The evaluation of the first 2018 CEF Telecom call for proposals (CEF-TC-2018-1) has concluded and 41 projects in the areas of eIdentification & eSignature, Europeana and Safer Internet have been selected to receive co-funding by the European Union. The funding comes from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme in the telecommunications sector. The successful projects include participation of entities from the 28 EU Member States plus Norway, Iceland (EEA countries), and Serbia.

CEF Telecom funding is dedicated to Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) delivering networked cross-border services for citizens, businesses and public administrations. Supported projects will contribute to improving the competitiveness of the European economy, promoting the interconnection and interoperability of national, regional and local networks and access to these networks, thus supporting the development of a Digital Single Market. CEF Telecom has an overall budget of nearly €1 billion (2014-2020).

The outcome of the first 2018 CEF Telecom call for proposals can be found below:

- eIdentification & eSignature: over €5.3 million will be granted to 9 proposals with applicants from 16 EU Member States, to address the cross-border authentication of eIDs (including the EU Student Card Initiative) and the uptake and use of electronic signatures

- Europeana: the 4 selected proposals that will receive over €3.7 million in funding and including applicants from 23 EU Member States plus Serbia, will contribute in particular to showcasing the cultural treasures of Europe on the Europeana platform;

- Safer Internet: 28 proposals will be granted almost €20 million with applicants from 26 EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway to support Safer Internet Centres in Europe to help children and young people to stay safe online.

The list of projects selected for funding is available here:

The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) manages the calls for proposals and follows up the technical and financial implementation of the projects with the beneficiaries, providing technical expertise and high quality programme implementation. INEA will now begin the preparation of the individual grant agreements with the successful beneficiaries.

Follow INEA on Twitter @inea_eu with the hashtag #CEFTelecom & LinkedIn to stay informed about the latest call developments.

About Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs)

CEF Telecom funding supports projects of common interest for the deployment of Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) across the EU. These are based on mature technical and organisational solutions to support exchanges and collaboration between citizens, businesses and public authorities. The objective is to create European networks of digital services that will make the Digital Single Market work in practice.

The CEF programme supports basic and re-usable digital services, known as building blocks, as well as more complex digital services. The building blocks can be combined with each other and integrated with more complex services.

Building blocks supported include: eIdentification, eSignature, eInvoicing, eDelivery, and eTranslation. Consult the full catalogue of reusable digital services.

More complex digital services being supported include areas such as safer internet, access to reusable public sector information, cyber security, eHealth, and online dispute resolution.

The list of digital services supported by CEF is available in the Annex of the Telecom Regulation.

More information

CEF Telecom 2018 call for proposals

Commission Implementing Decision