Digital Vouchers Programme (vouchers for data, AI and compliance, Malta)

What it funds

Four vouchers, reimbursed at the end of the project against the deliverables. Data Readiness pays for consultancy to label, clean, digitize and map data to a documented schema or a data quality standard. Build pays for producing open datasets or synthetic data fit for testing AI models. Regulatory Assessment pays for an opinion on whether a system falls under the AI Act and at what risk level, or whether a product falls under the Cyber Resilience Act. TARF/MDIA Sandbox pays for entry into the Malta Digital Innovation Authority's technology recognition framework. Each voucher's ceiling and its top-ups, by sector or for publishing through an API, are on the call page; the rules are in the Rules for Participation (Option A).

Requirements and what is left out

• Be an entity registered in Malta by the application date, with its own or licensed premises and at least one employee paying tax in Malta.
• Apply alone: no consortia and no joint applications.
• Companies apply under Option A, as de minimis aid. The full contribution of Option B applies only to public bodies and research organizations with no economic activity.
• The share not covered stays with the beneficiary and cannot be paid in kind.
• Data Readiness and Build pay for consultancy and for the report of an MDIA-recognized technical expert, who must be independent of the consultant. Software and hardware are not eligible costs.
• Build requires irreversibly anonymized, GDPR-compliant data, made available for at least ten years to the MDIA and sandbox users; the MDIA may reassign ownership of the data.
• Regulatory Assessment covers only a lawyer warranted in Malta or an MDIA-recognized expert, and allows at most three applications per entity on different activities.
• An entity with an active Digital Technologies or Digital Innovation Programme project cannot claim the TARF/MDIA Sandbox voucher.
• No other public funding for the same purpose; costs count only between the start and end dates in the Grant Agreement, with no extension.
• Applications received during the two yearly pauses set out in the rules are not processed and may have to be resubmitted.

How to apply

1. Download from the call page the rules for your option and the application form.
2. Pick the voucher and, for Data Readiness and Build, find the MDIA-recognized technical expert in the data domain.
3. Fill in the form, attach CVs, articles of association, VAT certificate and the de minimis declaration, and have the legal representative sign everything.
4. Send the application by email with the subject "Digital Vouchers Programme Submission" and keep the acknowledgment of receipt.

Compliant applications go through an external evaluation, except Regulatory Assessment, and are funded in order of arrival while funds last. The submission email address differs between the call page and the rules, so it is worth confirming it with Xjenza Malta before sending.

What this budget builds

Data Readiness is the voucher closest to my work, because it pays for the part nobody usually funds: finding out what state the ERP data is in, defining the schema it has to reach, and measuring before and after, which is exactly what the MDIA expert has to certify. For Regulatory Assessment I prepare the technical file on the system, what it does, on which data and who uses it, so the legal opinion starts from an accurate description rather than a brochure. The opinion is signed by the lawyer or the recognized expert, not by me.

This entry is informational and is not advice: I do not handle grant applications, and before committing to a purchase it is worth reading the official source above or talking to whoever files the application.