Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group, announced on 9 February 2026 an anchor investment of EUR 300 million (~USD 354.8 million) in Seaya Growth Tech Fund I, a Spain-based pan-European growth venture capital vehicle targeting a EUR 1 billion final close. The commitment is made under the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI), and the fund will make growth-stage (Series C+) equity investments in European companies across applied AI, deep-tech, fintech, climate solutions, smart manufacturing, supply-chain resilience, capital-market autonomy, cybersecurity and environmental technology. Global Trade Alert separately logs the transaction as a "red"-flagged state-linked financial-investment-support intervention.

On 1 February 2026, at Web Summit Qatar, Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is expanding its Fund of Funds programme with an additional USD 2 billion in capital, taking the programme's total committed capital from USD 1 billion to USD 3 billion. Five new venture capital managers — Greycroft, Ion Pacific, Liberty City Ventures, Shorooq, and Speedinvest — are joining the programme, spanning AI, fintech, blockchain, infrastructure and special-situations strategies, bringing the total number of participating fund managers to 12 with an aggregate AUM of roughly USD 10 billion.

The Fujian Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued Min Fagai Shuju [2026] No. 46, "Ten Measures to Strengthen the Cultivation of Digital-Economy Innovative Enterprises in Fujian Province," on 2026-01-30, implementing a national NDRC directive (Fagai Shuju [2025] No. 1154) at provincial level. The package bundles ten fiscal, financial, data-access and talent measures aimed at growing Fujian's roster of "unicorn" and "gazelle" digital enterprises from 89 (2020) to a targeted 500+ by 2027, with per-project subsidy caps ranging from RMB 500,000 up to RMB 10,000,000 across different tracks (trusted-data-space pilots, joint labs/tech-transfer platforms, digital-transformation demonstration projects capped at 30% of total project investment). The measure took effect on issuance and is in force through 2028-12-31 (GTA state-act revocation date).

On 27 January 2026, the Government of Quebec via Investissement Québec announced a CAD 40 million equity (preferred shares) investment in Vention, a Montreal-based industrial-automation and physical-AI software/hardware platform, as part of a CAD 150 million total financing round. Co-investors in the round included NVentures (NVIDIA's venture arm), Desjardins Capital, and Fidelity Investments Canada. The province frames the investment as building a Canadian-headquartered global leader in robotics/automation software rather than as a trade-restrictive measure.

Dubai's Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched AED 12.8 billion (~USD 3.5bn) in strategic expansion projects for the Dubai Silicon Oasis free zone, comprising a AED 11 billion (~USD 3.0bn) "District IO" technology district and a AED 1.8 billion (~USD 0.49bn) Block 14 mixed-use development. District IO targets smart mobility, 3D printing, robotics, X-Tech, AI, quantum computing and Web3 firms via 25 LEED-compliant buildings, R&D labs and data centres, with capacity for 6,500+ companies and a stated goal of AED 103bn GDP contribution and 70,000+ jobs by 2036. Global Trade Alert classifies the intervention as a financial grant plus an in-kind grant to the free zone.

China's Ministry of Finance, NDRC, People's Bank of China and National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued Cai Jin [2026] No. 2 on 2026-01-19, optimizing the central-fiscal interest-subsidy policy for equipment-renewal loans. The central government subsidizes 1.5 percentage points of loan principal interest on qualifying fixed-asset loans for equipment-renewal projects, capped at two years, and widens eligible sectors beyond traditional industrial/energy/transport/logistics categories to include construction, AI equipment, aerospace materials, agricultural facilities, cold-chain infrastructure and elderly-care equipment. It also folds bank-originated science-and-technology-innovation loans issued from 2026 (previously supported only via PBOC relending) into the fiscal interest-subsidy scope, and simplifies disbursement via a "pre-disbursement + settlement" mechanism across 26 participating banks. The policy runs through 2026-12-31, extendable.

China's Ministry of Finance, NDRC, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, People's Bank of China and National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued Cai Jin [2026] No. 4 on 2026-01-19, establishing a central-fiscal loan interest-subsidy scheme for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operating in 14 designated industrial-chain and emerging-industry sectors. Eligible loans originated from 2026-01-01 receive a 1.5-percentage-point annual interest subsidy for up to two years, capped at RMB 50 million in principal per enterprise (maximum subsidy RMB 1.5 million per enterprise). The policy is tentatively set to run one year with a possible extension.

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC), Australia's AUD 15 billion sovereign industrial-financing vehicle, took a AUD 20 million preferred-equity stake in Omniscient Neurotechnology, a Sydney-founded clinical connectomics company, announced 16 January 2026. The investment forms part of Omniscient's broader Series D raise (reported at up to AUD 36 million / USD 27.2 million) alongside Australian venture fund OIF Ventures, and is earmarked to commercialise Omniscient's Quicktome AI brain-mapping platform globally and expand its data-science team. NRFC frames the deal as building sovereign AI/medical-technology capability and creating over 40 new skilled jobs in Australia.

Beijing's Development and Reform Commission, jointly with the municipal Economic and Information Technology Bureau, Science and Technology Commission, and the Zhongguancun Science Park Administration Committee, issued Notice 京发改规〔2026〕1号 on 4 January 2026 setting out measures to expand the city's pilot-testing (中试, "chung-shi"/pilot production and scale-up) service capacity. The policy funds construction and upgrading of pilot-testing platforms that bridge lab-stage R&D and commercial production across AI, biomedicine, green energy, robotics and semiconductors, with a goal of 10 national-level and 50 municipal-level platforms by 2030. Global Trade Alert logged the same underlying state act as five separate interventions (152197-152201) split by affected-country and sector groupings; this filing consolidates them into a single action since they share one primary source document.

On 30 December 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufubangui [2025] No. 20, a three-year action plan (1 January 2026 - 31 December 2028) to support the transformation and upgrading of advanced manufacturing. The plan sets quantitative targets — 100 new manufacturing enterprises with annual output above CNY 1 billion by 2028 (cumulative 600+), 500 new above-designated-size supply-chain enterprises, 100+ new national-level green factories, a robot density of 600 units per 10,000 workers, and 70%+ digital-equipment penetration — across next-generation electronics, intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, green low-carbon and fashion consumer-goods industries, plus emerging bets on the low-altitude economy, commercial aerospace, embodied intelligence (robotics) and biomanufacturing. It is funded through tiered direct subsidies rather than tax relief: one-off R&D subsidies up to CNY 10 million, equipment/new-materials cost-share up to 30% of contract value (capped at CNY 20 million), technical- transformation loan/leasing interest support up to CNY 20 million cumulative, and 0.8-1.3% interest subsidies on component/material backup-inventory financing.

On 15 December 2025, Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon, announced Phase 1 of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program (CQCP), awarding CAD 92 million (up to CAD 23 million each) to four domestic quantum-computing developers — Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique, Photonic, and Xanadu Quantum Technologies — to accelerate progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computers with industrial and defence applications. The program is designed to anchor quantum companies, talent and intellectual property inside Canada, moving systems beyond academic prototypes toward real-world testing and practical workloads, and sits within a broader ~CAD 334.3 million, five-year federal quantum-ecosystem commitment tied to Budget 2025 and Canada's National Quantum Strategy.

UK Export Finance launched the Critical Goods Export Development Guarantee (Critical Goods EDG), a lending-support scheme that offers an 80% government guarantee on commercial finance for UK-based suppliers of critical minerals to UK exporters. Eligible suppliers must produce at least 50% of their critical-mineral goods for UK exporters (lowered to 20% if the firm also earns at least 5% of turnover from overseas sales), and the mineral must appear on the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre's 2024 criticality assessment or the associated growth-minerals list. The scheme targets commercial lending facilities above £25 million and lets suppliers access the guarantee even if they do not export directly, as long as their output feeds into UK exporters' end products.

On 22 November 2025, the Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX, the export-financing arm of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development) and the UAE Foreign Aid Agency launched a USD 1 billion "AI for Development" initiative to finance artificial-intelligence and digital-infrastructure projects across African countries. The announcement was made by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, at the G20 summit. Global Trade Alert classifies the measure as a certainly-harmful "Other export incentive" intervention (state-act 95488), since it channels UAE state export-credit/aid capital toward AI-related exports and services rather than being a neutral development grant.

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, via Horizon Europe grant agreement 101253078, is co-funding "AI:AT — the AI Factory Austria" with EUR 14,999,999.45 in EU/EuroHPC funding against a total project cost of EUR 29,999,998.79 (matched roughly 50/50 by Austrian national and consortium co-funding). The grant runs 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028 and is coordinated by Advanced Computing Austria (ACA) GmbH together with the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and a consortium of Austrian academic and industry partners. AI:AT builds supercomputing infrastructure and AI services as Austria's national node in the EU's AI Factories network, one implementing grant under the EU AI Continent Action Plan (COM(2025)165, filed 2025-04-09-eu-ai-continent-action-plan).

The General Office of the Fujian Provincial People's Government issued Min Zheng Ban [2025] No. 30, "Several Measures to Promote the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry and Empowerment Applications in Fujian Province," on 2025-11-04. The notice implements the national "AI+" initiative at provincial level via three quantified subsidy tracks: a talent-recruitment supplement of RMB 200,000/year per person for AI engineers registered on a provincial core-engineer roster; a compute subsidy covering up to 50% of annual cloud/compute-service spend (capped at RMB 500,000 per firm) for companies purchasing at least RMB 100,000 of computing services per year; and a one-time capital subsidy of up to 50% of build cost (capped at RMB 5,000,000) for qualifying AI innovation platforms. The measure is in force through 2028-12-31 (per GTA state-act revocation date) and is one of a wave of province- and city-level AI industrial-policy notices issued across China in late 2025.

The Beijing Fengtai District Science and Technology and Information Bureau issued Fengkexinfa [2025] No. 7, "Several Measures to Support AI Science and Technology Innovation and Industrial Innovation Integration and Development in Fengtai District," on 2025-10-30. The notice bundles ten categories of subsidy for AI enterprises operating in the district, covering compute-purchase cost-sharing (20% up to RMB 2,000,000 for general AI firms, 30% up to RMB 3,000,000 for "industrial intelligence" firms), large-model development grants (up to RMB 500,000-600,000), dataset/data-asset subsidies (RMB 100,000-2,000,000), platform and incubator capex (up to RMB 5,000,000 and RMB 10,000,000 respectively), and fund-manager and talent-recruitment support. The measure is in force through 2028-12-31.

The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Science Park Management Committee, jointly with two other municipal departments, issued "Several Measures on Supporting the Construction of the Beijing Future Digital Space Innovation Pilot Zone" on 2025-10-23 (publicly posted 2025-10-27). The "2+3+5" package of ten measures subsidizes frontier-technology demonstration scenarios (up to 30% of certified investment, capped at RMB 10,000,000), original game and digital-content production (RMB 300,000-2,000,000 per award-winning title), key laboratories (up to RMB 5,000,000/year operating funds plus rent discounts on up to 4,000 sqm, for up to 3 years), industry-chain innovation consortia (up to RMB 20,000,000/year, RMB 50,000,000 over 3 years), and incubators (up to RMB 20,000,000 over 3 years), alongside seed/angel/Series-A co-investment minimums via an industry fund. The pilot zone is anchored on the former Shougang steelworks north campus (core area) and the Jin'anqiao AI large-model industry cluster (innovation-coordination area), both in Beijing's Shijingshan district.

On 19 October 2025 the UK government announced an additional GBP 20 million each for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, and Glasgow City Region under the GBP 500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF), topping up their original GBP 30 million earmarked allocation (June 2025 Spending Review) to GBP 50 million per region. The three areas were the first cohort to run UKRI's predecessor Innovation Accelerators programme. Funds are channelled through UKRI to local "triple helix" partnerships (civic institutions, business, universities) for innovation-cluster projects in life sciences, advanced manufacturing, AI adoption, and clean-energy/fuel technologies. The announcement preceded the 21 October 2025 Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham.

China's National Development and Reform Commission announced a new-type policy-based financial instrument worth CNY 500 billion (~USD 70.3 billion), to be used entirely to replenish capital for infrastructure and industrial projects. Funds are channeled through China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China and the Agricultural Development Bank of China, targeting digital economy, AI, consumption-related infrastructure and urban renewal (transport, energy, underground utility upgrades). By mid-October 2025, China Development Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank had disbursed a combined ~CNY 300 billion, coordinated with the Ministry of Finance and People's Bank of China, with NDRC citing over 2,300 supported projects and roughly CNY 7 trillion in projected total investment leveraged.

On 19 September 2025, the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group, signed a EUR 260 million (USD ~305 million) anchor-investor commitment into Jolt Capital V, a growth-stage deep-technology venture capital fund targeting a EUR 1 billion final close. The commitment is funded largely through the European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI), an EU-backed programme that has committed over EUR 2.5 billion across 11 scale-up technology funds and aims to mobilise EUR 10 billion in total resources for late-stage European tech companies. Jolt Capital V will invest in growth-stage B2B companies across semiconductors, cybersecurity, AI, industry 4.0, new materials and mobility, sectors the EIB Group frames explicitly around European strategic autonomy and competitiveness.

On 18 September 2025, as part of the third phase of France's national AI strategy under the France 2030 programme, the government opened the "Pionniers de l'intelligence artificielle" (Pioneers of AI) call for projects, operated by Bpifrance and the NALU ("Numérique, Algorithmes, Logiciels et Usages") agency program led by Inria. The scheme funds disruptive AI technologies and applications across industrial robotics, healthcare, energy production/distribution and manufacturing through a three-phase funnel: Phase 1 (technical feasibility, EUR 100k-200k over 6-12 months), Phase 2 (demonstrator, EUR 400k-800k over 6-18 months) and Phase 3 (market launch, EUR 3-8M over 1-3 years), with projects re-vetted for technological and economic relevance between phases. Submissions run 11 September 2025 to 9 June 2026 across multiple deadline windows; as of the government's 18 June 2026 update, 51 projects (23 in a first round, 28 in a second) had been selected, including firms such as IMIND (microelectronics), Skipper NDT, Sagacity Health, Lutece Dynamics, HyprView, DeepLife, Phagos and Wintics, alongside multiple Inria-led projects.

On 17 September 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufubangui [2025] No. 8, a five-year (26 September 2025 - 25 September 2030) state-aid framework to accelerate frontier-technology innovation and cultivate "future industries" across six domains — future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future energy, future space and future health. Targeted technology areas include cell and gene therapy, brain-computer interfaces, biomanufacturing, embodied intelligence (humanoid robotics/AI hardware), fourth-generation semiconductors, silicon photonics, 6G, neuromorphic computing, quantum technology, controlled nuclear fusion and regenerative medicine. Support is disbursed as tiered direct subsidies rather than tax relief, with named ceilings up to CNY 30 million per proof-of-concept/R&D platform and CNY 20 million per high-quality incubator or first-product/batch innovation award.

On 25 August 2025, Brazil's federal government launched a combined BRL 12 billion (~USD 2.2bn) subsidised credit line to fund the diffusion of Industry 4.0 machinery and equipment across the Brazilian industrial base. BNDES (national development bank) contributes BRL 10 billion nationwide through its "Crédito Indústria 4.0" line; Finep (research-financing agency) adds BRL 2 billion via its "Difusão Tecnológica" line, reserved for companies in the North, Northeast and Center-West regions to narrow regional investment gaps. Financing covers capital goods incorporating robotics, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, sensing, machine-to-machine communication and IoT, at concessional rates of roughly 7.5-8% plus spread; credit approvals began 15 September 2025. The line operates under the Nova Indústria Brasil (NIB) national industrial-policy framework.

On 22 August 2025 South Korea's National R&D Program Evaluation Steering Committee, convened by MOTIE, finalized an exemption from the mandatory preliminary feasibility study (예비타당성조사 면제) for the "K-On-Device AI Semiconductor Technology Development" project, clearing the roughly KRW 689.15 billion (approx. USD 496 million) program to proceed toward FY2026 budget allocation without the standard multi-year vetting delay. The project funds full-stack development — custom AI chip design, software, and modules — across four demand-anchored industries: automotive (Hyundai Motor), IoT/home appliances (LG Electronics), machinery/robotics (Doosan Robotics, Daedong), and defense (Korea Aerospace Industries). MOTIE structured the program so end-user demand companies participated directly in project planning, pairing them with domestic fabless design and foundry manufacturing firms to build a domestic on-device AI semiconductor ecosystem, ahead of full budget confirmation and formal program launch.

The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone (BDA) Management Committee issued Jingjiguanfa [2025] No. 17, "Several Measures on Promoting the Innovative Development of Embodied Intelligent Robots in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Zone," on 2025-08-12, effective immediately and in force through 2028-08-31. The package subsidizes joint-lab R&D (up to 20% of project investment, capped at RMB 5,000,000 per lab), dataset development (up to RMB 2,000,000 per enterprise), an annual RMB 100,000,000 "data voucher" pool (10% purchase subsidy, capped at RMB 1,000,000 per entity), a robot development community grant (up to RMB 30,000,000 annually), application-scenario subsidies (20-30% of cost, capped at RMB 5,000,000 per project), and a humanoid-robot sales rebate (10% of revenue, capped at 1,000 units / RMB 10,000,000 annually per company). The zone targets ten-thousand-unit annual production capacity and 100+ embodied-AI enterprises by end-2027.

The Anhui Provincial People's Government issued Wanzhengmi [2025] No. 108 (皖政秘〔2025〕108号), "Several Policies (Version 2.0) for Building a General Artificial Intelligence Industrial Innovation and Application Highland," on 2025-08-11, effective immediately and running through 2027-12-31. The package replaces and expands an October 2023 predecessor version, bundling grants, project subsidies and application-scenario support to accelerate large-model and general-AI adoption across the province's industrial base. The first 2025 disbursement batch under the scheme funded 30 of 34 submitted projects for a combined RMB 49.5831 million (approx. USD 6.9 million).

The Henan Provincial People's Government issued "Several Policy Measures to Support the Development of the AI Industry Ecosystem" (河南省支持人工智能 产业生态发展若干政策措施, Yuzheng [2025] No. 17) on 2025-08-04, effective for three years from issuance. The package establishes a RMB 3 billion (approx. USD 420 million) AI industry investment fund alongside a suite of per-project subsidies: up to RMB 1 million for enterprises passing national generative-AI model filing, an annual RMB 50 million compute-voucher pool (capped at RMB 1 million per recipient), up to RMB 1 million per high-quality training-corpus library, and RMB 2-10 million grants for benchmark application projects, industry-empowerment centres and national-level innovation platforms.

On 28 July 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufubangui [2025] No. 6, the "Shanghai Embodied Intelligence Industry Development Implementation Plan" (上海市具身智能产业发展实施方案), a dedicated municipal state-aid package to build Shanghai into a global innovation hub for embodied intelligence (humanoid robotics / physical AI). The plan targets an industry scale of CNY 500 billion by 2027, alongside at least 20 core algorithm/technology breakthroughs, four or more high-quality incubators, and "100-100-100" targets for leading enterprises, applications and products. Support is disbursed as tiered direct subsidies capped at CNY 50 million (30% of project cost) for core-technology R&D, CNY 40 million per company per year for computing-power credits, CNY 20 million (50% of cost) for public-platform construction, CNY 10 million (20% of cost) for application-demonstration projects, CNY 5 million per company per year for language-corpus services, CNY 5 million (5% of contract value) for robot sales/rental incentives, CNY 5 million per open-source project, and CNY 1 million per leading enterprise for standards development. Target application sectors are logistics, industrial manufacturing, retail, healthcare/eldercare and domestic services.

On 23 July 2025 the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued Hufu Bangui [2025] No. 5, "Several Measures to Support Enterprises in Strengthening Basic Research and Enhancing New Momentum for High-Quality Development," effective 1 August 2025 through 31 July 2030. The measure tiers one-time subsidies of CNY 2m-10m/year to enterprises based on basic-research investment (CNY 10m-50m, 50m-100m, and 100m+ investment bands), reimburses 50% of shared scientific- equipment usage fees (capped CNY 1m/year), and grants a 100% tax deduction for corporate donations to basic research at nonprofits and universities, with integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence named as priority participating industries.

Hubei Province established a CNY 10 billion (~USD 1.4 billion) "Hubei Humanoid Robot Industry Investment Mother Fund," led by Changjiang Securities under the province's investment-guidance-fund system. The fund closed partnership registration and a CNY 5 billion first tranche, filed with the Asset Management Association of China, with the Hubei provincial guidance fund and Wuhan Industry Fund each committing 20% and Changjiang Securities and Hubei Science & Technology Investment Group each committing 30%. Capital is earmarked for lead humanoid-robot manufacturers and core-technology suppliers (components, brain-computer interfaces, control systems, model algorithms) as the fund's parent vehicle re-deploys a follow-on tranche via a Wuhan Investment Control Group / East Lake High-Tech Zone cooperation agreement signed 26 July 2025.

The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan (ROC) passed amendments to Article 10-1 of the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例) on third reading on 18 April 2025, promulgated by Presidential Decree on 7 May 2025 and effective for qualifying expenditures incurred from 1 January 2025. The amendment expands the scope of the existing Article 10-1 investment tax credit — previously covering hardware, software, technology, or technical services for smart machinery, 5G network deployment, and cybersecurity — to additionally cover (i) AI products or services and (ii) energy-conservation and carbon-reduction initiatives. The maximum eligible expenditure cap per company per taxable year is doubled from NT$1bn to NT$2bn, and the implementation period is extended through 31 December 2029. Secondary legislation operationalising the amended categories was jointly issued by MOEA and MOF on 27 November 2025 as the "Regulations Governing Tax Credits Claimed for Investments in Smart Machinery, 5G Networks, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Products or Services, and Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction." This is Taiwan's first AI-and-green-tech investment tax credit mechanism in the general-industrial framework, distinct from Article 10-2 (the chip-specific R&D + advanced-equipment credit, "Taiwan Chips Act").