Działanie 5.1 Fundusz wsparcia technologii krytycznych – sektor technologii obronnych, Ścieżka strategiczna niezależność (NCBR)

Applicant types

SME, Large company, Research org, NGO

Purpose

Research and innovation

R&D relevance

3 of 3

Poland eligible

Yes

Country limit

Applicants and consortium members must operate in Poland and meet Polish registration requirements

Region

Any

Consortium

Optional

Readiness level (TRL)

—

Per project

€33M

Topics

• Defence technology R&D
• Strategic independence
• Critical technology dependencies

Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026

Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.

Applicant restriction

Each applicant and consortium member must conduct activity in Poland and be entered in the relevant register as of application submission. KRS enterprises need a Polish registered office or at least one Polish branch, with the parent entity seated in an EU member state; CEIDG enterprises need at least one Polish business address. Research organisations and NGOs in a consortium also need Polish-register evidence.

Requirements apply to each applicant/member; separate register wording on physical p.7 also applies to consortium research organisations and NGOs.

Applicant restriction

An enterprise applicant or enterprise consortium member must have conducted business for at least 24 months and have its last two financial years closed. For a special-purpose company that does not meet this condition, it applies to the parent company, which must be seated in an EU member state.

Applies to each enterprise applicant/member; the parent-company exception is limited to the defined special-purpose company case.

Applicant type

Eligible project forms are an individual SME or large enterprise, or a consortium of enterprises that may include research organisations and NGOs. A consortium must include an enterprise, the leader must be an enterprise, and it may contain at most four members.

Consortium form is optional at call level; if selected, all consortium-specific criteria apply.

Application restriction

The 31 July 2026 FENG schedule plans applications from November 2026 through January 2027; it does not state exact days. The schedule says the call announcement is planned for October 2026 conditional on adoption of FENG changes.

Schedule is prospective and conditional; current snapshot status is forthcoming. No exact day or later announcement/reopening confirmation is claimed.

Consortium members, maximum

4 consortium members

Maximum members in a consortium.

Eligible project scope

This route covers NCBR-funded R&D projects in the defence-technology sector under STEP Path B, aimed at reducing or preventing EU strategic dependencies/vulnerabilities. It does not cover Path A or downstream manufacturing implementation.

Call-specific defence Path B; technology criticality and defence-sector definitions in criteria also govern eligibility.

Other condition

In a consortium project, enterprise(s) must account for at least 50% of total eligible project costs.

Applies only to consortium projects; this is a minimum cost-share condition, not an eligible-cost category or grant intensity.

Catalogue budget

PLN 250,000,000

Figure as listed by the provider. Whether it is the total allocation or a per-project cap is unverified unless a reviewed condition says so.

Call allocation

PLN 250,000,000

Planned route allocation in the FENG schedule; this is a call pool, not a per-project award ceiling.

Eligible cost limit

50 % of eligible R&D costs

Maximum share of eligible R&D costs incurred by each enterprise in a consortium; the same cap applies to NGOs.

Eligible cost limit

70 % of eligible R&D costs

Maximum share of eligible industrial research and experimental development costs incurred by an enterprise implementing alone.

Eligible cost limit

25 % of eligible R&D costs

Maximum share of eligible R&D costs incurred by the research organisation.

Project cost, minimum

PLN 3,000,000

Consortium with no large enterprise.

Project cost, minimum

PLN 5,000,000

Consortium that includes a large enterprise.

Project cost, minimum

PLN 5,000,000

Individually implemented large-enterprise project.

Project cost, minimum

PLN 3,000,000

Individually implemented SME project.

Project funding, maximum

PLN 140,000,000

Maximum requested grant for the whole project across all applicants/consortium members.

• Official programme announcement: defence technologies in FENG

  funduszeeuropejskie.gov.pl

• FENG 5.1 STEP defence Path B NCBR selection criteria

  nowoczesnagospodarka.gov.pl

• FENG schedule workbook effective from 31 July 2026, row 30

  nowoczesnagospodarka.gov.pl

Opens

—

Provider

FENG · NCBR

Source

nowoczesnagospodarka.gov.pl

Checked

24 Oct 2026

Review status

Partial review

Independent QA

No published hold

Reviewed

22 Oct 2026