Nearly 100 Bulgarian companies will receive 61.5 million euros to modernize the production of defense products and dual-use items. The support is provided under a procedure under the Program “Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises“, managed by the Executive Agency “European Competitiveness Funds“ at the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation (MIDT).
Nearly 200 micro, small, medium and large companies applied for the measure. They could apply for grants from 51,129 euros to 3.6 million euros. European funds will be used to purchase machinery, facilities, equipment, specialized software, as well as patents, licenses and know-how.
The aim is for enterprises to improve their industrial capacity in the production of defense products and dual-use items. Dual-use goods include, for example, high-performance computers and microprocessors, radar systems, lidars, cryptographic software, drones, other unmanned aerial vehicles, etc. The procedure will also finance construction and installation works, which cannot exceed 50% of the total costs of the relevant projects.
The approved companies will be invited by the Executive Agency to the Ministry of Defense to sign contracts. The full list of companies can be seen at: (https://pkip.egov.bg/wps/portal/program-pkip/procedures/open.for.applications/bg16rfpr001-6.001 ).
Due to the large number of project proposals ranked in the reserve lists, the Managing Authority will discuss the possibilities of providing additional funds to increase the budget for the procedure.