Netherlands-Ukraine Cybersecurity grant 2026 (NL-UA CF)
Are you working on cybersecurity and would you like to learn from other cybersecurity business? Are you interested in strengthening the civilian cybersecurity resilience in both the Netherlands and Ukraine? Within the Netherlands-Ukraine Cybersecurity grant 2026, a Dutch and Ukrainian company will work together in a consortium on a single project for six months.
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What does the NL-UA CF grant entail?
The NL-UA CF grant is intended to increase cooperation between the Ukrainian and Dutch cybersecurity ecosystems. Another objective is for cybersecurity businesses to learn from eachother and contribute to civil cyber security in the Netherlands and Ukraine.
The NL-UA CF is coordinated by the Dutch Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCC-NL).
Register for the information and matchmaking sessions
Information sessions
During the information session, we will explain all the conditions of the scheme and how to submit your application. The information session will take place on Thursday 26 March.
Register for the information session
Matchmaking sessions
During the matchmaking sessions, entrepreneurs who are interested in the NL-UA CF scheme will pitch their projects. Based on these pitches, we will match Dutch and Ukrainian companies so they can form a consortium together. The matchmaking sessions will take place on Monday 30 March and Wednesday 8 April.
For whom?
The grant is aimed at businesses in the Netherlands and Ukraine that develop innovative cybersecurity solutions in the form of products and/or services. Under this grant, one Dutch and one Ukrainian company form a consortium and work together on a six-month project.
4 domains
You should submit your project in one or more of the following 4 domains:
- Solutions that facilitate or improve the implementation of Security Operations Centre-as-a-Service and Managed Security Services, such as tools for more efficient onboarding and implementation.
- Cloud security solutions that help Ukraine diversify its cloud storage and cloud service providers.
- Solutions for improving Identity & Access Management and email protection to promote data integrity.
- Developments that optimise forensic investigation and incident response. Examples include incident response plans, tabletop exercises for crisis preparedness, and tools that facilitate or improve forensic investigation.
Conditions
To be eligible for the Netherlands-Ukraine cyber security grant, the following conditions apply to your project, your partnership and eligible costs.
Project
The grant amount per project is a minimum of €200,000 and a maximum of €250,000. A project has a duration of 6 months.
The partners in the consortium must meet the following conditions:
- each partner is a company;
- the consortium must consist of two companies, including one local company with its registered office in Ukraine and knowledge of the local context, and one company with its registered office in the Netherlands;
- each partner must have demonstrable expertise in the type of activities to be carried out by it within the framework of the partnership;
- each partner must have demonstrable, structurally guaranteed and sufficient capacity to carry out the activities to be performed by them within the framework of the partnership;
- all partners must be necessary for achieving the objective of the activities for which they are applying for a grant. They must demonstrably play a clear and significant role within the partnership. This must be evident from the project plan;
- the partnership must have been formed prior to the submission of the application.
The role of coordinator, who is responsible for financial and administrative management, is fulfilled by a company with its registered office in the Netherlands or a company with its registered office abroad and a branch or permanent establishment in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the lead partner must:
- employ at least 3 FTEs. The documents submitted by this lead partner must demonstrate this, such as a collective payroll statement. In the case of a group or fiscal entity, this applies to the group or fiscal entity as a whole;
- be demonstrably capable of adequate financial management in order to ensure the targeted and effective implementation of the activities.
Ukrainian and Dutch (semi-)governmental institutions are not eligible for funding under this grant (neither directly as lead partner nor as partner in the partnership). However, it is possible to involve these institutions as (members of) the partnership, enabling them to advise on local needs in the context of the objectives to be achieved.
Eligible costs
The following costs are eligible for the grant:
- Personnel costs: the number of hours worked by persons directly involved in the eligible activities multiplied by € 87.50, which includes both direct wage costs and attributable indirect costs. A maximum of € 700 per day applies. As an exception to the fixed hourly rate, the hourly rate for personnel of partners abroad is set according to local standards up to a maximum of € 87.50.
- Depreciation costs of assets, with the exception of land and existing buildings, during the term of the activities. The basis for determining the depreciation costs is the purchase price, taking into account any residual value and plus any adjustment costs. If assets, with the exception of land and existing buildings, are transferred after the duration of the activities to a company in Ukraine that does not belong to the group or fiscal entity of the transferring partner, the cost price of these assets may be claimed as eligible costs.
- Third-party costs: costs owed to third parties that can be demonstrated on an invoice, up to 10% of the total subsidy amount received.
- Travel expenses: international travel expenses and inter-city travel expenses outside the Netherlands based on economy class.
- Accommodation costs: the maximum reimbursement for accommodation costs is the number of nights multiplied by the accommodation and other costs in accordance with the United Nations Daily Subsistence Allowance Rates applicable at the time of submission. Additional travel and accommodation costs may also be eligible for subsidy due to risks, insurance and negative travel advice, as long as you provide sufficient justification for these in the application.
Preparing your application
To submit your application, download the templates below and complete them. Then upload them as attachments to your application:
Please note: we will only process your application if you have used the correct template.
If the grant is awarded, you must submit a signed version of your consortium agreement within one week:
As this takes a lot of time, we recommend that you start this process early on. If you wish, you can also add the consortium agreement to your application in advance.
Are you having trouble drafting the agreement? Use the document below as an example agreement:
Apply
It is not yet possible to apply.
To apply, you log in using eHerkenning. For your application, you need at least level 3 with authorisation for RVO services at level eH3.
After your application
You can submit your projects until Wednesday 29 April at 17:00 Dutch time. Project applications must be complete by that time. We will only assess complete applications that have been submitted on time.
Assessment of applications
We rank the project plans within the grant ceiling for the applicable sub-area. A project is ranked higher the more it contributes to the ranking criteria. You can earn a minimum and maximum number of points for each ranking criterion. The minimum number of points you must meet is indicated for each criterion:
- Projects are tailored to Ukraine's needs and are in line with the priorities set out in the Tallinn Mechanism. Projects are not eligible if they focus (in part) on military cybersecurity.
- Projects contribute to the objective of the grant module on the relevant theme.
- Projects contribute to improving civil cyber security in Ukraine, whereby the projects contribute to longer-term cyber security solutions that could be applied in both the Netherlands and Ukraine in accordance with national and/or European objectives.
- Projects are effective and formulated in such a way that the SMART criteria can be taken into account, and in which it is clear that the partnership has relevant experience with similar projects.
- Projects can earn bonus points if a Dutch party can demonstrate that it has already collaborated in Ukraine since 20 February 2014, and if the project is designed in such a way that there is a plan to continue the collaboration between Ukraine and the Netherlands after the project has ended.
In the event that approving two or more applications with an equally high score would result in the subsidy ceiling being exceeded, we will determine which application is approved by means of a lottery.
Assessment criteria
| Criteria | Maximum number of points |
|
1.1 The partners’ suitability to carry out the project, as demonstrated by their possession of the necessary skills and experience to ensure that the project:
|
10 |
|
1.2 The extent to which the project contributes to the scope of the method or technique to be developed or further developed:
|
10 |
| 1.3 The extent to which there is a substantial transfer of knowledge and capabilities between the two parties in the partnership, including, among other things, an appropriate division of labour and a plan for regular knowledge exchange between the partners. A brief plan for regular knowledge exchange between the partners, based on the interests and needs of both parties. |
10 |
| Criteria | Maximum number of points |
| 2.1 The extent to which the project contributes to improving civil cybersecurity in Ukraine, as demonstrated by a description of how the project addresses Ukrainian needs, the use of local data, the rapid implementation of the solution in a volatile environment, and the integration of the solution into existing cyber security platforms. | 10 |
| 2. 2 The extent to which the project contributes to the creation of long-term cybersecurity solutions that can be used in Ukraine and/or in the Netherlands, in line with the themes referred to in criterion 1.2 and developed with reference to relevant cybersecurity policy objectives set out in Dutch, Ukrainian or European documents, as described in section 4.4. | 10 |
| 2.3 The extent to which the project’s results will be incorporated into future cyber resilience plans of Dutch companies, as evidenced by references to current and future European and Dutch cyber legislation and business objectives, as described in section 4.4. | 5 |
|
Criteria The extent to which the quality of the project plan and budget is assured, as evidenced by: |
Maximum number of points |
| 3.1 The extent to which the project is cost-effective, taking into account the level of the project’s (eligible) costs in relation to the intended development outcomes and risks. | 10 |
| 3.2 a) The extent to which the project plan has been drawn up in a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) manner, b) the extent to which the objectives are realistic and concrete, and c) the extent to which the partnership has demonstrable experience with comparable projects. | 10 |
| 3.3 a) The extent to which the risks to achieving the intended project objective have been identified, and b) the degree of detail regarding how the risks will be mitigated. | 10 |
| Criteria | Maximum number of points |
| 4.1 The extent to which the project has a clear plan for future cooperation between Dutch and Ukrainian partners once the grant has ended. | 5 |
| 4.2 The extent to which the Dutch partner in the partnership has demonstrable prior experience of working in Ukraine since 20 February 2014. | 5 |
Total number of points: minimum 63 and maximum 95 points
Under this grant, we work with an advance payment percentage. This means that consortia receive 90% of the grant after their application has been approved. The remaining 10% is paid after a successful final report.
Laws and regulations
Questions?
Do you have questions about your grant application? You may find the answer in the NL-UA CF questions and answers. Can't find the answer to your question? Please contact us at ncc-nl@rvo.nl.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
