Yes, it is.

• EU Member States
• Countries participating in the EU Single Market Programme/COSME Strand: Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Türkiye, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Ukraine.

• Not for this call, however in a future call in 2027, you’ll have the possibility, let’s keep you updated.

• What can be eligible are onboard systems integrated into the drone and necessary for its operation.

A prototype is mandatory.

TRL 6 means that your technology was demonstrated in relevant environment (industrially relevant environment in the case of key enabling technologies) and you need to at least reach TRL 7 after the 6-months period of the programme which means that your system prototype is demonstrated in operational environment.

Yes, you can, if a part only of your product is focused on defence that’s okay, however you must demonstrate it.

No, it’s not. You will need to choose and justify if you want it during the application process.

If you are part of a group, no you cannot participate. If you have shareholders below 25% of shares, you can participate but otherwise no you cannot.

The financial threshold is set at the application stage, if changes occur during the 6-months period after the contract signature, there is no incidence on your participation.

Yes, an SME may apply with a dual-use solution that has not yet been commercialised, provided that the technology has reached at least TRL 6 at the time of application, and the proposed activities aim at further technological maturation, validation, or market positioning. Commercialisation is not a prerequisite; technological maturity and innovation are the key criteria.

The Programme supports civil drone innovations with possible dual-use potential. It does not fund solutions that are purely or primarily military in nature. For better clarity:

• Technologies with both civil and defence applications may be eligible.
• The development of weapons, warheads, or the adaptation of drones to carry warheads would fall outside the scope of the Programme.

The supported solutions must therefore retain a clear civil application dimension and cannot be exclusively military.

The Civil Drones Innovative Programme is specifically focused on the drone ecosystem (UAVs and closely related enabling technologies).Unmanned Surface Vehicles would not fall within the scope of this specific call, unless the proposal clearly relates to UAV integration or drone-related technological components.

Yes, you can, please think of saving it at each change.

No, you cannot, or at least do it yourselves. Pending 2 working days before the deadline (cut-off 1 or cut-off 2), you need to ask the team to re-open your application. After these dates, you will not be able to do so.

If you are still within the timeframe there should be no issue. The team will be available if problems to help you submit (outside of re-opening your submission).

Yes, you can.

• Declaration of Honour,
• SME self-assessment,
• Ethics Questionnaire,
• The Declaration of Honour and the Ethics Questionnaire are present in the Application part called “Annexes Templates”. The SME self-assessment needs to be filled in the European Commissi2.1noon Platform, the link is available in the Application Form.

No, you cannot.

The Ethics Form serves a compliance and risk-assessment purpose. Selecting “Research having direct military application”, or “Research having the potential for terrorist abuse” is required only when the project has a direct military objective or involves technologies that may raise specific security or ethical concerns beyond standard dual-use positioning.Dual-use potential alone does not automatically require selecting these items. If a project primarily targets civil applications with possible defence relevance (e.g. infrastructure protection, resilience, emergency response), this does not necessarily constitute “direct military application”. If an applicant selects one of these items, a short explanation is required. However, the existence of dual-use potential in itself does not mean that extensive documentation is systematically needed.

EUR 50.000 maximum.

Yes, it is. A minimum of 20% of the budget must be co-funded. It can be your own financial resources, but your personnel costs cannot be used as co-funding.

• External services and procurement (e.g. testing, certification, consulting, specialised technical services),
• Equipment, components and consumables,
• Personnel costs of staff directly involved in the project,
• Prototype development, pilot testing and validation activities,
• Travel costs, only when directly linked to approved internationalisation activities.

Yes, it is. However, it is capped to 10% of the total project budget, subject to justification and approval.

Yes, they are.

It’s a case by case question. Amendments are feasible in theory but need to be discussed and validated by the entire consortium of the project.

• Mentorship is a monthly follow-up be a designated Consortium Member to help you implement your Innovation Plan.
• Tailored Services are services free-of-charge delivered by the Consortium Members that can relate and help solve problematics you have in your company (technology, up-to-market, innovation etc).
• Trainings are learning sessions for anyone in your company that wish to gain knowledge on specific themes (that will be defined and explained during the implementation).

They are staff members or affiliated experts from the consortium organisations and bring proven expertise in drone technologies, innovation, regulation, business development and market access.

No, they aren’t. The exact list is provided in the Guide for Applicants.

The Innovation Plan is your project that you will implement during the Programme. The Programme is all that is outside of your plan to improve your product.

It has a 6-months duration.

As said above, not it is not.

They are evaluated by two people based on the following criteria: Excellence and Innovation, Impact and Quality and Implementation.

Yes, there is. Your application must achieve a minimum overall score of 50 points out of 100, and score at least: criterion 1- 16/30, criterion 2 - 16/30 and criterion 3 - 21/40.

• If you achieve the minimum overall score of 50 points out of 100, you will have two options: you can integrate the reserve list and then be re-integrated in the selection process in the 2nd cut-off, or you can re-apply to this 2nd cut-off if you want to make some changes and improve your application based on the feedback given.
• If you are eligible and don’t achieve the overall score and want to re-apply, you have to re-submit your application for the second cut-off, provided that the application is updated and improved based on the feedback received.

Yes, unsuccessful applicants will receive feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their application.

Around 13 SMEs will be selected during the 1st cut-off, and around 12 during the 2nd cut-off. Depending on the quality of the applications the consortium may decide to select more applications than foreseen for the first cut-off of the Open Call.

Intellectual property generated in the framework of the Programme remains with the SME, in line with applicable EU rules and contractual conditions. Participation in the Programme does not imply any transfer of ownership of foreground intellectual property to the consortium.

Yes, the evaluators will be required to comply with confidentiality and conflict of interest rules.

Double-funding is not allowed. You can’t apply if another project funds the same expenses and the same technology as the Programme.