Malta Announces €15M Digitalise Your SME Call 2 — New AI Bonus Up to €107,000

Malta’s government has just announced the most significant development in the country’s SME digitalisation funding landscape in years. On 4 May 2026, the Ministry for European Funds and the Ministry for the Economy jointly announced Call 2 of the Digitalise Your SME scheme — tripling the budget from €5 million to €15 million and introducing a brand-new AI top-up of up to €107,000 for projects incorporating Artificial Intelligence.

This is the first tranche of Malta’s broader €100 million AI and innovation budget commitment, announced in the 2025/2026 Budget. For Maltese SMEs considering AI investment, the timing has never been better.

What Is the Digitalise Your SME Scheme?

The Digitalise Your SME scheme is a non-repayable grant programme co-financed by European Funds, administered by Fondi.eu. It supports micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across all sectors to invest in digitalising their operations — product and process design, procurement, supply chain, distribution, and after-sales systems.

Call 1 launched with a €5 million budget and has been running on rolling ~15-day cut-offs since late 2025. Call 2 is a significantly larger, more ambitious iteration with AI explicitly at its centre.

The Key Numbers: What Has Changed

The headline figures from the Call 2 announcement are striking:

Detail	Call 1	Call 2
Total Budget	€5,000,000	€15,000,000
Base Maximum Grant	—	€128,400
AI Top-Up (new)	None	Up to €107,000
Total Maximum (with AI)	—	€235,400
Aid Intensity (Malta)	Up to 50%	Up to 50%
Aid Intensity (Gozo)	Up to 60%	Up to 60%
Opens	2025	1 July 2026
First Cut-Off	—	31 July 2026

The AI Top-Up: Malta’s Most Significant AI Grant for SMEs

The introduction of an explicit AI component is the defining feature of Call 2. Malta SMEs investing in AI-powered digitalisation can now access up to €107,000 on top of the base €128,400 grant — bringing the total to €235,400 in non-repayable funding.

This AI top-up is administered in partnership with the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA). MDIA CEO Kenneth Brincat highlighted the importance of “responsible and effective implementation of Artificial Intelligence within the private sector” at the announcement event.

There are two conditions attached to the AI top-up, disbursed one year after project completion:

1. A productivity gains report — demonstrating measurable productivity improvements from the AI investment
2. An ethical AI and societal well-being report — aligning with EU AI Act principles and responsible AI standards

Both reports are structured requirements that an experienced AI development partner — like Neural AI — can prepare as part of project delivery. If you are working with Neural AI on your AI implementation, we include preparation of both reports as part of our application support service.

What Malta SMEs Can Fund

The scheme covers digitalisation of business operations, with AI-related investments explicitly eligible in Call 2:

• AI chatbots and virtual assistants for customer service
• Machine learning integration into business processes
• Intelligent document processing and automation
• Predictive analytics and demand forecasting
• Computer vision for quality control or operations
• AI-powered supply chain and procurement systems
• Digital workflow automation with AI components
• Data infrastructure to support AI deployment

There is no sector restriction. iGaming companies, healthcare providers, hospitality businesses, retail, manufacturing, logistics, legal firms — any Malta SME can apply.

What the Government Said

Minister Silvio Schembri (Economy, Enterprise and Strategic Projects) was direct about the scale of ambition: “In the last Budget, we announced a total of €100 million in measures related to Artificial Intelligence and innovation, and today we are announcing the first €15 million of these, specifically targeted towards SMEs.”

Minister Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi (European Funds) framed Call 2 as integral to Malta Vision 2050 — the country’s long-term strategy for a digital, sustainable, and resilient economy.

The scheme is co-financed by European Funds under Malta’s 2021–2027 Operational Programme.

Call 2 Cut-Off Dates

Call 2 opens on 1 July 2026 and runs on a rolling basis with cut-offs approximately every 15 days:

• 31 July 2026 (first cut-off)
• 17 August 2026
• 18 September 2026
• 30 September 2026
• 16 October 2026
• 30 October 2026
• 13 November 2026
• 30 November 2026
• 14 December 2026

Applications are submitted online via sfd.gov.mt at any time; they are reviewed at each cut-off date.

Call 1 is still running with remaining cut-offs on 15 May, 29 May, 12 June, and 30 June 2026 (the final Call 1 date). If you want to apply under Call 1, time is short.

How Neural AI Helps Malta SMEs Apply

Neural AI handles the complete Digitalise Your SME application process for Malta businesses — from eligibility assessment through to project delivery and the post-completion reports required for the AI top-up.

Specifically, we:

• Assess your eligibility and identify the right scope for your application
• Structure your AI project to maximise eligible costs and grant coverage
• Prepare your application including all supporting documentation
• Build the AI solution that the grant funds — chatbots, ML models, automation systems, analytics platforms
• Prepare the productivity gains and ethical AI reports required to claim the AI top-up disbursement

Our AI automation, AI chatbot development, machine learning, computer vision, and data analytics services all qualify as eligible costs under the scheme.

Start Now — Call 1 Cuts Off Soon

If you are a Malta SME exploring AI investment, we recommend acting before the Call 1 cut-offs close in June 2026, or preparing your Call 2 application now ahead of the July opening.

Book a free consultation with the Neural AI team. We will assess your business, identify the best funding route, and walk you through the entire application process — at no upfront cost to you.

For a full breakdown of the scheme including all eligibility criteria, eligible costs, and cut-off dates, see our Digitalise Your SME scheme guide.

To explore all available Malta AI funding options — including Xjenza’s Digital Innovation Programme, Malta Enterprise Business Development, and MicroInvest — visit our Malta AI Funding guide.