Fonds Bleu and Extended Monaco: co-financing a digital project

The Fonds Bleu, called the Blue Fund on the government’s English pages, is the funding arm of Extended Monaco Entreprises (EME). Clients ask us the same three things about it: how much it covers, whether a website qualifies, and whether the provider has to be in the government directory. Here is what the official pages say, as we read them on 20 October 2026. The rules can change, so MonEntreprise.mc remains the reference.

Extended Monaco and the Fonds Bleu

Extended Monaco Entreprises is a government programme that supports Monegasque businesses in their digital transformation. It brings together a digital maturity self-assessment, a directory of digital professionals, workshops and events, and project funding through the Fonds Bleu.

EME now sits on MonEntreprise.mc, the government’s single access point for businesses. According to the government’s announcement of 5 May 2026, the self-assessment, the directory and access to the Fonds Bleu are all there, with sign-in through MonGuichet.mc.

What the Fonds Bleu pays for

Under the Blue Fund terms and conditions, last updated on 12 May 2026, the fund co-finances up to 70% of a digital project’s cost before tax. In practice, 70% is a ceiling, not a set rate: the share granted varies from one project to another, from 30% to 70%. Priority goes to structural projects that improve a company’s efficiency, productivity and competitiveness: cybersecurity, compliance, digitising internal processes, integrating data and AI. Projects focused on cloud computing are excluded.

The same terms set three ceilings, each “limited to three applications”:

• €150,000 for a company up to date with its legal, tax and social obligations;
• €50,000 for a company with turnover above €10 million;
• €30,000 for a company less than twelve months old.

The wording does not say whether a ceiling applies to each application or to all three together. Ask the Fonds Bleu team before you settle on a budget.

The terms also give two lists of examples, neither of them exhaustive. Eligible: building and integrating a digital strategy, customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce components or platforms, ERP software, process optimisation, a cybersecurity plan, compliance work, AI solutions. Ineligible: IT equipment, advertising campaigns (SEA, Google AdWords), creating a graphic charter (a brand’s visual guidelines), content production, a website redesign “with no economic impact”, and any revised version of a project the fund has already supported.

What about your website?

It depends on what the site does. Here the French text is more precise than the English: it excludes redesigning a site internet vitrine (sans flux économique), a brochure site with no economic flow. An online shop, a tool connected to your CRM or an app that simplifies an internal process comes closer to the eligible examples. Neither version defines “economic flow” or “economic impact”, so if your project falls somewhere in between, ask the Fonds Bleu team to confirm it before you prepare the application.

One point about our own work. Two of the ineligible examples are services we offer: creating a graphic charter, which is part of our brand identity work, and content production.

Who can apply

The applicant, called the project leader, must be a commercial company registered with Monaco’s RCI (Répertoire du Commerce et de l’Industrie), or an entity that brings direct or indirect economic benefits, such as an economic interest group or a traders’ association. It must show genuine activity (jobs, and turnover subject to corporation tax and VAT) and be up to date with its legal and administrative obligations. If not, the project is ineligible.

Excluded entities include state-owned companies, public service concessionaires, public and para-public bodies, civil companies, healthcare activities, companies with no turnover, and companies whose sales are mostly abroad with little impact in Monaco. Healthcare providers have a separate scheme, Monaco Santé Sécurité.

Plan your cash flow. You must show that you can finance at least 70% of the project’s total cost, and your own contribution cannot fall below 30% of the pre-tax budget. The aid is paid in two halves: the first at the start, against signed purchase orders; the second on completion, against invoices, proof that you have paid the provider and an acceptance report.

The provider, the directory and InStudio

The terms ask you to work first with digital professionals operating in Monaco, where the skills exist locally. One of the assessment criteria is the choice of a provider registered with the Monaco RCI. Where the skills do not exist in the Principality, the project is considered case by case. The quotes you submit must come from Monegasque digital professionals, unless an exception is justified.

The government keeps a directory of digital professionals. The terms describe it as a list given “for information purposes”, and the Find a professional page calls it a non-exhaustive selection of providers registered in Monaco. The same page says that Monaco-based providers who are not listed can also help you, and that not every service offered by listed professionals is eligible. So being in the directory is not a Fonds Bleu condition; being registered in Monaco, barring exceptions, is.

InStudio is listed in the directory. That alone does not make a project eligible: what counts is the project itself.

The process, step by step

The Blue Fund procedure page, last updated on 12 May 2026, sets out the process.

1. Read the terms, then complete the digital maturity self-assessment, a questionnaire of 35 questions. You need an account, created through MonGuichet.mc, and the result you submit must be less than a month old.
2. Gather the documents, in French or English: the self-assessment result; bank details for an active account in Monaco in the applicant’s name; the latest balance sheet (or proof of financial capacity if the company is under twelve months old); a detailed business plan (a template is provided); detailed quotes, less than a month old and signed by you (or, for a finished project, invoices less than six months old with proof of completion); and, where relevant, VAT returns for the two months before the application.
3. Apply through the online service, which is recommended and in French only, or by post to the Direction des Services Numériques.
4. Wait for the review: usually 8 to 10 weeks once the file is complete, then a month for arbitration, so three months in total. If a document is missing, you have 30 days to send it, after which the application expires.
5. Once the project is approved, send the signed purchase orders within a month. Payments are made by the Trésorerie Générale des Finances, about two months after the supporting documents are validated.

The project must fit within eight months, counted from the month after notification; a longer project must be split into phases. A project already started or finished qualifies only if it was carried out in the six months before the application. No new application is reviewed until any earlier co-financed project is closed. While the project runs, you must report any change in cost, delay, abandonment or dispute with the provider to the Fonds Bleu team; otherwise the aid can be cancelled and repayment required.

Where we come in, and where we stop

The procedure page recommends writing the business plan with the digital professional you have chosen. That is where we help: scoping the project with you, writing a detailed quote you can read line by line, and helping you draft the technical parts of the business plan. Eligibility is not ours to decide: the government reserves the right to refuse any project that does not meet the terms.

For questions about your own case, contact the Fonds Bleu team at fondsbleu@gouv.mc or on +377 98 98 96 55. If your project is an online shop, a website connected to your tools or a business app, talk to us.