Commission to invest €73m in SMEs
SMEs from 14 countries have been selected as part of the second phase of Horizon 2020’s SME Instrument.
With 47 projects receiving up to €2.5m (€5m for health projects), SMEs will be able to progress innovative products to market. Spain’s SMEs (14) have been most successful and will receive a total of €15.4m; German SMEs came second (8) and will share €14.8m. The remaining 12 countries with SMEs receiving funding are: Austria (1); Denmark (2); Estonia (1); Finland (4); France (6); Italy (4); Malta (1); the Netherlands (1); Norway (2); Slovenia (2); Sweden (1); and the UK (2). ICT projects were the most predominantly funded (9), followed by transport (7) and energy efficiency and sustainable food production (6 each).
The programme was launched on 1 January 2014. Since then a total of 406 SMEs have been selected under the second phase of the SME Instrument, allowing company investment in innovative product activities such as demonstration, testing, piloting, scaling-up and miniaturisation, in addition to assistance with business plans for their products.
The 47 companies will benefit from business coaching; the majority of their projects are proposed by a single SME but collaborations are permitted.
More information about the Horizon 2020 SME instrument can be found here.
