{"id":157714,"date":"2025-03-06T03:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/?p=157714"},"modified":"2025-03-05T10:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T09:40:46","slug":"step-mobilises-over-e15-billion-to-boost-investments-in-europe-in-its-first-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cde.ual.es\/en\/step-mobilises-over-e15-billion-to-boost-investments-in-europe-in-its-first-year\/","title":{"rendered":"STEP mobilises over \u20ac15 billion to boost investments in Europe in its first year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, the\u00a0Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP)<\/strong>\u00a0celebrates its first year in action for the development and manufacturing of critical technologies in Europe. Over the past year, STEP has pooled the investment firepower of 11 EU programmes,\u00a0mobilising over \u20ac15 billion<\/strong>\u00a0to support Europe’s competitiveness in three strategic sectors: digital technologies and deep-tech innovation, clean and resource-efficient technologies, and biotechnologies.<\/p>\n

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So far,\u00a0\u20ac9.1 billion of EU funds<\/strong>\u00a0have been mobilised towards<\/strong>\u00a0STEP<\/strong>\u00a0across five programmes managed by the Commission directly, namely the Digital Europe programme, the European Defence Fund, the EU4Health programme, Horizon Europe, and the Innovation Fund.\u00a0Additional \u20ac6.1 billion of EU funds<\/strong>\u00a0are being mobilised towards STEP thanks to\u00a0reprogramming of cohesion policy funds\u00a0by 11 pioneer EU Member States.<\/p>\n

The Commission’s STEP Taskforce works, hand in hand, with the 27 EU Member States. The STEP Taskforce regularly engages with project promoters, managing authorities and relevant associations to improve the set-up and understand their investment needs. Extensive outreach and a dedicated survey answered by some 500 research and industry organisations confirmed the strong demand for simplification of access to EU funding.<\/p>\n

Building on the success of STEP, President von der Leyen suggested, in her letter to EU Leaders ahead of the special European Council on 6 March, that STEP could be further leveraged by enlarging its scope to all technologies relevant for the defence sector.<\/p>\n

Improved and streamlined access to funding opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0STEP Portal\u00a0provides a one-stop, user-centric platform for project promoters to access all STEP funding opportunities across EU programmes and Member States.\u00a0About\u00a0<\/strong>60 calls for proposals<\/strong>\u00a0at EU and national levels<\/strong>\u00a0have been published so far and about 40 of them remain open for submission.<\/p>\n

Promoting high-potential EU projects for better access to funding<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0STEP Portal\u00a0currently showcases the\u00a0first\u00a0<\/strong>142 high potential projects<\/strong>\u00a0that have been awarded the\u00a0STEP Seal\u00a0by the Commission. The project promoters are informed about funding opportunities as well as\u00a0advisory services\u00a0while their projects are made visible to private and public investors, including implementing partners like the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group or National Promotional Banks.<\/p>\n

Some prominent examples of\u00a0STEP Seals awarded\u00a0<\/strong>by the Commission in 23 Member States by the Commission include:<\/p>\n