Funding for an AI project in Denmark: all 2026 schemes

Four Danish schemes fund AI projects in 2026: SMV:Digital, AI-Boost, Innobooster and co-financing under Digital Europe. How much you can get depends on whether the project is about advice, about testing, or about actual development, and the single most important factor is applying inside the short window when the pool is open.

The money is not the problem. The problem is that the schemes live on four different websites, the amounts get adjusted a few times a year, and several of the guides sitting at the top of Google still quote figures that no longer apply.

This overview puts it all on one page: what each scheme covers, who can apply, what the deadlines are this autumn, and which scheme fits which type of AI project. Every amount has been checked against the official sources as of September 2026.

Four schemes fund AI projects in 2026

Each of the four schemes solves a different problem. SMV:Digital pays for external advice. AI-Boost gives access to experts and test tracks. Innobooster funds development where the outcome is not guaranteed in advance. Digital Europe is relevant if you are already part of an EU project.

They are not mutually exclusive, but they cannot cover the same costs. Pick one scheme per cost item, and keep the project description the same throughout.

SMV:Digital is the broad route to funding for an AI project

SMV:Digital is the state's grant program for digitalising small and medium-sized businesses. In practice it runs through the regional erhvervshuse (regional business hubs), and you apply via Virksomhedsguiden.

The relevant pool for most AI projects is called Digitalisation (advisory grant). Here the grant covers 50% of your costs for external advice excluding VAT, and the grant can be a maximum of 150.000 kr. That matches an advisory track worth 300.000 kr, where you pay the other half yourself.

Approved areas include system integration, digitalisation strategy, ERP and CRM, e-commerce, data analysis, and AI and automation. What matters is that you describe a specific process you want automated. "We want to get started with AI" will not be approved. "We want to automate our invoice approval, which currently occupies two employees every Friday" gets taken seriously.

The application window is short. The digitalisation pool in autumn 2026 is open from 9 November at 09:00 to 16 November at 23:55, and pools close once the funds are spent. We have written a deeper walkthrough of the program in our guide to SMV:Digital grants for AI, if you want to see the pools, requirements and application steps in detail.

AI-Boost: the EU pays most of the expert track

AI-Boost is a Danish European Digital Innovation Hub. Companies can buy AI checks, workshops, case panels and test tracks, and the EU and Danmarks Erhvervsfremmebestyrelse cover 75% of the price, so your co-payment falls between 9.500 kr and 37.500 kr depending on the scope of the task.

It is the cheapest way to get a qualified opinion on whether your idea holds up technically. In exchange, the scheme is narrow: it is aimed mainly at companies in health, life science and the built environment, plus suppliers to those three areas. The company-size requirements follow the standard SMB definition of a maximum of 249 employees and revenue of no more than EUR 50 million.

If you fall outside those industries, AI-Boost is not your route. SMV:Digital is the right place to start instead.

Innobooster: when the AI project carries technical risk

Innobooster from Innovationsfonden is a different type of scheme. It does not fund advice, but development projects where the outcome is uncertain and where new knowledge has to be created.

Innobooster invests from 200.000 kr to 5 mio. kr, the contribution can be at most 35% of the project's total costs, and the project can run for up to two years. There are four application periods a year, so you do not need to hit a single date.

It fits if you want to develop an AI model on your own data, build something that does not exist on the market yet, or solve a technical problem no supplier can price in advance. If you just want a well-known automation put into production, Innobooster is the wrong fit. It is neither faster nor easier than paying for the work yourself at half price through SMV:Digital.

Digital Europe: co-financing for EU projects

If your company is part of a consortium under the Digital Europe program, Digitaliseringsstyrelsen can co-finance your share. You can apply for up to 25 pct. support toward your total costs in that project, and you apply as your own organisation, not as the consortium.

For most Danish SMBs this is not the entry point. But if you are already invited into an EU project, it is money that is sitting there waiting.

Which AI projects typically get funded?

The schemes do not fund technology, they fund a task that gets solved. The closer the project sits to a process you can put hours and kroner on, the easier it is to get approved.

These are the four types that most often go through:

• Invoicing and bookkeeping. Invoices that get received, approved and booked without manual entry. We have described the chain in detail in our guide to automating invoicing.
• Reporting. Weekly and monthly reports that assemble themselves from CRM, accounting and the webshop instead of costing an employee a day.
• Customer service. An assistant that answers the standard questions that resemble each other, and forwards the rest with a draft reply.
• Data entry between systems. Information that moves from form to CRM to accounting without copy-paste.

A worked example: a trades company with 12 employees applies for advisory funding for a track where quote follow-up and invoicing get mapped and automated. The track costs 100.000 kr with the consultant, the grant covers half, and the company pays the rest itself. If the office saves just half a workday a week afterward, the co-payment is earned back in the first year.

Be honest in the description. The case worker has read many applications, and the one that names a specific system and a specific number of hours always comes across stronger than the one that mentions artificial intelligence five times.

Requirements and deadlines for AI project funding

The shared requirements across the Danish schemes:

• Size: 2-249 employees and revenue of no more than EUR 50 million. This is the European SMB definition.
• Registration: a Danish CVR number and active operations.
• Co-financing: you always pay part of it yourself. For advisory grants that is half plus VAT.
• External supplier: the grant covers buying in outside help, not paying your own staff's salaries.
• Documentation: invoices and reporting, before the grant is paid out.

The deadlines are where people trip up. The SMV:Digital pools open at a set time and run first come, first served, and the popular pools can close within days. Set a reminder a week before the opening date, and have your project description, budget and CVR details ready to go.

Call your regional erhvervshus before you apply. The guidance is free, and they can give you a preliminary read on whether the project fits the pool. It takes half an hour and saves you a rejected application.

How to choose the right scheme

Start by knowing what the project is worth. Once you can say how many hours a process costs today, and what it would cost automated, you have both a strong application section and a target to hold the consultant to. Our ROI calculator for automation gives you the number in fifteen minutes.

After that the choice is fairly simple:

• Need mapping and planning, and you fall outside AI-Boost's industries: SMV:Digital, digitalisation.
• You are in health, life science or construction and want the idea assessed professionally: AI-Boost.
• Something new needs to be developed with real technical uncertainty: Innobooster.
• You are already in an EU consortium: Digital Europe co-financing.

If you are unsure what a realistic first project looks like, our walkthrough of AI automation for SMBs gives you a set of concrete examples to choose between.

Four mistakes that cost you the grant

You apply too late. The most common mistake and the most expensive one. The pool closes once the money is spent, and an application sent in week two can be hopeless. The date is not a deadline, it is a starting gun.

The project is too vague. The case worker needs to see the process, the time spent and the result. Write down which task, how many hours, which systems, and what the goal is.

You have no plan for after the advice. The advisory grant pays for analysis and an action plan. The value only arrives once the plan gets built. Set aside budget and ownership for the implementation before you apply, otherwise the action plan ends up in a drawer.

You pick a consultant blind. You choose freely, and quality varies a lot. Ask for documented results from similar projects, and be skeptical of consultants who promise strategy, operations and AI all at once. We have gathered our own reasons automation projects fail, if you want a checklist to bring to the conversation.

At NoWorkr we typically find 15 hours a week that a team is losing to manual work, and our customer Markeity saves 20,000 DKK every month on systems we built once. From mapping to launch takes roughly 3 weeks once the plan is settled, and you can see how the process is put together before you commit to anything.

FAQ on AI project funding

How much can I get in funding for an AI project?

It depends on the scheme. SMV:Digital's digitalisation pool covers half of the advisory cost, and the grant can be a maximum of 150.000 kr. Innobooster works with larger amounts but covers a smaller share of the project.

Can I get funding to build the automation, or only for advice?

The SMV:Digital advisory grant covers external advice, meaning the analysis and the action plan. The actual development you typically pay for yourself, unless the project is new enough to qualify for Innobooster. Plan for two line items in the budget: the funded mapping and the unfunded build.

Who can apply for AI project funding?

Danish companies with 2-249 employees and revenue of no more than EUR 50 million. A few schemes have extra requirements, for example AI-Boost's industry restriction. Your local erhvervshus gives a free preliminary assessment.

When is the next deadline?

In autumn 2026, SMV:Digital's digitalisation pool opens 9 November at 09:00 and closes 16 November at 23:55. The cybersecurity pool runs 28 September to 5 October. AI-Boost and Innobooster have ongoing or quarterly rounds.

Can I combine several schemes in the same project?

You can use different schemes for different cost items, but you cannot get two grants for the same cost. A common model is using AI-Boost to assess the idea professionally, and then SMV:Digital for the actual advisory work.

The funding exists, and the requirements are manageable. What decides the outcome is whether you know exactly what you want to automate the day the pool opens.