Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform
The STEP Platform (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) is a European Union (EU) initiative designed to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and resilience in strategic sectors, including supporting non-SMEs to reduce their reliance on foreign supply.
Target investment areas:
- Digital technologies and deep-tech innovation
- Clean and resource-efficient technologies
- Biotechnologies
Access conditions (must meet at least one of the two conditions below):
- Innovativeness - bring to the internal market an innovative, emerging, and cutting-edge element with significant economic potential.
- should exhibit at least two of the following characteristics: innovative, emerging, or cutting-edge.
- demonstrate significant economic potential by having a substantial impact on development or manufacturing, addressing various EU markets, and generating positive spillover effects across Member States.
- Strategic dependencies - contribute to reducing or preventing the strategic dependencies of the EU. The technology should meet several of the following factors:
- Enhancing Union industrial and technological leadership,
- Supporting critical infrastructures,
- Increasing manufacturing capacity (only where a strategic dependency has been identified)
- Strengthening security of supply
- Promoting positive cross-border effects within the internal market.
STEP Tools
- STEP Portal: A centralized platform consolidating all contact points and EU funding opportunities for STEP sectors.
- STEP Seal: Awarded to high-quality STEP projects, prioritizing them for access to funding.
- EU Funding: Includes specific calls for proposals targeting STEP sectors.
Introducing the STEP Seal
The STEP Seal is an EU recognition awarded to high-quality projects, enhancing their visibility and facilitating access to other potential funding sources. Its primary goal is to support the acquisition of alternative or additional financing from public and private sources beyond the EU program under which the seal was awarded.
Awarded projects will be promoted through the STEP Portal, offering greater visibility to investors and potentially attracting additional public and private funding.
The European Commission directly manages several programs, unlocking specific resources to support STEP projects, including: The Digital Europe Program, The European Defence Fund (which benefits from an additional 1.5 MM€ for STEP priority areas) The EU4Health Program, Horizon Europe and The Innovation Fund.
From STEP Framework to Eligibility in Portugal 2030
A reprogramming of Portugal 2030 is currently being planned to address these priorities, specifically:
- Opportunity to support large enterprises, including productive investments (in individual and co-promotion projects) within the framework of STEP;
- Focus on supporting the development of critical technologies and strengthening the entire associated value chain, thereby improving the innovation cycle;
- Possibility of benefiting from a one-off additional pre-financing of 30% of STEP budget, introducing greater liquidity into company support systems (SI);
- Increase of 10 percentage points in aid intensities applicable to regional investment aid in "a" region (less developed regions).
