Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The programme provides financial and advisory support in form of grants to mature joint innovation projects in shared smart specialisation areas structured in value-chain investment portfolios.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
This call for proposals is for Strand 2a and focuses on reinforcing the integration of innovation actors from less developed regions and transition regions in developing EU value chains while creating local opportunities for innovation and smart economic transformation in regions with shared (or complementary) smart specialisation areas.
The objective of the present I3 Instrument Strand 2a call for proposals is to support interregional innovation investments by offering consortia of innovation actors from the quadruple helix ecosystems the necessary financial and advisory support to bring their innovations to a mature level, ready for scale-up and commercialisation. This call specifically aims at reducing the innovation divide in Europe, with a strong cohesion policy focus on integrating less developed and transition regions into European value chains.
Detailed Call Description
Projects shall demonstrate how less developed and transition regions will take on concrete and sustainable roles in the targeted value chains, including through business opportunities, capability building and follow-up investment perspectives.
Thereby, proposals under this call for proposals seek to facilitate:
- the support of innovation actors with investment ideas that are ready to be developed into mature business cases;
- the identification of new regional technological domains and market opportunities with the EU priorities and bridging the gap between the supply and demand sides to help innovation ecosystems overcome market failures;
- the creation of new value chains in less developed and transition regions and the integration into interregional and cross border value chains with more developed regions;
- the improvement of knowledge and practical skills in business and investment planning, particularly for SMEs, as well as for other consortium partners.
- the application and the deployment of innovative technologies and solutions in less developed and transition regions;
- the interaction and collaboration of SMEs from less developed and transition regions in interregional/multi-national value chains with innovation actors from more developed regions.
The focus is on technology transfer and highly specialised advisory support for the implementation of experiments and demonstration cases in companies. Participation of innovation actors is based on shared or complementary innovation priorities, as defined in their regional and/or national smart specialisation strategies. Projects shall show a balanced participation of regions with varying levels of development and innovation performance.
I3 Instrument business investment cases start with a minimum TRL 6 and have the ambition to facilitate demonstration and to accelerate market uptake and commercialisation. The development of the business and investment cases is facilitated by the regional innovation ecosystems with companies in the lead. Projects are expected to demonstrate a clear role for enterprises, in particular SMEs, in driving deployment, market uptake and scale-up activities.
To enhance the EU’s competitive edge by strategically addressing the current challenges, proposals submitted under this call for proposals must tackle one or more of the designated thematic priorities:
- Digital transition.
- Green transition.
- Smart manufacturing.
Across these thematic priorities, projects are expected to contribute to the strengthening of resilient and competitive European value chains through concrete interregional investment cases with clear deployment and scale-up potential.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100% for the costs for providing financial support to third parties.
70% for all other cost categories.
Thematic Categories
- Environment and Climate Change
- Industry
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Information Technology
- Processing
- Public Administration
- Regional Development
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Businesses
- Central Government
- Chambers
- Educational Institutions
- Financial Institutions
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- Legal Entities under Public Law
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Semi-governmental organisations
- Services Providers
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
The coordinator must be a:
- Public body or
- Non-for-profit organisation or
- Entity entrusted by national or regional governments to develop or implement innovation and investment actions for SMEs (i.e. cluster organisations, public-private partnerships, development agencies, innovation agencies, etc.).
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies)
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
- non-EU countries:
- listed EEA countries and countries associated to the I3 Instrument (list of participating countries).
Exceptional funding — Entities from non-EU countries are exceptionally eligible for funding, if the granting authority considers their participation essential for the implementation of the action.
Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of selfemployed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).
International organisations — International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons
EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.
Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).