EU funds awarded to sixteen Central and Southeast European projects
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The European Commission awarded sixteen grants from its €3.4 billion Innovation Fund to projects in Central and Southeast Europe on October 19. These grants are part of a larger distribution of funding across 23 European Economic Area countries, intended to avoid around 290 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over ten years.
The Commission distributed the funds based on applications seeking €17.5 billion, despite a budget of €2.9 billion.
While competition was strong, 84 additional projects received a quality seal to help them seek funding elsewhere. Hungary, Latvia, and Romania received the most grants in the region, with two projects each. Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland each secured one grant, while Slovakia and Slovenia did not receive any. Several winning projects in eastern Europe focus on building supply chains for critical materials, such as rare-earth magnets in Estonia and lithium iron phosphate battery cells in Poland.
Companies across the region are developing innovative technologies with the funding. In Latvia, Cemvision will build a cement plant aiming to avoid over 3.1 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, and in Croatia, Koncar is creating a new power platform. The EU’s climate and infrastructure agency, CINEA, will now negotiate grant agreements with the winners, with finalized results expected in early 2027.
