EU Funding

PNRR C9 I3 — Advanced digital technology grants: your technical partner in implementation

The call launched on 25 March 2024 is closed for applications, and contracted projects have entered the hardest phase: actually building the AI, cloud, blockchain or IoT solutions promised in the funding application.

Programme fact sheet

Programme: PNRR C9 I3 — «Granturi pentru dezvoltarea tehnologiilor digitale avansate»
Programme family: PNRR
Managing authority: MIPE (PNRR)
Status: Closed — in implementationChecked on 30 July 2026
Funding value: 500,000 – 3,000,000 EUR
Eligible beneficiaries: SMEs

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.

EUR 150 million — that was the allocation of PNRR C9 I3 «Granturi pentru sprijinirea antreprenorilor în dezvoltarea tehnologiilor digitale avansate» (grants for entrepreneurs developing advanced digital technologies, under Romania's Recovery and Resilience Plan), launched on 25 March 2024 and since closed for applications. Grants of EUR 500,000 to 3,000,000 per project combined state aid with de minimis aid and targeted SMEs, including in partnerships, that develop solutions in artificial intelligence, cloud and data platforms, blockchain, IoT, high-performance computing, quantum technologies and cybersecurity. Contracted projects are now in implementation, which puts double pressure on beneficiaries: the technical solution has to be built to the standard committed in the project, and the contract's implementation deadline must not be confused with the separate payment claim calendar, each governed by its own PNRR rules. Northdan Soft acts as a technical development partner — teams that actually build the project's software components — and watches MIPE, Romania's EU funds ministry, for word of a possible next round.

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How we help

A development team for advanced components

We build the AI modules, cloud data platforms, IoT integrations or security layers committed in your project, with technical specifications traceable back to the funding application.

Rescuing projects that have fallen behind

If in-house development or the original vendor cannot keep pace, we take over the software component in short stages, with verifiable milestones running up to the deadline in your financing contract.

Two PNRR calendars, kept apart

On C9, completing implementation and filing the payment claim carry distinct deadlines; we deliver and obtain acceptance for the first, then hand over the technical documentation the second requires.

Groundwork for a possible future call

Companies that missed the 2024 round can shape the solution architecture and technical estimate now, so a new MIPE announcement finds the technical dossier nearly ready.

What the C9 I3 advanced-technologies call financed

Unlike its sibling call C9 I3.1 dedicated to non-IT SME digitalization, this line financed companies that build technology rather than merely buy it: grants between EUR 500,000 and 3,000,000, out of a total EUR 150 million allocation, structured as state aid combined with de minimis aid.

The target domains covered the sharp edge of digitalization: artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data platforms, blockchain technologies, the Internet of Things, high-performance computing and quantum technologies, plus cybersecurity. Individual SMEs or partnerships could apply, under the conditions detailed in the official guide published by MIPE.

Implementation: where the grant is won or lost

An advanced-technology project is not a hardware shopping list: the critical part is software development — training the models, building the data platform, integrating IoT sensors, hardening the infrastructure. This is where the delays that endanger funding most often appear.

The golden rule across component C9 remains keeping the calendars apart: the deadline for implementing and accepting the project is one thing, the window for filing the payment claim another, each fixed through the MIPE acts applicable to the call. Beneficiaries must plan technical delivery for the first date, not the second.

How Northdan Soft works with C9 I3 beneficiaries

Our role is strictly technical: we develop or finish the web and mobile applications, cloud services and AI components in the project, then hand over the acceptance protocols, delivery reports and technical documentation the payment claim file needs. We are not funding consultants and we make no funding promises.

One caveat that costs us work: the EUR 3,000,000 ceiling quoted for POCIDIF Acțiunea 2.1 is not the same figure. There it applies only to projects whose result is an innovative hardware product manufactured by the beneficiary; for a software result the ceiling is EUR 1,500,000, with a EUR 200,000 minimum, under the guide approved by Ordinul MIPE nr. 965/23.06.2026.

Software eligible under this programme

AI development
Cloud and data platforms
IoT
Cybersecurity

Frequently asked questions

Can projects still be submitted to the PNRR advanced digital technologies call?

No — call C9 I3, launched on 25 March 2024 with a EUR 150 million allocation, is closed for applications, and the selected projects are in implementation. A possible new round only becomes real through a guide officially published by MIPE.

How large were the grants for developing advanced digital technologies?

Between EUR 500,000 and 3,000,000 per project, structured as state aid combined with de minimis aid, for individual SMEs or partnerships — the exact cumulation and intensity rules are those in the call's official applicant guide.

Which technology domains were eligible under PNRR C9 I3?

The call targeted solutions in artificial intelligence, cloud and data platforms, blockchain, IoT, high-performance computing and quantum technologies, as well as cybersecurity — projects where the company builds technology rather than simply purchasing it.

Can Northdan Soft take over development on a C9 I3 project already in implementation?

Yes — as a software vendor we pick up AI, cloud, IoT or security components that have fallen behind, work in short milestones aligned with the deadline in your financing contract and hand over the acceptance documents for disbursement. We cannot be your entire technical team: on POCIDIF 2.1 the guide bars full outsourcing of technical activities and requires at least 20% of the aid allocated to the core activity to go to the beneficiary’s own staff.

How does the advanced-technologies call differ from the SME digitalization one?

C9 I3.1 funded technology adoption by non-IT SMEs, with grants up to EUR 100,000, while C9 I3 funded the development of advanced technologies, with grants of EUR 500,000–3,000,000 — two different logics and two different kinds of projects.