The Digital Upgrade Grant in Cyprus: Websites, Software and AI

The Digital Upgrade Scheme for Enterprises is a grant from the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry that pays half the eligible cost of new software and digital systems for a small or medium-sized business in Cyprus, up to €50,000. Its most recent call opened on 20 May 2025, and its budget of €14 million was taken up on that day. As of 2 October 2026 the call is closed, and no later call is listed on the Ministry's page for the scheme or on the government's funding portal.

This guide sets out what the 2025 call paid for, who could apply and what an application required, as the scheme's own documents state them. Those documents are in Greek. Each figure and condition below links to the page it was read from, and a future call may change any of them.

What the scheme funds

The scheme's guide for the 2025 call lists four categories of eligible spending.

1. Ready-made software. A licence for software sold for general use, installed on the business's computers or used over the internet.
2. Specialised software, systems and information technology services. The guide names systems for resource planning, staff administration, customer records, document management and electronic invoicing, an online shop, and a specialised application written for the business. Configuration, the transfer of existing records, installation and staff training are included. Software rented over the internet is covered for up to 36 months.
3. Other digital upgrade costs. Digital advertising, certification to a digital security standard such as ISO 27001, and a consultant's fee for assessing the business's needs and preparing the application.
4. Equipment. New equipment that the upgrade requires, such as network equipment and servers. A proposal that consists of equipment alone is excluded.

The limits and exclusions

• The creation of a simple website is not eligible. Maintenance, support and the renewal of licences for software the business already uses are also excluded.
• The development or digital upgrade of a product or service that the applicant itself provides is not eligible.
• Digital advertising is eligible only where the proposal concerns an online shop, up to 10 per cent of the shop's eligible budget and no more than €4,000.
• The consultant's fee is eligible up to €1,000, and the consultant may not be a supplier of anything in the proposal.
• Value added tax is not eligible. Spending made before the application is submitted is not eligible either, with one exception in 2025 for consultants' fees invoiced after 1 October 2024.
• Invoices from Cypriot suppliers that are not registered for value added tax are not accepted, and neither are payments in cash.

Who may apply

The scheme is open to small and medium-sized enterprises that are established, or will be established, in the areas under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus. The guide applies the European Commission's definition: fewer than 250 staff, and either an annual turnover of no more than €50 million or a balance sheet of no more than €43 million. A business that belongs to a group includes the group's figures.

The 2025 call treated a business that was set up and operating before 2024 as existing, and one set up from 1 January 2024 as new. A new business could apply only if its proposal included an online shop or the substantial use of advanced digital technologies, of which the guide gives artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain as examples. Simple cloud hosting does not meet that condition.

Businesses engaged in the primary production, processing or marketing of the agricultural products listed in Annex I of the EU Treaty are excluded, as are fisheries and aquaculture. Each business may submit one proposal per call.

The figures of the 2025 call

Item	Figure
Grant as a share of the eligible budget	50%
Maximum grant	€50,000
Share and maximum in mountainous and disadvantaged areas	70%, up to €70,000
Minimum eligible budget of a proposal	€5,000
Budget of the call	€14 million
Ceiling on aid of this kind to one undertaking over three years	€300,000
Time allowed to complete the project	12 months from the approval letter

These are the figures on the call's page on the government's Funding Programmes Portal, which is also published in English, and in the scheme's guide. The scheme belongs to the THALIA 2021-2027 programme and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus.

The business pays the remainder from its own funds or a loan and must show evidence that it can. An advance of up to 40 per cent of the approved grant is available against a bank guarantee. The balance is paid once the work has been completed and verified.

The last call and the position today

The Ministry announced the call on 15 April 2025 and opened it at 9:00 on 20 May 2025. Proposals were assessed in the order in which they were submitted. The Ministry's announcement of the same day states that the budget was covered on the first day and that 491 applications had been submitted. The portal shows the call as closed.

A business cannot apply today. On 2 October 2026 the Industry and Technology Service's page for the scheme listed calls in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2025 and none after them. The guide states that a call is announced on the Service's website, which is therefore the page to watch.

What to prepare before a call opens

In 2025 the budget lasted one day and a submitted application could not be amended, so an application had to be complete before the opening morning. The list of required documents for that call asked for:

• audited financial statements for 2022 and 2023, for an existing business;
• the auditor's declaration of turnover and average staff numbers for 2024;
• evidence that the business can pay its own share, such as bank statements or a bank's letter approving a loan;
• a declaration that the business is a small or medium-sized enterprise, signed by its representative and its auditor;
• the auditor's confirmation that the business is not an undertaking in difficulty;
• a detailed quotation for every item in the proposal other than the consultant's fee.

What a supplier's quotation must contain

For specialised software and systems, the same list requires the supplier's quotation to have six sections:

1. the profile and experience of the supplier, including its staff;
2. the present position of the business and its needs;
3. a description of the work proposed;
4. the advantages the business gains from it;
5. a timetable;
6. a detailed costing.

Spending without a quotation, or with a quotation that lacks one of these sections, is not considered for the grant. A business that intends to apply should say so when it first asks a supplier for a quotation.

How a website, an application or an AI system fits

Websites. The guide excludes the creation of a simple website and does not define the term. An online shop is named among the eligible systems, and digital advertising is eligible only alongside one. A business that wants a grant towards a website should therefore establish with the Service, before it applies, whether its project counts as a simple website. Qualia Solutions builds online shops and web platforms through its web design service.

Applications. A specialised application written for the business is named in the second category. The exclusion of the applicant's own product or service applies here, and the Service decides on which side of it a project falls. Our application development service produces iOS, Android and web applications from one build.

AI systems. The promotion of advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence is one of the scheme's stated aims, and the second category names process automation and data analysis. Whether a given project is eligible is decided by the Service on the proposal and its quotations. Our AI agents respond to enquiries, qualify leads and process documents.

Qualia Solutions works from Digeni Akrita 54 in Nicosia. We provide a written proposal, with the scope, the deliverables and the cost, before any development begins.

Sources

• Funding Programmes Portal: Digital Upgrade Scheme for Enterprises, 2025 call (Greek), with its English version
• Funding Programmes Portal: completion of the submission of proposals, 2025 call (Greek)
• Industry and Technology Service: guide to the scheme, 2025 call (Greek, PDF)
• Industry and Technology Service: list of required documents, 2025 call (Greek, PDF)
• Industry and Technology Service: the scheme and its calls (Greek)
• European Commission: SME definition

Checked on 2 October 2026.