Co-financing for factory digitalisation in Central & Eastern Europe (2026)

Seven countries, eight programmes that can pay for machine monitoring, MES or IIoT, and the data you need before you apply. Status as of 22 September 2026.

Programmes by country

One row per programme that can plausibly carry a machine-monitoring, MES or IIoT project. Intensity is the maximum share of eligible costs the grant covers. The software column states how explicit the evidence is.

Sources: agency pages linked in each row; items marked (consultant) from mdotacje.pl (PL) and cepu.ro (RO); Hungarian conditions from pafi.hu because the official data sheet was still being uploaded on 22 Sep 2026. EUR at ECB reference rates of 21 Sep 2026; BGN at the fixed 1.95583 per EUR.

Which one applies to your plant

• Size decides first. Every grant in the table is for SMEs; only the Polish tax relief is open to any size. A plant owned by a large group usually fails the SME test even if the site itself has 150 people. Large firms are served mostly by loans (Hungary) or R&D-linked calls (Poland's Ścieżka SMART via NCBR).
• Location decides second. Czech OP TAK excludes Prague. Hungary's GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 excludes projects in Budapest. In Romania the money sits in eight regional programmes, so the plant's region picks the guide.
• Project size decides third. A 20–40 machine monitoring project fits Dig.IT, OP TAK, PR Centru and PKIP. It is too big for one SIEA voucher (cap €30k) and too small on its own for GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 (HUF 150m floor, about €414k) or P4D (total cost above €200k).
• Timing decides last. If the call is closed, use the months before the next one to collect baseline data. Evaluators score what you can already show.

What almost every scheme asks for: indicators with a baseline and a target

The programmes differ in money and paperwork, but they share one logic. You describe a digitalisation project, you state measurable result indicators, and you commit to a baseline value and a target value. At the final report, and sometimes later in a sustainability check, you show the target was reached.

This is where monitoring projects become strong or weak. A baseline typed from a shift supervisor's memory or a monthly ERP extract is easy to write and hard to defend. A baseline captured automatically from the machines, over enough weeks to include normal variation, gives you three things:

• A number you can prove. Timestamps, stop events and counts can be exported for the evaluator or the auditor.
• A realistic target. You set the target from the real loss structure, not from a vendor brochure, so you do not promise a gain you cannot deliver.
• The same method before and after. If the baseline and the final value come from the same capture method, the comparison holds. If the baseline is manual and the final value automatic, the evaluator can question the gain.

A practical order: install measurement on the machines that matter, run it for 4–8 weeks without changing anything, then write the application from those numbers. Many programmes do not fund costs incurred before the application or before the project start date. Check the call's eligibility start date, and budget a pre-application measurement phase as your own cost, outside the project.

What to measure before you apply

Four indicators appear, in some wording, in almost every call. They are credible because they are physical and countable, and hard to game when captured automatically.

Electricity prices: Eurostat nrg_pc_205, non-household band 2,000–19,999 MWh, excl. VAT and recoverable taxes, EUR/kWh, 2025-S2.

Each indicator needs a written measurement method: what counts, over which period, from which source. Put it in the application. It prevents arguments at the final report. For OEE definitions and component formulas, see manufacturing-metrics.org; this site does not repeat them.

The wage-pressure argument, in Eurostat numbers

Most calls ask why the project is needed now. In Poland, Romania and Bulgaria the answer is in public statistics: hourly labour cost in manufacturing rose about three times faster than the EU average between 2023 and 2025.

Source: Eurostat lc_lci_lev (D1_D4_MD5, NACE C), 2023–2025; % change calculated. EUR figures include exchange-rate effects.

Two consequences for an application. First, the argument is "more good output from the same hours", not "fewer people". Headcount reduction reads badly in most calls, and manufacturing vacancy rates in Poland (0.8%), Slovakia (0.7%) and Romania (0.5%) were below the EU average of 1.5% in 2025 (Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2). The pressure is cost and skills, not empty lines. Second, the gap is still wide: manufacturing gross value added per employed person was €39.5k in Poland, €32.1k in Romania and €23.2k in Bulgaria in 2025, against €89.3k for the EU-27 (calculated from Eurostat nama_10_a10 and nama_10_a10_e).

The calculator turns your own labour-cost growth into the output gain that would offset it. Use the result as the justification line in the application and as a sanity check on your target.

Country pages

Each country page covers who qualifies, the share and size of support, which monitoring, MES and IIoT costs are eligible and on what evidence, the 2026 status, a worked co-financing example and the indicators an evaluator will look for.

• Poland: Dig.IT (ARP/FENG) and the robotisation tax relief
• Czechia: OP TAK Digitální podnik — prepare for the next call
• Romania: regional programmes and PR Centru Action 2.2
• Hungary: GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 combined loan
• Slovakia: SIEA robotisation and automation vouchers
• Bulgaria: PKIP Industry 4.0 — specifying the monitoring layer
• Slovenia: P4D digital transformation
• Wage-offset calculator
• Digitalisation Grant KPI & Budget Pack (xlsx)

Who publishes this page

This site is published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which sells production-monitoring and OEE software and has a CEE office in Bucharest (TEEPTRAK SRL). The programme information above is not tied to any vendor. A grant-funded project can be delivered by a local monitoring vendor, a systems integrator, an MES supplier or TeepTrak. For a small plant, a few weeks of manual stop logging in a spreadsheet can be a sensible first baseline before any purchase.

By country

• Poland: Dig.IT grant and robotisation relief for machine monitoring and MES
• Czechia: OP TAK Digitální podnik — preparing a machine-monitoring project for the next call
• Romania: regional programmes that fund production digitalisation in 2026
• Hungary: GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 combined loan for green and digital investment
• Slovakia: SIEA robotisation and automation vouchers for measurement and process optimisation
• Bulgaria: you won PKIP Industry 4.0 funding — now specify the monitoring layer so the indicators hold
• Slovenia: P4D digital transformation incentives — what the 2025 call paid and how to prepare

Questions

Is machine-monitoring or MES software eligible for EU co-financing in CEE?

In most 2026 schemes, yes, when it is part of a digital-transformation project. MES is named explicitly for Poland's Dig.IT (per consultant summary) and in Czech OP TAK guidance. IoT data collection from production lines is named in Romania's PR Centru Action 2.2, and IoT in Bulgaria's PKIP Industry 4.0 call.

Can a large company get these grants?

Mostly no. The grants listed here are for SMEs. Large firms can use Poland's robotisation tax relief, which applies to any size, or look at loan instruments and R&D-linked calls. Check the SME definition carefully if your plant belongs to a group.

Can SaaS subscriptions be funded, or only perpetual licences?

Romania's PR Centru Action 2.2 names subscription-based software licences explicitly, and Slovenia's P4D names software rental. For other programmes, check how the call treats subscription periods beyond the project end date; often only the period inside the project is eligible.

Which call is open right now?

As of 22 September 2026, Slovakia's SIEA vouchers (open since 12 Jan 2026) and Hungary's GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 (to 31 Dec 2026) accept applications. Poland's Dig.IT second call is planned for the turn of Q3/Q4 2026. Czech OP TAK and Slovenian P4D have no confirmed next digital call.

Why capture a baseline before applying?

Evaluators score measurable indicators with a baseline and a target, and the final report must show the target was reached. A baseline captured automatically from the machines is defensible and lets you set a target you can hit.

Sources

1. ARP — Dig.IT programme page
2. ARP — Granty na cyfryzację
3. mDotacje — Dig.IT 2026 summary (consultant, updated 21 Sep 2026)
4. Euro-Funding — ulga na robotyzację po 2026 r. (11 Mar 2026)
5. OP TAK — Digitální podnik – Digitální technologie – výzva I
6. eNovation — Jak uspět ve výzvě Digitální podnik (consultant, 10 Nov 2025)
7. CCI Brașov — PR Centru Action 2.2 relaunch 2026 (29 Apr 2026)
8. CEPU — up to €200,000 for SME digitalisation, Centre region (consultant)
9. palyazat.gov.hu — GINOP Plusz-1.4.5-25 basic data
10. Pafi.hu — Nemzeti Bajnokok combined loan programme summary
11. SIEA — robotisation and automation innovation vouchers call
12. Ministry of Innovation and Growth — PKIP BG16RFPR001-1.008 Industry 4.0
13. Slovene Enterprise Fund — P4D 2025 digital transformation of SMEs
14. Eurostat lc_lci_lev, hourly labour cost, manufacturing (2023–2025)
15. Eurostat nama_10_a10 and nama_10_a10_e, manufacturing GVA and employment (2025)
16. Eurostat nrg_pc_205, electricity prices for non-household consumers (2025-S2)
17. Eurostat jvs_a_rate_r2, job vacancy rate, manufacturing (2025)
18. ECB euro foreign exchange reference rates (21 Sep 2026)

Published by TEEPTRAK SAS, which makes production-monitoring and OEE software, with an office in Bucharest (TEEPTRAK SRL). Figures are sourced on each page. Funding rules change: check the official call documents before you budget.