The 2026 POCIDIF calls: three directions for companies

The call is competitive with a fixed deadline and an allocation of 48,813,278 EUR. The minimum non-repayable value of a project is 200,000 EUR. The ceiling depends on the result: 1,500,000 EUR for an innovative software solution, service or application, and 3,000,000 EUR only for an innovative hardware product manufactured by the beneficiary, with the share above 1,500,000 EUR justified by financing the production line. For a software audience the operative figure is 1,500,000 EUR.

Eligibility turns on the CAEN code. The guide requires the applicant and its partners to hold authorised activities from the list 2611, 2612, 2630, 5821, 5829, 6210, 6220, 6290 and 6310 at the date of submission; a code that is not authorised means automatic rejection at contracting, with no request for clarification. A project is approved only with at least 70 points, the excellence threshold is 92 points, and implementation runs for at most 24 months and not beyond 31 December 2029.

The first POCIDIF EDIH round, Action 2.4 with call code POCIDIF/1147/2/1, accepted projects between 25 August 2023 and 25 October 2023 with an allocation of 12,873,886.83 EUR and is closed. The continuation runs through Action 6.1, supporting the seven hubs that hold the STEP sovereignty seal, active between 30 April 2026 and 30 December 2026, with the guide amended by Order MIPE no. 1098 of 9 July 2026.

The costly confusion is to present EDIH as funding a company applies for. It does not. The eligible applicant is the hub, and what a company receives through it is non-financial state aid granted under a contract: technology testing, advisory work, training. No money reaches the company account. The state-aid and de minimis scheme for both actions is the one approved by Order MIPE no. 3151 of 18 August 2023, as amended by Order MIPE no. 440 of 25 March 2026.

The product is a capped portfolio guarantee combined with grant support in a single operation, SMIS code 356387, with an allocation of 573,945,327.60 RON. The guarantee rate reaches 80% per transaction, the guarantee fee is 0%, the maximum guaranteed loan is the RON equivalent of 500,000 EUR, and the de minimis grant component cannot exceed 49% of the loan received by a final beneficiary.

What is missing is the last link. On 30 July 2026 the partner-banks page displayed the list title with no credit institution under it, while the call selecting financial intermediaries was still running. A company files nothing with the guarantee fund: it goes to an enrolled bank, and until the first bank appears on that list this route is prepared rather than accessed.