EU Funding

DIH4Society — the Cluj IT hub for a more digital North-West

Coordinated by the Cluj IT Association, DIH4Society offers companies and institutions in Romania's North-West subsidised services: prototyping, technology transfer, cybersecurity and support in accessing finance.

Programme fact sheet

Programme: DIH4Society — Digital Innovation Hub for a Smarter, Safer and more Sustainable Society (EDIH Nord-Vest)
Programme family: EDIH
Managing authority: Lider de parteneriat: Asociația Cluj IT · AM POCIDIF: MIPE · Comisia Europeană — Programul Europa Digitală
Status: OpenChecked on 30 July 2026
Funding value: per the official applicant guide
Eligible beneficiaries: SMEs, Large companies, Municipalities

The programme's official applicant guide

Northdan Soft is a software supplier, not a funding consultancy, and is not affiliated with any managing authority or development agency. Programme information is indicative — always check the conditions in the programme's official applicant guide.

Behind DIH4Society stands the Cluj IT Association, one of the clusters that gave weight to Cluj-Napoca's technology ecosystem, now coordinating one of the North-West region's European Digital Innovation Hubs. The full name — Digital Innovation Hub for a Smarter, Safer and more Sustainable Society — sits above a deliberately narrow technical remit: the fiche in the European Commission's EDIH catalogue names two technological pillars, cybersecurity and smart robotics, alongside the building of advanced digital competences for digital and green transformation. Its declared impact is unusually concrete: the digital progression of 70 key stakeholders from public administration and health providers, plus more than 400 SMEs from the region's smart specialisation sectors. The consortium adds the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, the Bistrița-Năsăud Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the University of Oradea, so academic and business coverage stretches across three counties. What a company or institution actually receives comes as subsidised services governed by the hub's service scheme; none of it takes the form of a cash grant. For the step that follows the diagnosis, Northdan Soft acts as an independent vendor: we take the hub's recommendations all the way to installed software, with a technical offer and a budget drawn up on eligible costs.

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How we help

A prototype before the investment

DIH4Society helps you build and test a prototype — from an AI decision-support assistant to a robotics component — before you budget the full solution.

Academic expertise from three university centres

UTCN, the University of Oradea and the chamber partners in Bistrița-Năsăud bring technical and business competences to the consortium covering the entire North-West.

Support in accessing finance

The hub's portfolio includes funding-access support: you learn which calls fit your investment, from the regional programmes to the national ones.

A vendor ready for implementation

Northdan Soft turns the DIH4Society report into a delivered solution — cybersecurity, AI integration, applications — with the technical documentation the financier requires.

The consortium and its coverage

DIH4Society is coordinated by the Cluj IT Association in Cluj-Napoca and unites the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, CCI Bistrița-Năsăud and the University of Oradea. The hub serves the North-West region and addresses the private sector and public administration alike.

The name states the programme: a smarter, safer and more sustainable society. Hence the targeted domains — manufacturing, public administration and health, each rated 5/5 in the EC catalogue, with smart city at 4/5 — and the emphasis on cybersecurity, robotics and artificial intelligence with decision support.

What companies and institutions actually receive

The service portfolio spans prototyping, technology transfer, support in accessing finance and public-sector innovation. All are subsidised through the Digital Europe Programme and national co-financing — the hub awards no cash grants, and access conditions are verified on dih4society.ro, in line with the hub's service scheme.

For a town hall or public institution in the North-West, the public-sector innovation component is a rarity in the Romanian landscape: the same desk that helps SMEs can also support the digitalization of local public services. Note the limit, though: the POCIDIF priority holding the e-government calls is officially titled Digitalisation in central public administration and the business environment, and its applicants are central institutions or named beneficiaries — so a town hall receives hub services but finances its own investment from the regional programme instead.

After the prototype: the road to the final solution

A prototype validated at the hub needs a builder. Northdan Soft is not part of the DIH4Society consortium and does not sell financing consultancy — we are the development team that takes the resulting specifications and delivers the final product, from cybersecurity solutions to AI integrated into company workflows.

Two POCIDIF calls sit behind the network, and in both the eligible applicant is the hub rather than the beneficiary: Action 2.4 closed on 25 October 2023 with 12,873,886.83 euro, while Action 6.1, reserved for the seven STEP-sealed hubs, runs from 30 April 2026 to 30 December 2026 with 20,918,624.37 euro. We prepare the technical offer and the eligible-cost budget for whichever call finances your own investment.

Frequently asked questions

Who can benefit from DIH4Society's services?

Companies — SMEs and mid-caps — from the North-West region, but also public institutions: the hub has an explicit public-sector innovation component alongside its support for industry, health, education and energy.

What does prototyping at DIH4Society cost me?

Prototyping and the other services are subsidised through Digital Europe and national co-financing; the subsidy level and any conditions are confirmed directly with the hub, in line with its service scheme, via dih4society.ro.

Do I receive money from the hub for my project?

No — DIH4Society provides services, among them support in accessing finance, meaning it helps you identify the suitable calls. The investment money comes from those calls, not from the hub, and the value of the services received is recorded as non-financial state aid.

Is DIH4Society the only EDIH in Cluj?

No: TDIH — Transilvania Digital Innovation Hub, a distinct consortium, is also coordinated from Cluj-Napoca. Its catalogue fiche declares European geographical scope while describing its beneficiaries as SMEs and public-sector organisations from the North-West region, and both hubs appear as separate eligible applicants in the POCIDIF Action 6.1 call fiche, so companies can choose by specialisation.