EU Funding

The eligibility conditions for SME digitalization funding

Eligibility plays out across five or six dimensions that recur in almost every guide. We review them with examples from the schemes of the moment.

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.

Every funding call writes its own eligibility conditions, yet the pattern repeats often enough to be learned once. The harshest filter is not visible at submission but at contracting: on POCIDIF Action 2.1, if the applicant has not authorised the CAEN codes it is requesting funding for, the project is rejected automatically, with no request for clarification. The nine codes that must be authorised are 2611, 2612, 2630, 5821, 5829, 6210, 6220, 6290 and 6310 — all from the ICT sphere. Company size: nearly all schemes require SME or micro-enterprise status, calculated on consolidated data together with partner and linked enterprises. Sector: SME Eco-Tech, the other scheme receiving entries, was limited to manufacturing until the order published in Monitorul Oficial no. 558 of 7 July 2026 opened it to trade, services and micro-enterprises. Region: the Just Transition Programme covers only Gorj, Hunedoara, Dolj, Galați, Prahova and Mureș, and its submission window closed on 20 May 2024. Standing: a positive operating profit in the last closed financial year, no net fiscal obligations and no insolvency proceedings. Verified on 30 July 2026 in the guide approved by MIPE Order no. 965/23.06.2026. The letter of the guide beats any summary, including this one, which is why formal verification stays your funding consultant's job. Northdan Soft works on the parallel, often forgotten dimension: the eligibility of the costs, meaning how the software solution is described and slotted correctly into the budget.

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How we help

Software costs classified correctly

We phrase every component of the solution in the language of the guide's eligible categories, so the evaluator has no reason to cut the budget.

Early warnings of technical ineligibility

If the desired solution contains typically ineligible elements — long subscriptions, excluded hardware, post-project maintenance — we flag them at the offer stage.

Documentation ready for clarification requests

To the authority's questions about the technical component we respond with structured documents, within the short deadlines clarifications impose.

The classic dimensions of company eligibility

SME status is verified on consolidated data: employees, turnover and assets, including partner and linked enterprises. Many rejections come from calculations done only on the applicant company, ignoring the group.

A CAEN code authorised at the moment the guide requires, minimum company age, no outstanding debts to the state budget and no insolvency proceedings complete the standard filter. Every guide adjusts these thresholds — hence the obligation to read it in full.

Concrete examples from the active and announced schemes

POCIDIF 2.1 illustrates the CAEN condition perfectly: non-repayable aid of EUR 200,000–1,500,000 for an innovative software solution, submissions until 30 September 2026, but the gate opens only to ICT companies. SME Eco-Tech illustrates how fast a sector condition moves: manufacturing only until 7 July 2026, then extended to trade, services and micro-enterprises, with entries closing on 24 September 2026 at 20:00.

Start-Up Nation session 2, announced by MEDAT — the ministry for economy and entrepreneurship — targets newly established companies, with support of at most RON 250,000 per beneficiary; at 30 July 2026 no submission date had been published in the implementation procedure, the approving order or the registration application. Any condition circulating before those three documents exist is a forecast, not a rule.

The unknowns get resolved in order: first the consultant confirms the company's eligibility, then we confirm the eligibility of the technical solution. Those two checks are separate, and passing the first says nothing about the second.

Frequently asked questions

Which eligibility condition carries the harshest consequence?

The CAEN code. On POCIDIF Action 2.1 an applicant without the requested code authorised sees the project rejected automatically at the contracting stage, with no clarification request, and authorisation is checked at the submission date and at every declared implementation location.

Can a company with debts to the state access digitalization funding?

Guides typically require no outstanding debts to the general consolidated budget at certain key moments. Legally rescheduled debts sometimes enjoy a special regime — the exact provision differs from call to call, so it is verified in the guide, not assumed.

Does the company's eligibility also guarantee the eligibility of the software costs?

Not at all — they are separate checks. A perfectly eligible company can still see budget cuts for software costs that are poorly described or cannot be slotted into the guide's categories. That is why our budget maps every component explicitly onto its eligible category.