Ministry of Culture (FTNC) Digital Transformation and Cyber Security Support Fund

• Public institutions/ State services

The following are eligible for this scheme:

• operators under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and similar bodies
• services under national jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture

Applications for pooled projects, that is to say projects involving several institutions, are admissible provided that:

• have identified a lead institution
• that the record be filed by that institution on behalf of the collective it represents.

This leader will be, where appropriate, the sole recipient of the grant granted under this call for projects.

Any rules for sharing the grant and the industrial and intellectual property of the project or its results are the responsibility of the project leader and its partners.

Applications are limited to 1 project per institution per year.

Type of project

The project must meet the objectives of the call for proposals and aim to:

• the conducting preparatory, strategic or prospective studies : diagnosis and audit of the information system, drafting of a digital strategy, complex project engineering prior to the submission of an application for funding from other funding centres, etc.
• and/or the modernisation and/or rationalisation of the institution’s information system. This could include: implementing a cybersecurity strategy, deploying a collaborative tool to make its organization more agile and cross-cutting, migrating to energy-efficient technological solutions, equipping a data processing chain.
• and/or the deployment of innovative services and uses responding to societal changes and the expectations of the public/users within the scope of the Ministry of Culture. This may include: deploying websites, applications, content discovery services in situ or online or customization aimed at improving the reception of all audiences, innovative services enhancing data/ cultural content, enrich the offer of digital services to students.

Stage of project development

Proposed projects may be at different stages of development:

• reflection or design phase
• implementation or delivery phase
• deployment or industrialization phase

Project duration

The project has a maximum duration of 12 months. It must be launched within 2 months of notification of the grant.

Eligible expenditure is as follows:

• costs directly related to the projectsuch as preliminary or preparatory studies for the launch of the project, the development or acquisition of a digital solution and the associated study, consultancy and integration services, equipment and supplies directly related to the project, amortization of software and equipment
• costs related to staff external to the institution working for the project
• costs of counselling and support services provided by external consultants and service providers, supported directly by the project (excluding regular support from the incubator project leader)
• costs related to environmental impact assessment and mitigation of the project

The project budget may include items for the acquisition or rental of equipment, but this item will have to remain very small in the portion of the project budget for which a grant is requested.

The financial contribution of the Ministry of Culture may only cover the expenditure actually disbursed by the beneficiary or its partners, from the date of notification to the beneficiary of the decision of the selection committee of the call for projects.

The project components of content production and digitisation, training and acculturation, and communication actions are not eligible for funding.

The budget for proposed projects may incorporate these elements but they are to be funded by the institution or another partner.

In addition, recurring operating expenses are not eligible.

The maximum grant requested may not exceed €250,000.

Excluding IS projects proposed by the SNA, co-funding of the project is mandatory :

• the holder’s contribution may not be less than 25% of the total project budget
• the grant may not exceed 75% of the total project budget

The holder’s financial participation in cash is mandatory. The value of the time spent by the holder cannot be recorded as a financial contribution.

For IS projects proposed by the SNA (Services with national competence), that is to say projects involving computer project management combining the digital service according to the usual procedure in force, no co-financing is required, the organization of departmental IT project management with funding from the Digital Service.

The grant is paid in two instalments as follows:

• 80% of the grant upon signature of the agreement
• 20% balance at the end of the project, upon presentation of a summary statement of actual expenditure and balance sheet report

The application form in French must be complete at the time of filing and comply with the presentation rules described below. No additional documents will be accepted beyond the application deadline.

Eligible projects are examined against the following criteria:

• alignment with the department’s Digital Cultural and IS Strategy and, if applicable, the institution’s Digital Strategy
• interest of the project for the cultural sector with regard to the challenges of digital sobriety, in its construction and use phase
• feasibility of the project (schedule, skills/project team, budget)
• sustainability of the project (organisation and protected means for the maintenance of the system at the end of the project)
• project impact (including indicators and targets to measure impact)
• replicability and pooling potential of the project
• for innovative projects: innovative nature of the project in terms of technology or use

The selection committee will adjust its assessment of the case favourably when:

• the proposed project is a pooled project, that is to say meeting the needs of several institutions and associating at least 2 institutions
• the proposed project takes into account its environmental impact and proposes a strategy to reduce it.

The selection committee will also be attentive in the composition of the team to respect the issues of parity and professional inclusion of people with disabilities.

Each committee examines the files submitted up to 1 month before it is held. A file filed outside these deadlines will be examined at the next committee.

When the selection committee deems it necessary and systematically for requests for funding over €100,000, holders may be invited to answer questions of the selection committee during a hearing of about twenty minutes in videoconference.

Commission #1

• File Open: February 1, 2023
• Deadline for submission: 30 March 2023, 23:59 (Paris time). No file may be filed or considered after this date.
• Commission: April 27, 2023
• Hearings of projects examined by the Commission n°1: 4 May and 5 May 2023
• Announcement of results: June 2023, on Simplified Procedures

Commission #2

• Opening of the deposit of files: 03 April 2023
• Application deadline: 05 September 2023, 23:59 (Paris time). No file may be filed or considered after this date.
• Commission: September 29, 2023
• Hearings of projects examined by the Commission n°2: 5 and 6 October 2023
• Announcement of results: November 2023, on Simplified Procedures

Before the application is submitted, institutions are strongly encouraged to contact the Ministry (ftnc.snum@culture.gouv.fr) in order to verify the eligibility/suitability of the project to the objectives of the window and its alignment with the digital cultural strategy of the ministry.

1. To access the online form, click on the "Access form" button at the bottom of the page.
2. Log in or create an account, then let yourself be guided.

Before the application is submitted, institutions are strongly encouraged to contact the Ministry (ftnc.snum@culture.gouv.fr) to verify the project’s eligibility / suitability for the objectives of the window and its alignment with the department’s digital and IS strategy.

FTNC encourages pooling of solutions between institutions. The ministry (ftnc.snum@culture.gouv.fr) can be consulted prior to the submission of the application to support the pooling and facilitate the contact with other project promoters.

The project budget may include items for the acquisition or rental of equipment, but this item will have to remain very small in the portion of the project budget for which a grant is requested.

FTNC supports the financing of costs directly related to the project: the recurring operating expenses it will incur are not eligible. Before starting the project, the institution ensures that it has the capacity to handle them over time.

FTNC is also aimed at similar bodies under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. There are seven such organizations: the Cinémathèque Française, the Centre national des arts du cirque/ Artcena, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Palais de Tokyo, the Jeu de Paume, the Ensemble intercontemporain and the Pass Culture.

FTNC is exclusively intended for establishments under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, similar bodies and services with national competence of the Ministry of Culture. Local public institutions are therefore not eligible.

• To access the online form, click on the "Access form" button above.
• Log in or create an account, then let yourself be guided.

All parts listed below, whose mandatory templates are to be downloaded and completed, are mandatory: 

• For all projects: 
  • the project presentation file
  • the budget submission form
  • a signed grant application letter from the institutional head (free format)
• For shared projects: 
  • a letter of commitment from the bearer’s partner(s)

The project deck presents: 

• the strategic context in which the project fits
• the nature of the project, the needs to be covered, the beneficiaries
• the organization of the project, the analysis of anticipated risks and the security measures identified. In particular, the promoter must describe the conditions for the strategic porting of the project within the institution.
• the budget
• the expected impact, with indicators to judge whether the objectives have been achieved or not

If the project is selected by the selection committee, mandatory administrative documents must be provided by the holder (bank account details, etc.). Failure to provide such documents within 15 days of the first request shall entail the cancellation of the committee’s decision.

• Step 0 (recommended but optional): I contact the department (ftnc.snum@culture.gouv.fr) to verify the project’s eligibility / suitability for the objectives of the window and its alignment with the department’s digital and IS strategy.
• Step 1: I submit my complete application by the deadline for submission for review by the Commission.
• Step 2: The ministry will email me with the decision and the amount of the grant allocated to me and the list of supporting documents to be returned within 2 weeks if applicable.
• Step 3: The ministry and the recipient sign a funding agreement. I receive 80% of the grant amount.
• Step 4: I share a mid-project progress report with the department at a progress item meeting.
• Step 5: I send the department a balance sheet report. I receive the remaining 20% of the grant amount.