Program for strengthening the innovation of newly established or existing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises

Programme Objective is to increase the innovativeness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by introducing process innovations or developing new or improved market-oriented products, services or technologies.

Total Call Budget

EUR 1,300,000

Key Objectives

• Increasing the innovativeness of MSMEs by introducing process innovations or developing new or improved market-oriented products, services or technologies;
• Introducing new or improved products, services and technologies to the market;
• Introducing new or significantly improved ways of conducting business;
• Strengthening the capacity of MSME staff in research, development and innovation;
• Improving the performance of newly established MSMEs, with a focus on enterprise management.

Grant Amount and Co-financing Rate

Minimum amount: EUR 50,000.00

Maximum amount: EUR 200,000.00

The maximum aid intensity under this Public Call is up to 80% of eligible costs.

Eligible Costs

• Personnel costs (gross 2) for employees of the applicant and newly recruited employees;
• Equipment and materials costs;
• Materials and small inventory costs;
• External services costs;
• Training costs for newly established and existing enterprises;
• VAT on eligible costs for which the applicant is unable to claim a refund;
• Indirect costs.

Other

The implementation period for selected projects is a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 36 months.

The Programme will support projects whose technological maturity is beyond the proof-of-concept stage but which are not yet ready for the market, i.e. projects with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) between 5 and 8, corresponding to the experimental development stage.

Evaluation is carried out in two phases.

In the first phase, the selection criteria assessed by the evaluators are:

• Project design;
• Level of innovation of the project;
• Operational capacities of the applicant.

In the second phase, the selection criteria assessed by the Investment Committee are:

• Project sustainability; and
• Project impact.