Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The Single Market Programme (SMP) covers the single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics. Specifically, the programme brings together aspects in order to streamline, exploit synergies and provide a better flexible, transparent, simplified and agile framework to finance activities aiming at a well-functioning sustainable internal market.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
The objective of this call is to boost the development of social economy SMEs active in rural areas.
Detailed Call Description
The project is aiming at building a European network of regional and local authorities with converging priorities on social economy and creating space and opportunities at EU level for learning and collaboration. This call will support consortia developing collaboration through sharing and replicating best practices and learning with focus on boosting the resilience, the greening and the digitalisation of social economy enterprises and SMEs active in rural areas.
A proposal submitted under this call must focus on a specific theme identified by the applicant consortium, relevant for all consortium partners and with specified objectives to be achieved. The proposal must address 1 of the themes listed below or identify another theme of relevance to the consortium partners around boosting social economy businesses in rural environment:
- Building clusters of social innovation and ecological innovation in rural areas
- Boosting green, and digital transition through social economy in rural areas
- Fostering social entrepreneurship, including for sustainable agriculture and food systems
- Reinforcing education, training and skills development activities for unemployed people in rural areas, targeting in particular youth and women
- Developing the New European Bauhaus and quality of life in rural environment
- Other relevant theme.
The objectives of this call are to be achieved via 3 mandatory project activities that must at minimum consist of:
- Activity 1: Preliminary overview of existing projects
- Activity 2: Minimum of three transnational workshops and learning activities
- Activity 3: Collecting of good practices and developing recommendations for replication
The activities are described on pages 13-14 of the call document.
The project duration must be either 18 or 24 months. Estimated start date is 1st of June 2024.
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 for providing financial support to third parties and 90% for all other costs categories). The indirect cost flat-rate is 7% of the eligible direct costs.
Project budgets (maximum grant amount) are expected to be around €250 000 per project.
It is expected that maximum 4 projects will be funded under this call.
Thematic Categories
- Education and training
- Industry
- Land Development
- New Entrepreneurship
- Public Administration
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Rural development
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Chambers
- Local Authorities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
- Trade Unions
- Training Centres
Eligibility For Participation Notes
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 Single Market Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
Consortium composition:
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of minimum 4 and up to around 10 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities), which complies with all the following conditions:
- at least 3 regional or local public governments (such as regions, municipalities, cities, etc.) validated as public entities in the Participant Register from at least 3 different eligible countries;
- at least 1 business related organisation such as SMEs organisation or association, social enterprises organisation, chamber of commerce, etc. relevant for this call topic;
- additional applicants can be other economic operators such as network or umbrella organisations, SMEs organisations, SMEs, social economy organisations or enterprises, cooperatives, NGOs, civil society organisations, local rural development and innovation agencies, technology centres and service providers, digital innovation hubs, fablabs, science parks, local industrial clusters, educational institutions, educational or vocational training organisations, chambers of commerce, etc. relevant for this call topic;
- each eligible applicant under (b) and (c) in the consortium must be established in the same territory covered by the regional or local public administration participating as applicant under (a), except in case of participating network or umbrella organisations.
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry
Industry and Technology Service
1421, Nicosia, Cyprus
Email: sit@meci.gov.cy
Contact Person:
Spyros Triantaphyllidis
Telephone: 22867333
Email: striantafyllides@meci.gov.cy
EU Contact Point
For help related to this call, please contact: EISMEA-SMP-COSME-ENQUIRIES@ec.europa.eu