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
The objective of the I3 Instrument is to support interregional innovation investments by offering consortia of innovation actors from the quadruple helix ecosystems – (=the quadruple helix model emphasizes the importance of four key actors in innovation systems: academia, industry, government, and society) – the necessary financial and advisory support to bring their innovations to a mature level, ready for commercialisation and scale-up, while bridging and reducing the innovation divide in Europe with a strong cohesion policy focus of integrating all regions and in particular the less developed regions into European value chains.
Strand 1 seeks to increase the competitiveness and the resilience of EU value chains on the basis of interregional cooperation and shared smart specialisation areas.
Detailed Call Description
Proposals under this call seek to facilitate:
- the development of already existing or the creation of new interregional and cross-border value chains and a better connection between regional innovation ecosystems;
- the collaboration between innovation actors, especially SMEs, from less developed regions and innovation actors, especially SMEs, from more developed regions, contributing to cohesion policy objectives;
- 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.
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.
Proposals must address one of the following thematic priorities:
- Digital transition
- Green transition
- Smart manufacturing
Each project application under this call must address only one thematic priority and each thematic priority encourages applications in one or more or a combination of investment areas (more details in the call document pages 8-11).
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rates fixed in the Grant Agreement (100% for the costs of providing financial support to third parties and 70% for all other cost categories).
The costs for financial support to third parties cannot exceed 30% of the total eligible costs.
Project budgets (maximum grant amount) are expected to range between €2.000.000 and €10.000.000 per project.
Thematic Categories
- Environment and Climate Change
- Industry
- Public Administration
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Businesses
- International Organisations
- Investment Funds
- Legal Entities
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities (public or private bodies), established in EU Member States eligible or listed EEA countries and countries associated to the I3 Instrument (list of participating countries).
Consortium composition
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium composed of:
- Minimum 5 independent entities established in 5 different regions in 3 eligible countries.
The consortium must have at least 2 entities established in a less developed region.
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.).
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
EU Contact Point
Questions should be sent to the following email address: EISMEA-I3-INSTRUMENT-CALLS@ec.europa.eu