SLIM subsidy 2026 and AI training: application submitted, what now?

What is the SLIM subsidy and what can you do with it?

The SLIM scheme (learning and development in SMEs) is a subsidy from the Ministerie van SZW (Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) for SMEs that want to embed learning and development permanently. For individual SME applications, the subsidy is 60 percent of the eligible costs, with a maximum of €24,999 per application. For agricultural businesses the maximum is €20,000. A project may last up to twelve months.

Important to note: the training and course costs themselves are not eligible under the SLIM SME scheme, and wage costs for working time lost to training are excluded as well. The scheme covers the process around the training: the company review that leads to a training plan, development advice and the introduction of a learning method. An AI training plan or a track to build an AI learning culture can fit within that, provided it is tailored to the development needs of your own business. Do not rely on Article 4 of the EU AI Act for this. The scheme also excludes costs that arise from legally required tasks, and we do not know whether Uitvoering van Beleid (the agency that runs SLIM) regards a plan for AI literacy as such a task. If you are in doubt, put the question to Uitvoering van Beleid beforehand.

The window has closed: what happens now

The application window for individual SME applications ran from 19 August 2026, 09:00, to 7 September 2026, 17:00. If you come across a publication that gives 10 August as the start date, it is out of date: the final announcement gave 19 August. Applications were made through the subsidy portal of Uitvoering van Beleid (Ministerie van SZW), where you could register from about two weeks before the opening.

In the event of oversubscription, a lottery after closing determines the order of processing, not the order in which applications came in. Applications are assessed in that order for completeness and content until the budget runs out. Whether you submitted on the first or the last day of the window therefore made no difference to your chances. What does matter is completeness. An incomplete application is not rejected, but once the missing information has been supplied it goes to the back of the list; the moment the application is complete then determines its place in the order (Article 2.10(3) of the SLIM-regeling, the ministerial regulation that governs the scheme). That costs you a high place on the lottery list.

Under Article 2.11 of the SLIM-regeling, a decision is made within 13 weeks of closing, so by 7 December 2026 at the latest. The first window of 2026 was heavily oversubscribed; do not assume, therefore, that an award will follow, and do not make an investment decision that depends on the subsidy. The application windows for 2027 have not yet been published; as soon as they are known, they will be on our SLIM page (in Dutch).

Which activities are eligible?

The scheme distinguishes several types of activity. For an AI learning track, these are the most relevant:

• A company review that results in a training or development plan: where your organisation stands, what knowledge is missing and how you will build it.
• Career and development advice for employees.
• Developing or introducing a method that encourages employees to develop knowledge and skills, such as an in-house academy or periodic development reviews.

What does an AI learning track within a SLIM application look like?

A realistic track does not start with a course but with an analysis: who in your organisation works with AI, in which processes, and what knowledge is missing in each role. A development plan follows, and only then the training itself, matched to the roles: a planner who works daily with AI-assisted forecasts needs different knowledge from an HR officer. The track ends with a record: who was trained, in what and when, plus working agreements on AI use. With that record you can also show which measures you have taken for AI literacy under Article 4, which has applied since 2 February 2025 and since 27 July 2026 has asked for measures that support AI literacy. That is separate from the subsidy: costs that arise from legally required tasks are not eligible under SLIM.

Keep a sharp eye on the dividing line in the budget: the company review, the training plan, development advice and setting up the learning method are eligible activities; you budget the training days themselves as your own investment. As an indication: our in-company Practice Day, a training day on one of your own work processes including an accountability document, starts at €2,500 excluding VAT. That way you know in advance exactly which part of the track qualifies for subsidy and which part does not; our current SLIM guide sets out the full scheme.

What to prepare now

Whether you are waiting for a decision or preparing for the next window, these are the four things that make the difference between a track that can start straight away and a track that still needs months to get going after a positive decision.

• Register your organisation in the subsidy portal of Uitvoering van Beleid as soon as you can, usually from two weeks before a window opens.
• Describe the learning track in concrete terms: which activities, for which employees, with what aim and in which period of up to twelve months.
• Request a quotation from the intended provider, so that the budget is based on actual amounts.
• Check the current conditions on the Uitvoering van Beleid website; the scheme has detailed requirements for each activity, and you should always check those at the source.