Latest results: Commission to invest €100 million to help 69 small businesses bring their innovations to the market
69 small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) from 21 countries have been selected for funding in the latest round of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 2.
The total amount to be distributed between the SMEs working on 64 projects is €99.96 million. In this phase of the SME instrument, each project will receive up to €2.5 million (€5 million for health projects) to finance innovation activities.
Spanish SMEs were the most successful with 15 companies selected for funding. They were followed by 10 companies from Italy and 5 projects from Sweden and Denmark. Most projects are in the field of ICT (12 projects) and transport (10 projects) followed by 9 projects in the field of health.
The European Commission received 1 222 project proposals by 6 April 2017, the second cut-off date for Phase 2 in 2017. Since the launch of the programme on 1st January 2014, 710 SMEs have been selected for funding under Phase 2.
Funding under Phase 2 of the instrument allows companies to invest in innovation activities such as demonstration, testing, piloting, scaling up and miniaturisation, in addition to developing a mature business plan for their product. The companies will also benefit from 12 days of business coaching. Most projects are proposed by a single SME but some companies team-up to elaborate a project.
The next cut-off for SME Instrument Phase 2 is on 18 October.
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