Digital EuropeDIGITAL JU Coordination and Support Actions

Stimulation of Chip Design 

Deadline24 September 2026
Total budget€15M
Grant size€1M–€15M
Expected grants1
Opens7 July 2026
Deadline modelsingle-stage
Call IDDIGITAL-JU-CHIPS-2026-SKILLS-SCD-CSA

What this call funds

Expected Outcome

Practical chip design experience integrated into education at multiple levels; at least 1,000 students across Europe completing funded tape-outs over 4 years; stronger reskilling pathways for students from adjacent fields; and a sustainable, continent-wide pipeline of chip design talent to support Europe's semiconductor ambitions.

Scope

This call funds a comprehensive Chip Design Skills Programme to lower barriers to entry in chip design and tape-outs. At least 60% of the budget must support hands-on tape-out experiences (via multi-project wafers) for university and secondary school students.

Eligibility & conditions+

Conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

The proposal page limits and layout is described in Part B of the Application Form, which can be accessed on the Chips JU website's Call page

The following information are all described in the Appendix 8 of Work Programme - Chips for Europe Initiative

2. Eligible countries

3. Other eligibility conditions

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants

Call document and annexes:

The Call Documents Section contains all the call documents, as follows:

Application form template Part B

Guide for Applicants

Evaluation form

Ownership Control Declaration

Additional documents:

DEP MGA

DEP Regulation 2021/964

EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal · synced 2026-07-07