The grant is designed for existing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) registered and operating in the Republic of Cyprus. Most sectors—including tourism (like boat safaris and hotels), retail, professional services, and manufacturing—are highly encouraged to apply. The only major sectors usually excluded are primary agriculture, fisheries, and aquaculture. Important: Your company must have a clean record with the Tax Department and Social Insurance to pass the administrative checks.

To be considered for the grant, your total proposed digital project must have a minimum eligible budget of €5,000. The maximum budget can go up to €50,000 (or sometimes higher, depending on the specific government call). The Ministry will reimburse 50% of your approved budget (or up to 60-70% if your business is in a designated mountainous or disadvantaged area).

No. Like all European Union and Cypriot funding schemes, this operates strictly on a reimbursement basis. You must first pay your digital agency (like emarketing.cy) for the work using your own company funds. Once the project is completed, live, and fully paid for, you submit the zero-balance invoices and bank transfer proofs to the Ministry, and they will wire the 50% subsidy into your corporate account.

Yes, but with a catch. The grant includes a "Digital Promotion" category that covers digital advertising (Google Ads, Meta Ads) and SEO. However, you usually cannot apply only for marketing. The marketing must be part of a broader digital transformation project—such as building a new e-commerce website, implementing a booking engine, or integrating specialized software.

Absolutely not. This is the most common reason grants get rejected. Every single transaction related to your digital upgrade must be 100% traceable. You must pay your agency via official corporate bank transfers or a corporate credit/debit card. Cash payments are immediately disqualified by government auditors.

While you can technically navigate the MECI portal yourself, we highly recommend using your accountant. The application requires uploading recent financial statements, tax clearance certificates, and VAT details. At emarketing.cy, we provide the highly detailed "Technical Quotation" for the web development and AI infrastructure, which your accountant simply attaches to your financial paperwork on the portal.

Yes. Under the "Hardware/Equipment" category, you can purchase necessary IT equipment (like servers, computers, or POS systems) as long as it directly supports the new digital infrastructure (like running your new e-commerce management system). However, hardware costs are usually capped at a certain percentage of the total project budget.

If your company has outstanding debts to the VAT department, Income Tax, or Social Insurance, your application will fail the initial "Administrative Check" and be rejected before they even look at your website proposal. You must settle all government debts before your accountant hits submit on the portal.