The Key Digital Technologies (KDT) program, framed within the Horizon Europe program, has opened its first call for grants aimed at financing European R&D projects.
The combined public investment for the program is made with European and national funds with equal contributions.
The Government of Spain participates in this program through the Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, which will mobilize 9 million euro of its budget to finance the participation of businesses and private R & D & I organizations, and the Agency State Research (AEI), which will allocate 3 million euro to public R & D & i entities.
This program was born with a budget of 7,200 million euro for the period 2021-2027. The European Commission assumes 1,800 million euro (a quarter) and the Participating States, another 1,800 million euro. The private sector assumes the remaining amount. For this first call, a combined public funding of more than 360 million euro is estimated.
In addition to the general thematic priorities that appear in the Work Program 2021 and the SRIA 2021 (Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda), this year’s special thematic priorities are aimed at developing artificial intelligence hardware and software solutions at the edge and at the open source hardware, in particular RISC-V.
Key Digital Technologies succeeds the current ECSEL initiative, created in 2014 in order to promote R&D in electronic components and systems within the Horizon 2020 program . In it, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has participated as the national financing authority for private entities, through the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA); and for public entities, the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the State Agency for Innovation (AEI).
During the 7 years of the ECSEL program, 16 calls have been published and 92 projects have been financed with more than 3,100 participants. The cost of the projects has risen to about 4.8 billion euro, of which the Commission and the participating states have financed about 2.2 billion euro and the industry the remaining 2.6 billion euro. With regard to Spain, during those 7 years it has managed to finance 155 entities, having received aid of 46.5 million euro from the national financing authorities and 48 million euro from the Commission.
In these calls, from 2014 to 2020, 52 ECSEL projects with Spanish participation were selected, all of them fundamentally dealing with research and innovation actions (RIA) and innovation actions (IA) in cooperation throughout the entire chain value of electronic components and systems, with a high number of participants and budget, led by companies and other leading entities at European level, some with Spanish leadership. These projects have been materialised in different systems, use cases and applications, for example in transport and intelligent mobility, in connectivity and digital networks, in energy, in health and social welfare, in digital lifestyle and in the digital industry. , among other.
The KDT program is broader than the previous ECSEL program, comprising the set of Digital Enabling Technologies that is specified in the aforementioned SRIA 2021, with a focus on both the fundamental technological layers and cross-cutting technologies, now including intelligence. artificial intelligence, edge computing, advanced control, connectivity (5G / 6G), architecture, design, reliability, and cybersecurity, among others. This new approach to the KDT program is aligned with both the Spain 2025 Digital Agenda , where the strengthening of R&D in the set of Digital Enabling Technologies is contemplated, as well as with the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, where, in addition to artificial intelligence, the rest of digital enabling technologies are also considered.
On the occasion of the recent first call for KDT JU, next Friday, January 14, there will be an information conference organised by the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), in which the Sub-directorate of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Enabling Technologies of the Ministry will participate. of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the State Research Agency (AEI).
