In July 2020, the European Union launched a historic €750 billion recovery plan – Next Generation EU – financed through shared borrowing. Its objective is to support recovery efforts by member states, especially those most affected by the Covid-19 health crisis, and also to encourage massive investment in ecological and digital transition. Central to this scheme is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a temporary instrument for making funds available to member states. But the management of this facility is extremely complex. 

To simplify the implementation of this huge system, Axians Portugal developed an innovative solution for the Portuguese authorities: eFundos. 

Filipe Cerqueira, Project Manager & Innovation Lead at Axians Portugal, explains: “This is a comprehensive fund management solution, from the publication of calls for applications and the responses from public bodies, state agencies, etc. to the back office where technicians perform a full analysis of the applications before they are approved or rejected. The platform also provides monitoring and reporting tools for all users, in line with their access permissions.” He also emphasises “the considerable contribution of AI to the analysis and reprocessing of the information contained in the masses of documents involved in cases like these.” 

The eFundos solution also stands out for its evolutive maintenance, which ensures continual improvements to the platform, the addition of new functionality and the optimisation of existing functionality.   “We can meet our customers’ needs without them having to worry about implementation, which gives them a better experience,” says Cláudia Cristovão, Business Development & Innovation Manager at Axians Portugal. 

The platform can meet the needs of large public bodies with a mission to delegate and optimise the management of community funds, but is primarily aimed at small public organisations lacking the resources to manage this type of project.