The CDTI Innovation will open the call for INNTERCONNECT STEP 2026 in October with 138 million in grant

The CDTI Innovation, the state agency of innovation of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), launches the advanced publication of the opening in October 2026 of the call INNTERCONNECT STEP 2026, with an estimated allocation of 138 million euros in grants cofinanced with funds of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Multiregional Program of Spain ERDF 2021-2027. The CDTI Innovation publishes this information in advance of the start of the formal application period so that eligible companies and research bodies can design and mature their proposals in sufficient time, in line with the agency’s commitment to the predictability and technical quality of projects.

INNTERCONNECT STEP is the grant program of the CDTI Innovation aimed at financing R&D projects in cooperation led by companies and focused on the fundamental strategic technologies defined by the Platform of Strategic Technologies for Europe (STEP), established by Regulation (EU) 2024/795. The programme is also part of the National Deep Tech Strategy 2026-2030, which envisages the significant expansion of INNTERCONNECT STEP as one of the reference instruments for financing business R&D in knowledge-intensive technologies within the scope of the STEP frameworks, which concentrates investment in critical capacities for the autonomy and competitiveness of the Union; cohesion policy, through ERDF cofinancing towards less developed and transition regions; and national innovation ecosystem, with a call profile that integrates business cooperation, connection with research bodies and market orientation.

The projects must be developed in one of the three STEP technological areas:

• Digital technologies, including those linked to the Strategic Program of the Digital Decade for 2030, which include artificial intelligence, advanced computing, cybersecurity, microelectronics and semiconductors, among others.
• Clean and resource-efficient technologies, aligned with the industrial ambition of net zero emissions, as defined in the Regulation on the Net Zero Emissions Industry, including renewable energies, energy storage, hydrogen and green industry.
• Biotechnology, as a transversal vector for health, industry and resilience, including medicines from the Union list of essential medicines and their components.

The 2026 call introduces, as a novelty, a specific budget reserve of 10 million euros for projects in the field of women's health, with the aim of concentrating R&D capacities in a field with historical research deficit and with increasing recognition in the European scientific and industrial priority agendas.

The call 2026 incorporates Illes Balears as a novelty in the map of eligible territories, with respect to the edition of 2025. The estimated budget of 138 million euros is distributed among the nine participating autonomous communities, with Galicia concentrating the largest endowment. The budgets are estimated and may vary until the official publication of the call depending on the definitive availability of ERDF funds in each region. The estimated distribution is as follows:

The 2026 call maintains the structural scheme of the recently resolved 2025 edition, with grants in competitive competition, with intensities that can reach 65% of the eligible budget for large companies, 75% for medium-sized companies and 80% for small companies, depending on whether the activity is classified as industrial research or experimental development. The projects must have an eligible budget of between 1 and 4 million euros, with a minimum of 175,000 euros per participating company.

Groups of between two and six companies may compete, without their own legal personality, with the compulsory participation of at least one SME. The consortiums must include entities from at least two eligible autonomous communities, and will require a minimum subcontracting of 10% of the eligible budget to knowledge-generating centers. The groups must also sign, prior to the submission of the application, an internal agreement that regulates the operation of the consortium, and one of its members will act as coordinator or representative to the CDTI.

The call 2026 comes with the program already consolidated after its first edition in 2025, resolved in June 2026, which approved 100 projects in consortium with the participation of 388 entities, 64.7% of them SMEs. The grant granted amounted to 146.9 million euros, 98% of the available budget, mobilising a total eligible budget of 231.5 million euros. The approved projects were distributed among the three STEP areas: digital technologies (62.1% of the projects), biotechnology (21.6%) and clean and efficient technologies (16.2%), with an average rate of subcontracting to knowledge-generating centers of 14.8%, above the minimum of 10% required by the call. Full information on the resolution is available at: https://www.cdti.es/noticias/cdti-innovacion-feder-resolucion-innterconecta-step-2025-147-millones

More information available at: https://www.cdti.es/ayudas/innterconecta-step

CDTI Innovation

The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.

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