EU interim evaluation of the Digital Europe Programme 2021–2024

          Council of the EU
          
            · December 17, 2025
          
          · ✓ verified

The European Commission has conducted the interim evaluation of the Digital Europe Programme (Digital Europe) covering November 2021–December 2024, assessing effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value across its six specific objectives (HPC, AI/data/cloud, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, deployment/interoperability, semiconductors).

Main implementation / impact details
- Total programme budget increased from EUR 7.6bn to EUR 8.16bn, including EUR 1.58bn for semiconductors under the Chips Act; by end-2024, EUR 3.016bn was committed (37% of total), across 601 projects (537 grants, 64 procurements/other instruments).
- Specific objective allocations committed by end-2024: SO1 HPC ~EUR 598m, SO2 AI/Cloud/Data ~EUR 598m, SO3 Cybersecurity ~EUR 526m, SO4 Skills ~EUR 215m, SO5 Deployment/Interoperability ~EUR 737m, SO6 Semiconductors ~EUR 264m.
- Co-funding: grants of EUR 1.75bn triggered total project costs of EUR 3.17bn (effective EU grant rate 55%, direct leverage 81%); extrapolated total leverage (including national/other follow-on funding) estimated at 225–305%.
- Administrative overhead for Commission and implementing bodies estimated at 4.9% of total programme costs.
Key infrastructures and climate-/energy-relevant systems
- HPC / exascale: 19 of 30 planned HPC procurements completed; first exascale supercomputer JUPITER installed (Germany), fully European-built, with:
  - JEDI module ranked #1 in the Green500 list for energy efficiency via hot water-cooling and heat reuse (e.g. campus heating).
  - JETI module ranked #18 in TOP500 performance list; supports AI training and simulation workloads.
- Destination Earth (DestinE): over EUR 300m invested; by 2024 launched two digital twins (Weather-induced extremes, Climate adaptation) with:
  - Resolution up to 5 km vs historical tens–100 km scales.
  - DestinE Service Platform: 20 services, and a data lake with 170 datasets across 18 thematic areas.
  - 1,936 users (194 from private sector), supporting EU Adaptation Strategy, climate risk and resilience, EU Mission on Adaptation.
- AI, data spaces, and cloud:
  - Four sectoral TEFs (health, manufacturing, agri-food, smart cities/mobility/energy) co-investments of ~EUR 189.7m, 311 users supported;
  - Seven AI Factories selected in 2024 to provide AI-optimised compute and model training services.
  - Common European data spaces deployed in seven sectors (cultural heritage, health, language, mobility, media, manufacturing, smart communities); Green Deal, energy, tourism, agriculture and skills data spaces under development.
  - Simpl middleware (open source) funded with EUR 156m to underpin data spaces and EuroCloud (public sector cloud federation).
- Cybersecurity: 27 National Cybersecurity Coordination Centers (NCCs); 26 cyber infrastructures (national and cross-border SOCs/CyberHubs) and 12 advanced tools deployed; 90 user communities use security infrastructures, 13 communities use advanced tools.
- Advanced Skills: 52 master’s programmes and 530 short courses created; 20,713 people trained, plus 30,308 users of the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform; 26% of all participants and 33% of master’s participants are women; 455 participants received financial support (39% women).
- Deployment / Interoperability / Safer Internet:
  - 151 EDIHs operational, delivering >29,000 services to 54,610 organisations (both SMEs and public sector), running 5,700+ events with >800,000 attendees.
  - Digital Maturity Assessment Tool (DMAT) shows 90% of firms improving maturity; AI/automation indicators increased ~35%.
  - Interoperable Europe: 12,576 participants trained; more than 2,900 reusable solutions published on the Interoperable Europe Portal; Interoperability Test Bed used for 240,000+ validations.
  - EU Digital Identity Wallet large-scale pilots: ~360 public/private organisations in 26 MS + Iceland, Norway, Ukraine testing 11 use cases.
  - European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI): production-grade nodes in 18 countries, pilots in 21; 400+ organisations supported.
  - Safer Internet Centers network plus Better Internet for Kids Portal have reached ~125 million citizens, processed 2.5m+ child sexual abuse material reports (65% found illegal and taken down).
  - EDMO: 14 regional hubs, 390,800+ website visitors; active in election monitoring.
- Semiconductors (SO6):
  - Five pilot lines representing ~EUR 3.7bn total investment, covering leading-edge logic (down to 2 nm), FD-SOI (7 nm), wide-bandgap power devices, heterogeneous integration and photonic integrated circuits.
  - 27 national Chips Competence Centers created; Chips Fund: EUR 67m EU guarantee support committed via EIF, expected to leverage 14.77x investment; 19 small companies/start-ups supported (e.g. Qualinx single-chip low-power tracking ICs).
Climate, energy, and data-center-related content
- DestinE, Green Deal Data Space, Agricultural Data Space, and Energy Data Space all explicitly support climate risk assessment, energy efficiency, grid optimisation, and environmental performance.
- Between 2021–2024, EUR 360m+ dedicated to climate mitigation/adaptation-related activities, with another ~EUR 96m expected by 2027.
- Climate-relevant contributions include:
  - DestinE (extreme events, adaptation, climate services, supporting EU Adaptation Strategy and Mission on Adaptation);
  - EU Energy Saving Reference Framework (digital tool for dynamic demand response, smart meter integration, and energy efficiency recommendations);
  - Energy Data Space (data access for grid optimisation and new energy services);
  - Agricultural Data Space (sustainable farm productivity and environmental performance);
  - EDIHs’ “green digitalisation” support and DMAT metrics on green digitalisation.
- On energy demand and data centers, the evaluation explicitly notes:
  - Data center electricity use projected to nearly double to 945 TWh by 2030, slightly exceeding Japan’s current consumption, largely driven by AI and digital services.
  - Europe’s relatively high energy prices are highlighted as an impediment to certain digital sectors and to data-center-intensive growth.
  - Calls for tighter integration of sustainability criteria (energy efficiency, water use, environmental footprint) into digital investments.
- HPC efficiency: JUPITER’s hot-water cooling and heat reuse is presented as a model of energy-efficient exascale compute relevant to future AI training infrastructure.
Efficiency, administrative burden, and funding mechanics
- Application phase: applicants spend 1.86–2.5 person-months per proposal (partners) and 3.12–3.85 person-months for coordinators; plus ~EUR 7,100 (partners) and EUR 31,100 (coordinator) in extra expenses; this is more burdensome than Horizon Europe on a per-proposal basis.
- Implementation phase: extrapolated beneficiary management effort of 2.7–3.5 PM per partner and 9.4–10.4 PM per coordinator, corresponding to EUR 147–184m in management overhead (~7.9% of grant costs).
- Average time-to-grant across all SOs around 8 months, meeting the 9-month target (except initial EDIH calls); share of calls exceeding TTG decreased from 48% (2022) to 26% (2024).
- Average success rate across grants: 49% (vs ~13–15% for Horizon Europe); oversubscription (eligible requested vs granted budget) at 158%.
- Funding model: mostly 50% co-financing simple grants, which leverages national and private funds but creates participation barriers for SMEs, universities, and public authorities lacking co-funding.
- Simplification: introduction of unit costs, 7% flat-rate indirects, single audit principle, and limited use of lump sums (~1% of actions so far). Stakeholders call for further expansion of lump sums, vouchers, cascade funding (FSTP), and harmonised IT tools.
Relevance and strategic context
- Evaluation confirms the six SOs remain highly relevant, especially:
  - HPC for AI and climate modelling;
  - AI/data/cloud for competitiveness and Digital Decade targets (AI adoption rose from 7.7% of enterprises in 2021 to 13.5% in 2024, still far from the 75% 2030 target);
  - Cybersecurity amid heightened geopolitical risk and NIS2 requirements;
  - Digital skills (ICT specialists grew to 5% of employment; shortages remain a top barrier);
  - Semiconductors following 2022 chip shortages and EU share of global value chain at ~10.5% vs 20% 2030 target.
- Draghi report is cited extensively: EU depends on foreign countries for >80% of digital products/services/IP; ICT sector investment gap estimated at EUR 150bn/year.
- Data-center-scale impacts are noted: AI-driven electricity demand, environmental risks (water, EMF exposure, mental health effects, safety of minors), and need for ethical, evidence-based governance of emerging tech (AI, neurotechnology).
Coherence and synergies with other EU instruments
- Strong designed complementarities and synergies with:
  - Horizon Europe (RD&I feeding deployment: EuroHPC, Chips JU, AI Factories, data spaces, quantum, skills);
  - CEF2 Digital (connectivity and backbone infrastructure for digital services, EDMO, SOCs);
  - RRF (national digitalisation projects, some co-funded with Digital Europe until 2024; from 2024 onward, no more RRF–Digital Europe cumulative funding);
  - ERDF (co-funding of 38 EDIHs and other digital projects; implementation complex due to different rules but possible; STEP seal to prioritise synergies);
  - Erasmus+ (digital masters, mobility and Centers of Vocational Excellence for digital skills);
  - Secure Connectivity/IRIS² and EuroQCI (quantum communication infrastructure and satellite secure connectivity, with Digital Europe funding part of terrestrial EuroQCI rollout).
- Internal coherence is generally strong: work programmes are coordinated via internal Digital Europe Implementation Group (DEIG), cross-DG working groups and the Digital Europe Programme Committee. Coordination across direct and indirect management (JUs, ECCC, InvestEU) works but introduces complexity and some fragmentation (e.g. split responsibilities on cybersecurity skills, limited governance links with InvestEU).
SME dimension
- SMEs account for 19% of participants and receive 17% of grant funding, despite being a core target.
- At end-user level, SMEs represent >99% of private organisations served by EDIHs and training actions; SMEs report estimated value of EUR 8k–15.3k for EDIH services and EUR 6.5k–14.4k for skills training.
- Main SME barriers: 50% co-funding rate, administrative burden, complexity of consortia structures and state-aid constraints; recommendations include higher co-funding (up to 75% for SMEs), vouchers, cascade funding, simpler calls, and lighter reporting.
Key lessons and upcoming changes
- Need for: better vertical alignment between EU/national/regional digital initiatives; more systematic synergies across EU funds; increased visibility of Digital Europe beyond “usual suspects”; and simplified funding and security procedures.
- The proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) for the next MFF will integrate much of Digital Europe under a “Digital leadership” window, with a unified rulebook, stronger RD&I-to-deployment pathways, and more flexible multi-programme financing (including support for cumulative funding).
- Monitoring and evaluation need upgrades (business identifiers, better end-user tracking, impact indicators on competitiveness and strategic autonomy, IT tools for counterfactual analysis).

Overall, the interim evaluation concludes that Digital Europe is on track, has successfully launched major infrastructures and networks (HPC, AI, data spaces, cybersecurity, EDIHs, semiconductors), and already demonstrates meaningful benefits to early users. However, full economic, climate and competitiveness impacts will only materialise in later years as infrastructures reach broader usage and as synergies with other instruments and national initiatives deepen.

Read original ↗