The owner of a manufacturing company that has finally decided the time is right to implement an ERP system usually starts not by looking for a vendor, but by looking for the answer to one question: is there a grant for an ERP system that will cover part of the cost. Rightly so, because a project running from tens to hundreds of thousands of zloty is a serious decision, and 2026 really does offer several genuine channels for co-funding digitalization. The problem is that the internet is full of generic talk about "software grants 2026" that blurs the programs together, overstates the odds, and skips the one risk almost nobody mentions: a grant awarded for a project without a prior process diagnosis funds the mess, just in newer, more expensive packaging. In this article we lay out the real map of funding sources for an ERP rollout and explain why the order (diagnosis first, application second) matters more than the size of the grant itself.
The real map of ERP funding sources in 2026
For a manufacturing company employing 10 to 50 people, two types of mechanism are realistically in play today: a nationwide program aimed at industry, and regional programs run independently in each voivodeship. These are not the same thing, and it pays to tell them apart right at the start, before the budget math begins.
Dig.IT: a grant aimed at industrial processing and manufacturing services
Dig.IT is a grant program run by the Industrial Development Agency (ARP), funded from FENG (measure 2.21). It is aimed exclusively at micro, small and medium companies in industrial processing or manufacturing services that have been on the market for at least 5 years. According to the program rules, the grant ranges from 150,000 to 850,000 PLN, with co-funding of up to 50% of eligible costs.
It is one of the few programs tailored precisely to an ERP implementation project in a manufacturing company, rather than to digitalization in general. As of the writing of this article, the rules for call 2/2026 have not yet been published on digit.arp.pl. Your company may qualify for support under the program rules, but the current status of the call should always be checked directly on digit.arp.pl, because deadlines and detailed conditions can change between calls.
Regional programs: the second channel for co-funding digitalization
Alongside Dig.IT, every voivodeship runs its own operational program, under which calls for SME digitalization appear regularly, including for implementations of ERP, CRM or MES class systems. The rules, the level of co-funding, the deadlines and the list of eligible costs differ between regions and change from year to year, which is why there is no single universal figure to quote here, as there is with Dig.IT. What can honestly be done is to point to where to look: the marshal's office for the company's registered seat, the European Funds information points, and the nationwide search engine mapadotacji.gov.pl, which aggregates current and planned calls from all voivodeships in one place.
A practical rule: if your company does not qualify for Dig.IT (for example, it has not been operating for 5 years yet, or it does not fall under industrial processing), a regional program is sometimes the only realistic path to co-funding digitalization. It is worth checking both channels in parallel, rather than assuming upfront that only one program is in play. You will find a full description of how to combine funding with an implementation project on our digitalization funding page.
Dig.IT versus regional programs: the numbers side by side
| Parameter | Dig.IT (ARP, FENG 2.21) | Regional programs |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Nationwide, one set of rules | A separate program in each voivodeship |
| Who can apply | Micro, small and medium companies in industrial processing or manufacturing services, operating 5+ years | Depending on the call and region, usually a broader range of SMEs |
| Grant amount | 150,000 to 850,000 PLN | Variable, depending on the call and region |
| Level of co-funding | Up to 50% of eligible costs | Variable, set in the rules of the given call |
| Where to check status | digit.arp.pl | Marshal's office, mapadotacji.gov.pl |
The lesson from the Dig.IT pilot: three times more applicants than money
The Dig.IT 1/2025 pilot call closed on 28 November 2025. It drew 146 applications with a combined value of 57.28 million PLN, against a call allocation of 20 million PLN. That is nearly threefold oversubscription: the money was enough for only a fraction of the companies that applied. This number matters more than the size of the grant itself, because it reveals a mechanism that will operate in the following calls too, regardless of exactly when ARP publishes the 2/2026 rules: the outcome is decided not only by meeting the formal conditions, but by the quality and specificity of the project a company brings to the competition for a limited pool of funds.
A generic application describing "company digitalization" in isolation from a concrete business problem loses to one that pinpoints exactly: which process is failing today, how much it costs the company, and what specifically the ERP implementation will change. The same competition-for-funds mechanism applies to many regional calls as well, even if the allocations there happen to be smaller and less publicized than in the case of Dig.IT.
The trap nobody mentions: a grant without a process diagnosis is funded chaos
Here begins the part that almost every guide to software grants skips. A grant covering half the cost is tempting: apply first for an "ERP implementation", and only afterwards, once the funds are awarded, sit down and think about what the company actually wants to change. That is the order reversed, and it, not a shortage of money, is the most common cause of failed grant-funded implementations.
What "funded chaos" looks like in practice
An ERP system rolled out on processes that no one has put in order first reproduces in digital form the very problems the company had in Excel: outdated records, manual workarounds, no clear process owners. The difference is that after the project the company pays a subscription for licenses, maintenance and support, while the operational problems are still there, only now wrapped in a new interface. The co-funding covered half the cost of the implementation, but it did not cover the cost of having implemented the system for the wrong process.
An additional timing factor that manufacturing companies must keep in mind, whether or not they reach for a grant, is KSeF. The obligation to receive invoices in KSeF applies to all taxpayers from 1 February 2026. The obligation to issue invoices in KSeF covers practically all of B2B from 1 April 2026 (for the smallest companies, with gross sales up to 10,000 PLN per month, only from 1 January 2027). An ERP implementation that has to handle KSeF anyway is best planned from the outset as part of a broader process-tidying project, rather than as a separate patch bolted on later.
How to approach the application wisely: diagnosis before the grant
The order we recommend is simple, and it reverses what most companies do. First, a process diagnosis: where the data lives today, what the bottleneck is, which specific numbers will improve after the rollout. Only on that basis is a digitalization project built, with a costing, metrics and a business justification. The grant application, whether Dig.IT or a regional program, is the last step, not the first. An application like that finds it easier to win the competition for a limited pool of funds, because it describes a concrete result rather than a general intention.
This diagnosis can be done on your own, but in practice what saves the most time and money is an outside view that points to the bottleneck straight away and lets you size the real scope of the project before the first implementation quote lands. We have worked with Odoo since 2011, for clients in three countries: Poland, Germany and Belgium. Our first implementation began with a demo shown to the client the day after the first conversation, and we had a working system live two weeks later. That company was later acquired by a German listed group, and the same core of the system still runs there today. We write more about what an implementation really costs, grant aside, on our blog.
Frequently asked questions
How does Dig.IT differ from regional programs?
Dig.IT is a single nationwide ARP program from FENG, aimed exclusively at micro, small and medium companies in industrial processing or manufacturing services, with a clearly defined grant ceiling (150,000 to 850,000 PLN) and level of co-funding (up to 50% of eligible costs). Regional programs are separate calls run by each voivodeship, with their own rules, amounts and deadlines that change from year to year.
Can my company count on a grant for an ERP system if it does not qualify for Dig.IT?
Yes, in that case it is worth checking the regional programs for the company's registered seat, for example through the marshal's office or the mapadotacji.gov.pl search engine. The rules differ between voivodeships and between calls, so each case must be verified individually on the basis of the current rules.
Does a grant guarantee that funds for an ERP implementation will be awarded?
No. Both Dig.IT and the regional programs work as a competition; the outcome is decided by the assessment of the application, and the pool of funds is limited. The Dig.IT 1/2025 pilot showed nearly threefold oversubscription (146 applications for 57.28 million PLN against a 20 million PLN allocation), so no company should assume upfront that it will receive the grant.
Why is submitting a grant application alone not enough for an implementation to succeed?
Because a grant funds the cost of the project, not the quality of the decision about what that project is meant to change. If a company implements an ERP system without a prior process diagnosis, the grant will half-fund the same mess the company had before in Excel, only now in more expensive, digital packaging. A process diagnosis before submitting the application is cheaper than fixing a badly designed implementation after the fact.
Before you submit a funding application, make sure you know exactly what that grant is meant to finance. The Digital Growth Diagnosis pinpoints your company's bottleneck and lets you prepare a digitalization project that genuinely qualifies for support, instead of guessing. You will find the full map of available funding sources and how to combine them with an implementation project on the digitalization funding page.