Non-thematic development actions by SMEs

The European Defence Fund (EDF) is launching a call for proposals titled "Non-thematic development actions by SMEs" (EDF-2025-LS-DA-SME-NT). This initiative is specifically aimed at fostering innovation within the defence sector, encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions and technologies. The application process commenced on February 18, 2025, and submissions are accepted until October 16, 2025.

The eligible applicants for this grant are exclusively SMEs located in EU Member States and EDF-associated countries. The funding will be provided as lump sum grants, with a total budget of €33 million allocated for this call. Each project can receive up to €6 million, covering activities that include design, prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and efficiency enhancements in the defence sector.

Collaboration is emphasized, as applicants are required to form consortia of at least two SMEs from different EU Member States or EDF-associated countries. While the nature of support is financial through grants, co-funding may be necessary, typically requiring a contribution from the applicants amounting to 20% of the overall project cost.

Proposals can address a broad spectrum of defence applications, focusing on areas such as operational efficiency, equipment, infrastructure, surveillance systems, and digital solutions. The call is structured as a single-stage open application, encouraging innovative ideas involving adaptation of civil technologies for defence purposes.

The precise success rates for this call are not stated, indicating potential variability in competition among applicants. Resources and support mechanisms are available via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, where applicants can access guidelines, submission templates, and additional documentation necessary for their proposals.

Overall, the EDF-2025-LS-DA-SME-NT aims to enhance the innovation capacity of European SMEs and strengthen defence supply chains within the EU by financially supporting development actions in the defence sector.

The European Defence Fund (EDF) is offering a call for proposals entitled "Non-thematic development actions by SMEs" (EDF-2025-LS-DA-SME-NT). This call falls under the EDF-LS EDF Lump Sum Grants action type and uses the EDF Lump Sum Grant [EDF-AG-LS] Model Grant Agreement. The call is currently open for submission with a single-stage deadline model. The opening date was February 18, 2025, and the deadline for submissions is October 16, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The call aims to achieve innovative, rapid, and cost-effective solutions for defence applications, ground-breaking concepts, enhanced innovation capacity across Europe by involving SMEs, future market creation for SMEs, and contribution to the development of EDTIB ecosystems and strengthening of EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ defence supply chains.

The objective of this call is to encourage innovative SMEs to transform technology and research results into defence products efficiently, potentially by adapting civil technologies or addressing hybrid warfare.

The scope of the proposals must include innovative defence products, solutions, and technologies that improve readiness, deployability, reliability, safety, and sustainability of forces in defence tasks and missions. This can include operations, equipment, infrastructure, energy solutions, surveillance systems, or digital solutions, addressing any area of interest for defence. The call also welcomes proposals for add-on development actions that adapt solutions originally developed for civil applications, provided the applicants have the rights to access and commercialise the results.

The following types of activities are eligible: Activities that aim to increase interoperability and resilience, studies such as feasibility studies, design of a defence product, system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies. Activities that aim to create, underpin and improve knowledge, products and technologies, including disruptive technologies, which can achieve significant effects in the area of defence (generating knowledge) are not eligible. Proposals must address at least one activity among design, system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and increasing efficiency. A clear work breakdown structure linking tasks to eligible activities and descriptions of criteria to assess work package completion are required. The call is open to any technology development for defence, with proposals describing targeted functionalities and progress measurement means.

The admissibility conditions include proposal page limits and layout as described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System. Eligible countries are described in section 6 of the call document, along with other eligible conditions. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are detailed in section 7 of the call document. Submission and evaluation processes are described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual. Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are in section 9 of the call document. The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is in section 4 of the call document. The legal and financial setup of the grants is described in section 10 of the call document.

The call document and annexes include the call document itself, application form templates (Standard application form (EDF), Detailed budget table (EDF LS DA), Participant information (EDF), List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources (EDF), Cofinancing declaration (EDF DA, DA LS AND ASAP), Actual indirect cost methodology declaration (EDF), Harmonised capability declaration (EDF DA AND DA LS), Declaration on procurement intent and common specifications (EDF DA AND DA LS), Ownership control declaration, PRS declaration (EDF)), Model Grant Agreements (EDF, ASAP and EDIRPA Lump Sum MGA), and additional documents (EDF Annual Work Programme, EDF Regulation 2021/697, EDF Programme Security Instruction (PSI), 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 total budget for this topic in 2025 is 33,000,000 EUR. The call follows a single-stage submission process.

There are 48 partner search announcements available. LEARs, Account Administrators, and self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics.

To start the submission process, applicants must access the Electronic Submission Service via the submission button, confirm their choice of action type and model grant agreement, and log in to the Funding & Tenders Portal to access existing draft proposals.

For help, applicants can contact DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu, consult the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, attend EDF Info-days 2025, contact the IT Helpdesk, or use the Online Manual.

In summary, this European Defence Fund call encourages innovative SMEs to develop defence products and technologies by adapting civil applications or addressing hybrid warfare. It provides funding for activities such as design, prototyping, testing, qualification, and certification, with a focus on improving the readiness and sustainability of defence forces. The call has a budget of 33 million EUR and follows a single-stage submission process with a deadline of October 16, 2025. Applicants must adhere to specific eligibility criteria and proposal guidelines, and various resources are available to support them throughout the application process.

Eligible Applicant Types: This call is specifically targeted towards innovative SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). Research organizations can participate in any EDF call, except for the LS-DA-SME unless they are also an SME.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically EDF Lump Sum Grants (EDF-LS).

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a consortium is required or if single applicants are allowed. However, the presence of a "Partner search announcements" section and the mention of a "Consortium Agreement" suggest that collaborative projects involving multiple partners are anticipated and likely encouraged.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The call is part of the European Defence Fund (EDF). Therefore, eligibility is likely restricted to entities established in EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries. The text mentions that all applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities (public or private bodies) and be established in one of the EDF eligible countries.

Target Sector: The target sector is defence. The call focuses on innovative defence products, solutions, and technologies across any area of interest for defence, including operations, equipment, infrastructure, energy solutions, surveillance systems, and digital solutions. It also welcomes proposals for adapting solutions originally developed for civil applications to the defence sector.

Mentioned Countries: The text explicitly mentions EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries. It also mentions Norway as a country where entities can be based and still be eligible under certain conditions. Ukraine is mentioned as a country where entities cannot be beneficiaries to a project.

Project Stage: The call supports development actions, which suggests projects beyond the initial research phase. Eligible activities include design, system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and increasing efficiency, indicating a focus on projects at the development, validation, and demonstration stages. The call also mentions technology demonstrators at TRL 6 as eligible activities.

Funding Amount: The total budget for the topic EDF-2025-LS-DA-SME-NT is EUR 33,000,000. The indicative number of grants is not specified in the provided text.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, as indicated by the "Call for proposals" designation and the availability of submission information. The deadline model is single-stage.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage.

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants is not specified in the provided text, so the success rate cannot be determined.

Co-funding Requirement: The text mentions a "Cofinancing declaration (EDF DA, DA LS AND ASAP)" among the application form templates, suggesting that co-funding may be required.

Summary:

This European Defence Fund (EDF) call, specifically EDF-2025-LS-DA-SME-NT, aims to foster innovation in the defence sector by encouraging innovative SMEs to develop cost-effective defence products and technologies. With a total budget of EUR 33 million, the call supports development actions encompassing design, system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and efficiency improvements. The call welcomes proposals that address any area of interest for defence, including adapting civil technologies for defence applications. Eligible applicants must be SMEs established in EU Member States or EDF Associated Countries. The funding is provided as a lump sum grant, and the application process is single-stage with a deadline of October 16, 2025. While not explicitly stated, collaboration is encouraged, and co-funding may be required. This initiative seeks to enhance the innovation capacity of European SMEs, facilitate their access to defence markets, and contribute to the development of robust defence supply chains within the EU.