100m euro funding to support 69 Small and Medium innovative Enterprises

The European Commission has recently published a list of 69 innovative small enterprises from 21 countries, which together have received a total of 100 million euro as part of  the second phase of the SME Instrument, the European Commission Mechanism for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Horizon 2020. As one of the selected enterprises, the Greek company MONOLITHOS Recycling Technologies Ltd received 983,675 euro for its PROMETHEUS project. The project is part of a programme supporting the activities of small enterprises in the areas of climate, the environment, resource efficiency and raw materials.

A total of 1,514 proposals were submitted for the second phase. Of the 37 countries participating, the ones with the most enterprises to be funded are Spain (11), and Italy (8). The majority of proposals were put forward by individual SMEs (87%), while the remainder were from partnerships submitting joint proposals.

The funding is part of the second phase of the SME Instrument, the European Commission Mechanism for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and enables enterprises to invest not only in innovative activities such as demonstrations, tests, pilot applications and upgrades, but also the development of a mature business plan for their product.  Since the launch of the programme on 1st January 2014, 710 SMEs have been selected for funding under Phase 2.

The SME Instrument, launched under the Horizon 2020 programme, the European Commission’s funding programme for Research and Development, aims to promote truly innovative ideas which are based on sustainable business plans and have huge market potential.

The National Documentation Centre, National Contact Point for Horizon 2020 and co-ordinator of the Greek node of the largest network that provides services for international business partnerships, Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas, meets the requirements of the Greek community by providing services giving information and
support for selected businesses which exhibit the right dynamics and exclusively target an international market using innovative technologies.

Services include:
• Pre-assessment of proposals by an expert panel of evaluators and specialist advisors on topics such as technological innovation and managing intellectual property
• Coaching and business guidance for the implementation of the approved proposal with a view to obtaining further funding in the next phase
• Innovation management and benchmarking against other European enterprises
• Training in proposal writing and a register of certified business consultants

The National Documentation Centre operates as National Contact Point for Horizon 2020, the European programme for research and innovation, supporting Greek organisations and businesses with advisory services to assist in finding suitable funding tools or European partners and the exploitation of research results.