Non-thematic research actions by SMEs and research organisations

The European Defence Fund (EDF) is offering a grant opportunity under its 2025 Work Programme, specifically aimed at innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and research organizations. This opportunity, titled EDF-2025-LS-RA-SMERO-NT, focuses on non-thematic research actions designed to stimulate innovation in the defence sector through lump sum grants. The primary goal is to foster the development of innovative technologies and solutions that can enhance the readiness and sustainability of defence forces.

Eligible applicants include SMEs and research organizations based in the EU Member States and Norway, although the detailed call documents clarify that applicants must be legal entities within these jurisdictions. Notably, while the EDF typically encourages consortia, this specific call may allow single applicants, as no explicit consortium requirement is mentioned.

The total budget allocated for this call is €34 million, with individual grants expected to fall within a variable range, potentially between €200,000 and €1 million. The application process is a single-stage open call, with submissions due by October 16, 2025. Proposals advanced must address innovative defence technologies and can include adaptations of civilian applications for military use, emphasizing areas such as energy resilience, surveillance, and digital solutions.

Although a co-funding requirement is not explicitly specified, the funding via lump sum grants generally covers all eligible project costs, which means applicants won't need to secure additional financing. The call encourages collaborative developments, suggesting an environment where partnerships might be beneficial even if they aren't mandated.

Eligible activities under this grant focus on generating and integrating knowledge, conducting studies, and designing defence products, while activities like prototyping, testing, qualification, and certification are explicitly excluded from eligibility. Proposals must not solely consist of studies and need to demonstrate a clear work breakdown structure linked to the eligible activities.

Interested parties are encouraged to review further documentation and apply through the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. They can access additional guidance, including FAQs, the online manual, and contact services for inquiries. The aim of this EDF call is to bolster defence innovation capacity across Europe, strengthen supply chains, and prepare for future defence challenges.

This is a call for proposals under the European Defence Fund (EDF) focusing on research actions involving SMEs and research organizations, implemented through lump sum grants. The call, titled EDF-2025-LS-RA-SMERO-NT, aims to foster innovative and cost-effective solutions for defence applications, ground-breaking concepts, and enhanced innovation capacity across Europe by involving SMEs. It also seeks to create future markets for SMEs and strengthen EU Member States' and EDF Associated Countries' defence supply chains.

The objective is to encourage innovative SMEs and Research Organisations (RO) to drive innovation in defence research, potentially by adapting technologies from civil applications or addressing hybrid warfare.

The scope of the proposals must address innovative technologies and solutions for defence, including those that can improve readiness, deployability, reliability, safety, and sustainability of forces in defence tasks and missions. This includes areas such as operations, equipment, infrastructure, energy solutions, surveillance systems, and digital solutions. The proposals must address any area of interest for defence. The call also welcomes proposals for add-on research actions to adapt solutions originally developed for civil applications and not previously applied in the defence sector, driving forward or integrating results of EU-funded projects with a focus on civil applications, provided the applicants have the necessary rights to access and commercialise the results.

The following types of activities are eligible:

(a) 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).

(b) Activities that aim to increase interoperability and resilience, including secured production and exchange of data, to master critical defence technologies, to strengthen the security of supply or to enable the effective exploitation of results for defence products and technologies (integrating knowledge).

(c) Studies, such as feasibility studies to explore the feasibility of new or upgraded products, technologies, processes, services and solutions.

(d) Design of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology as well as the definition of the technical specifications on which such design has been developed, including partial tests for risk reduction in an industrial or representative environment.

The following activities are not eligible:

(e) System prototyping of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology.

(f) Testing of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology.

(g) Qualification of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology.

(h) Certification of a defence product, tangible or intangible component or technology.

(i) Development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies.

Proposals must not cover studies only and must describe a clear work breakdown structure, linking tasks to eligible activities, and include clear descriptions of the criteria to assess work package completion. The call is open to any technological research for defence, and proposals should describe the targeted functionalities and the means to measure progress.

The call conditions include:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout as described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries as described in section 6 of the call document.

3. Other Eligible Conditions as described in section 6 of the call document.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion as described in section 7 of the call document.

5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes as described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.

5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds as described in section 9 of the call document.

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement as described in section 4 of the call document.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants as described in section 10 of the call document.

The call documents and annexes include:

Call document

Application form templates:

Standard application form (EDF) available in the Submission System

Detailed budget table (EDF LS RA)

Participant information (EDF)

List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources (EDF)

Actual indirect cost methodology declaration (EDF)

Ownership control declaration

PRS declaration (EDF)

Model Grant Agreements (MGA):

EDF, ASAP and EDIRPA Lump Sum MGA

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 budget for this topic is 34,000,000 EUR for the year 2025. The call is a single-stage process, opening on 18 February 2025 and closing on 16 October 2025 at 17:00:00 Brussels time. There are 54 partner search announcements available.

To start the submission process, applicants should access the Electronic Submission Service via the provided submission button and confirm their choice of the type of action and model grant agreement.

For help, applicants can contact DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu, consult the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, attend EDF Info-days 2025, or contact the IT Helpdesk for technical issues. The Online Manual provides a step-by-step guide through the Portal processes.

In summary, this EDF call encourages innovative SMEs and research organizations to develop defence technologies and solutions, including adapting civil technologies for defence and addressing hybrid warfare. It provides lump sum grants for activities such as knowledge creation, interoperability enhancement, studies, and design, but excludes system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and efficiency improvements across the lifecycle of defence products. The call is open to any technological research for defence, with a budget of 34 million EUR and a deadline of October 16, 2025. Applicants should carefully review the call conditions, documents, and online resources for detailed guidance on eligibility, proposal preparation, and submission.

Eligible Applicant Types: The call specifically encourages the participation of innovative SMEs and Research Organisations (RO). Other types of entities might be eligible as part of a consortium, but the focus is on SMEs and ROs.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically EDF Lump Sum Grants. The call is implemented via lump sum grants (EDF-2025-LS-RA-SMERO).

Consortium Requirement: While not explicitly stated, the call refers to consortia and encourages partnerships, suggesting that a consortium is preferred or potentially required. The FAQs mention consortium agreements, further implying that multiple applicants are expected to collaborate.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The call is part of the European Defence Fund (EDF). Eligible countries are described in section 6 of the call document. The FAQs mention that all applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities established in one of the EDF eligible countries, which include EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries. The FAQs also mention a possible derogation for non-EU/Norway controlled entities, through providing guarantees compliant with Art. 9(4) of the EDF Regulation, approved by the Member State where they are established.

Target Sector: The primary target sector is defence. The call focuses on innovative technologies and solutions for defence, including areas like operations, equipment, infrastructure, energy solutions, surveillance systems, and digital solutions for defence. It also welcomes proposals for add-on research actions to adapt solutions originally developed for civil applications to the defence sector.

Mentioned Countries: The text mentions EU Member States, Norway, and Ukraine. However, Ukraine is explicitly excluded as a beneficiary, affiliated entity, or subcontractor.

Project Stage: The call supports activities ranging from generating knowledge (creating, underpinning, and improving knowledge, products, and technologies) to integrating knowledge (increasing interoperability and resilience). It also supports studies, such as feasibility studies, and the design of defence products. System prototyping, testing, qualification, certification, and development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies are explicitly excluded. Therefore, the project stage is primarily focused on research, design, and early-stage development.

Funding Amount: The total budget for the topic EDF-2025-LS-RA-SMERO-NT is EUR 34,000,000. The indicative number of grants is not specified, so the funding amount per project is variable, but the total funding available is known.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

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

Application Stages: The application process consists of a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rate cannot be determined from the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether co-funding is required.

This European Defence Fund (EDF) call, specifically EDF-2025-LS-RA-SMERO-NT, aims to foster innovation in defence research by encouraging the participation of innovative SMEs and Research Organisations (ROs). The call provides lump sum grants to support activities that generate and integrate knowledge, conduct feasibility studies, and design defence products and technologies. The call is open to entities established in EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries, with a focus on projects that develop innovative technologies and solutions for defence applications, including those that can improve the readiness, deployability, reliability, safety, and sustainability of forces. The call also welcomes proposals that adapt technologies from civil applications to the defence sector. The total budget for this topic is EUR 34,000,000, and the application process involves a single-stage submission with a deadline of October 16, 2025. The call seeks to enhance innovation capacity across Europe, facilitate market creation for SMEs, and strengthen EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ defence supply chains. Prototyping, testing, qualification, and certification activities are not eligible for funding under this call. The call encourages collaborative projects, as evidenced by the mention of consortium agreements and partner search announcements.