EC Awards STEP Seals for Projects in Strategic Technologies

The European Commission has published the first projects that were awarded a Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) Seal. The seal is a quality label that gives more visibility to promising projects in clean and resource-efficient tech, and deep and digital tech. This label should help attract additional funding and support services.

The first 130 projects that were awarded the STEP Seal aim to develop cutting-edge clean technologies with a focus on energy and industry (Innovation Fund), and digital technologies for space-related applications (Horizon Europe/Space). STEP Seals are awarded by the EC to all projects contributing to objectives that meet the quality requirements in the calls for proposals under five programs funded by the EU budget:  Innovation Fund, Digital Europe Program, European Defense Fund, EU4Health program, and Horizon Europe.

The EC said it will actively promote these projects among public funding bodies, e.g. managing authorities of Cohesion Policy Funds and the Recovery and Resilience Plans in Member States, and among private investors. More concretely, Member States are encouraged to support projects awarded a STEP Seal under the Cohesion Policy Funds, Recovery and Resilience Facility, Modernization Fund, and  InvestEU. As a badge of distinction, the STEP Seal should help projects attract private finance, particularly from investors seeking derisked projects with a strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) profile.