One-liner: the Comunitat Valenciana's European Digital Innovation Hub, coordinated by ITI — free, fully-funded "test before invest" services to help SMEs and startups adopt AI, with no grant application and no justification paperwork on the company's side.
What a founder gets
Four blocks of services, all 100% funded:
- Technology — "test before invest": digital-maturity/data diagnosis, then a proof of concept or pilot to check whether an AI, computer-vision, automation or data-analytics solution actually adds value before the company pays a vendor.
- Training for the team.
- Help finding public and private funding to scale after the pilot.
- Connection to European resources — the 200+ EDIH network, AI Factories (supercomputing) and Test and Experimentation Facilities.
- Documented use cases include EU AI Act compliance advice for companies designing algorithms, defect detection by computer vision, and neuromorphic high-speed counting.
Who it's for
- SMEs of the Comunitat Valenciana, including startups — especially those that don't know which technology to use, how, or at what cost.
How to engage
- Submit a request through the programme's web form describing the need; an advisor analyses the case and routes it to the right resource. Not a competitive call — rolling.
Key facts
- Phase 2: 2026–2028, aiming at ~600 companies and up to 1,000 services. Phase 1 (2023–2026) served 600+ companies with ~900 services. A sustainability phase is planned from 2029.
- About thirty partner entities: REDIT institutes, the five public Valencian universities and health-research centres, CEV, the chambers of commerce and the Consejo de Cámaras; supported by the Conselleria de Innovación and IVACE+i. Co-funded by the EU and the Generalitat.
- The rare thing here is the absence of paperwork — the hub carries the justification burden, not the company. For a small startup that has walked away from EU money before, that is the pitch.
- Published case: a Valencian ICU-ventilation device maker re-architected for ML through the hub, piloted, then raised €2M to deploy.