SECURE Second Open Call 2026: Cyber Resilience Act grants for EU SMEs

The SECURE Second Open Call gives grants to small European companies that need to meet the EU Cyber Resilience Act. The SECURE consortium is coordinated by Italy's national cybersecurity agency, ACN, and funded by the EU Digital Europe Programme. The call has a total budget of €11.5 million.

Each grant covers 50% of eligible costs, up to €30,000. Fundable work includes audits and support for conformity assessment, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, source code analysis, hardening of IT and OT infrastructure, incident handling, risk assessment, supply chain security, product update plans and training. Buying goods or services needed to meet the requirements is also covered.

Micro, small and medium enterprises can apply if their headquarters or main operations are in an EU Member State, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. The applicant's National Coordination Centre checks eligibility, so a firm in a country whose centre does not support SECURE may be ruled out. Some sectors, such as medical devices, aviation and automotive, are outside the scope of the Act.

To apply, register a SECURE account, complete the eligibility checklist, upload the national registration documents and submit the proposal and budget templates on the platform. The call opened on October 1 and closes on December 11, 2026.

Proposals are scored on excellence and relevance to the Act, impact and clarity, and implementation. Proposals that use Cyber Resilience Act tools from other Digital Europe projects get extra credit.

Quick answers

How much of the project cost is covered?

50% of eligible costs, capped at €30,000 even when a project costs more than €60,000. An optional 40% prefinancing is paid when the agreement is signed.

How long can a project last?

At most 180 days.