Nearly 100 Bulgarian firms will share €61.5m in EU grants to upgrade their production of defence goods and dual-use items, the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation said.

Close to 200 firms applied, and many projects were left on reserve lists. The programme's managing authority will now discuss how to find more money and raise the budget for the scheme.

The deadline for applications ended in mid-April. The budget was then about €70.6m, and firms asked for more than twice that amount.

The money comes from the Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises programme, which is run by the European Funds for Competitiveness Executive Agency, part of the ministry. Micro, small, medium and large firms could apply.

A firm can get between €51,129 and €3.6m. Companies can spend the money on machines, facilities, equipment and specialist software, as well as patents, licences and know-how. The programme also pays for construction and installation work, but this cannot exceed 50% of a project's total costs.

The scheme aims to help firms expand their industrial capacity to make defence goods and dual-use items. These include high-performance computers, microprocessors, radar systems, lidars, encryption software, drones and other unmanned aircraft.

The agency will invite the approved firms to sign contracts.