTUR-STEP - DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Actions is EUR 9,000,000 for the year 2026. This is a single-stage call, with an opening date of November 4, 2025, and a deadline of March 3, 2026. The indicative number of grants is around 3.

There are 6 partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

The submission system is planned to open on the date stated in the topic header.

For support, applicants are advised to read all provisions carefully before preparing their application. Contact information is provided for help related to the call, the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, the IT Helpdesk, and the Online Manual.

In summary, this grant opportunity aims to bolster the data space for manufacturing by funding projects that collect and share high-quality industrial data to train AI models. It seeks to foster collaboration between manufacturers, AI developers, and AI Factories, while ensuring data governance and financial sustainability. The call encourages the development of legal, technical, and business solutions to facilitate data pooling and access, ultimately enhancing productivity and innovation within the EU manufacturing sector. The initiative is particularly interested in projects that address real-world industrial needs, involve key manufacturing sectors, and establish clear agreements for data exchange.

Eligible Applicant Types: The call is a DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Action, suggesting that SMEs are the primary target applicant type. However, the call encourages consortia, and the inclusion of AI Factories is considered an advantage, implying that larger enterprises, research institutions, and other relevant organizations can also participate as part of a consortium. The mention of LEARs (Legal Entity Appointed Representatives) also suggests that a variety of legal entities can apply, provided they meet the eligibility criteria outlined in the call document.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG]. This means that the funding will be provided as a grant based on the project's budget.

Consortium Requirement: While not explicitly mandatory, the call encourages consortia. The description mentions the importance of collaboration and the inclusion of various stakeholders, such as AI developers and AI Factories. Consortia are also encouraged to use data intermediaries, as outlined in Chapter III of the Data Governance Act. Therefore, while a single applicant might be possible, a consortium is strongly preferred.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The call is part of the Digital Europe Programme, which typically targets entities established in the EU member states, associated countries, and potentially other countries as defined in the specific call conditions. The objective of reinforcing the data space for manufacturing as a major productivity enhancement and collaboration mechanism within the EU suggests a focus on EU-based beneficiaries. The eligible countries are described in section 6 of the call document.

Target Sector: The primary target sector is manufacturing, with a strong focus on leveraging data and AI to improve productivity and innovation. Specific sub-sectors mentioned include automotive, chemical, aeronautics, and energy-intensive industries. The call also targets the AI sector, particularly AI developers and AI Factories, to foster the development and deployment of AI solutions for manufacturing. The call also targets the data space sector, with a focus on developing legal, technical and business solutions to pool sufficient data.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the focus is on the EU, as the initiative aims to reinforce the role of the data space for manufacturing within the EU. The call is part of the Digital Europe Programme, which generally includes EU member states and associated countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on development and demonstration. The call aims to support data-collection projects that will develop both technical and business solutions to enable authorized AI developers to have direct or indirect data access. The projects should propose clear use cases to ensure alignment with real-world needs and challenges, suggesting a move beyond basic research towards practical application and validation. The initiative also aims to support the continued uptake and further expansion of the data space for manufacturing, indicating a stage of scaling up existing efforts.

Funding Amount: The initiative will support up to three data-collection projects, with around EUR 3 million co-funding from Digital Europe each. Therefore, the funding amount is approximately €3 million per project. The total budget for the topic is EUR 9,000,000.

Application Type: The deadline model is single-stage, meaning that applicants submit a full proposal in one go. The planned opening date is 04 November 2025, and the deadline date is 03 March 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant. The call is a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based, indicating that the funding will be provided to cover eligible project costs.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage. Applicants submit a complete proposal by the deadline, which is then evaluated.

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants is 3, and the budget is EUR 9,000,000. The success rate cannot be determined exactly from the provided text, but given the competitive nature of EU funding, it is likely to be in the 10 to 39% range or lower.

Co-funding Requirement: The call mentions around EUR 3 million co-funding from Digital Europe each, which implies that co-funding is required. The exact percentage or amount of co-funding required from the applicants is not specified in the provided text, but it is a factor to consider.

This opportunity, titled "Data Space for Manufacturing," is a call for proposals under the Digital Europe Programme, specifically targeting the AI Continent initiative. The primary goal is to bolster the data space for the manufacturing sector by fostering the development of legal, technical, and business solutions that enable the pooling of data and provide authorized AI developers with access to train generative AI models. The initiative aims to reinforce the role of the data space as a key mechanism for productivity enhancement and collaboration within the EU manufacturing landscape.

The call will support up to three data-collection projects, each receiving around EUR 3 million in co-funding from Digital Europe. These projects should focus on manufacturing use cases and aim to unlock advanced AI models for applications such as predictive maintenance, process automation, supply chain management, product design and development, and sustainability in production. The projects are expected to collect massive, high-quality data from real industrial environments, ensuring proper labelling where relevant, to train or finetune generative AI models.

The data collection must be relevant to major EU manufacturing sectors, including automotive, chemical, aeronautics, and energy-intensive industries. Project proposals should clearly identify the target sectors, stakeholders, and have preliminary agreements about the intended data exchange. The projects should also develop technical and business solutions to enable authorized AI developers to have direct or indirect data access while respecting data holders' control.

The call encourages consortia to include AI Factories and to use data intermediaries as outlined in the Data Governance Act. The initiative must also work in close partnership with the Data Spaces Support Centre to ensure alignment and interoperability with the broader ecosystem of data spaces. Financial sustainability is a key consideration, and projects should establish sound financial models to ensure long-term viability.

The application process is single-stage, with a planned opening date of 04 November 2025 and a deadline of 03 March 2026. Applicants should carefully review the call document and annexes, including the standard application form, model grant agreements, and relevant EU regulations. The call aims to support the development and demonstration of data-driven AI solutions for the manufacturing sector, ultimately contributing to increased productivity, innovation, and sustainability within the EU.