Open Calls & Opportunities

European Innovation Council (EIC)

https://eic.ec.europa.eu/index_en

EIC is an entrepreneurship support program created by the European Union.
It provides millions of Euros worth of grants and financial support to support digital entrepreneurs.
The EIC Accelerator program focuses on growing technology companies and helps them accelerate their innovation.
EIC also offers comprehensive support, including services such as business networking, training and mentoring.

Purpose and Mission

EIC is a program launched by the European Union in 2017.
Its main objective is to strengthen innovation and support growth companies in Europe.
It aims to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and growth companies.

EIC Accelerator

One of the most notable parts of the EIC is the EIC Accelerator.
This program provides financial support to entrepreneurs and companies to bring their innovative projects to life.
It has a support system that includes grant and investment phases.

Financial Support

EIC supports high-risk but potentially high-return innovation projects.
It provides financial resources to entrepreneurs by offering grants and investments worth millions of Euros.
This support covers business model development, marketing, prototyping and growth.

Training and Networking

The program offers entrepreneurs educational resources and builds networks to help them grow their businesses.
EIC provides mentoring programs and opportunities to interact with business leaders.
EIC’s events and meetings allow entrepreneurs to connect with each other and potential investors.


Featured Success Stories

EIC is proud of the many successful entrepreneurs and companies it has supported.
Many projects that offer innovative solutions, grow and achieve sustainable success have been supported by EIC Accelerator.
Application and Selectio

Process

Entrepreneurs and companies can apply to the EIC Accelerator program.
Applications go through project evaluation and selection stages.
Applications are evaluated based on criteria such as technical innovation, market potential and the skills of the team.
EIC is a program that plays an important role in supporting innovation and strengthening the entrepreneurial culture in Europe. It contributes to the success of innovative projects by providing financial support, training resources and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs.

EIT Digital (European Institute of Innovation and Technology)

https://www.eitdigital.eu/

EIT Digital is an organization that supports entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of digital technology.
EIT Digital offers a wide range of education focused on digital skills with Masters School programs, innovation events and opportunities to collaborate with companies.
It also provides various supports to stimulate the entrepreneurial ecosystem through annual entrepreneurship competitions and accelerator programs.

Establishment and Purpose

EIT Digital is an entrepreneurship and innovation platform managed by EIT Digital, a KIC (Information and Communication Technologies) launched by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology in 2010.
Its main objective is to increase Europe’s competitiveness by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of digital technology.


Education Programs

In cooperation with higher education and research institutions, EIT Digital offers training programs in the field of digital technology.
It includes Masters School programs, PhD programs and a range of programs offering training in specialized fields.
The educational programs supported by EIT Digital provide students with technical skills and foster entrepreneurship.


Innovation and Entrepreneurship

EIT Digital manages a number of projects supporting digital innovation and entrepreneurship.
These projects include entrepreneurship training, start-up support and a series of events that foster innovation.
By collaborating with large companies and SMEs, EIT Digital aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem.

Strategic Areas

EIT Digital focuses on priority strategic areas. These areas include sectors such as digital industry, digital cities, digital health and digital finance.
To address these strategic areas, EIT Digital runs various projects and promotes innovation.


Research and Innovation Centers (Co-Location Centers)

EIT Digital has a number of Co-Location Centers across Europe.
These centers support innovation and provide opportunities for collaboration by bringing together industry and research institutions.
Each center promotes digital innovation in a specific geographical region.


Network and Collaboration

EIT Digital has a broad network of partnerships. This network enables strong collaboration between industry leaders, academics, entrepreneurs and start-ups.
EIT Digital’s network supports knowledge sharing, projects and entrepreneurial opportunities between member organizations and partners.

EIT Digital plays an important role as a wide-ranging education, research and innovation platform with the aim of strengthening Europe’s leadership in digital technology and fostering entrepreneurship.

Startup Europe

https://www.eu-startups.com/

Startup Europe is an initiative that aims to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe.
In this framework, it supports entrepreneurship-related activities, provides funding and encourages cooperation between companies.
It also promotes entrepreneurship through grant programs and mentoring activities for young entrepreneurs.

Purpose and Organization

Startup Europe is an initiative that aims to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe.
It was launched by the European Commission and aims to support young entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovative projects.


Events and Programs

Startup Europe promotes entrepreneurial culture through various events and programs.
StartUp Europe Awards is a program that rewards entrepreneurial achievements. It also organizes conferences, competitions and panels on entrepreneurship.


Accelerators and Innovation Programs

Startup Europe supports start-ups through accelerator programs and innovation support.
Accelerators aim to rapidly grow young entrepreneurs through training, mentoring and financial support.


Connections and Collaborations

Provides useful connections and collaboration opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-ups.
It creates a Europe-wide network, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders and government officials.


Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs

Startup Europe supports the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs program to encourage young entrepreneurs to gain experience.
This program allows young entrepreneurs to work and learn alongside an experienced business person or entrepreneur.

European Crowdfunding Network

Startup Europe supports platforms such as the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) to increase funding.
Such networks help start-ups to access alternative sources of funding.


Success Stories and Databases

Startup Europe aims to inspire young entrepreneurs by sharing and promoting the stories of successful entrepreneurs.
It creates various databases to keep track of successful start-ups and entrepreneurs across Europe.

Startup Europe stands out as a comprehensive entrepreneurship initiative that provides various programs, events and support to support and strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem across Europe.

 

Erasmus+ Program

https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu

Erasmus+ is an education, youth and sport program supported by the European Union.
It provides financial support to projects that aim to provide digital skills to vocational education and training students.
It offers scholarships for participation in various activities such as student exchanges, internships and digital skills development courses.

Purpose and Overview

The Erasmus+ Program is a comprehensive education program supported by the European Union that promotes international learning among young people, students, educators and young professionals.
The main objective of the program is to contribute to the personal, cultural and professional development of participants by enabling them to learn, study and gain experience abroad.


Main Areas of Activity

The Erasmus+ Program covers a number of main areas of activity
1. Youth Sector: Develops the personal and social skills of young people through youth exchanges, volunteering activities and youth projects.
2. Higher Education: Supports activities in the field of higher education, such as student and academic staff exchanges, partnership projects and credit transfer.
3. Vocational Training and Internships: Offers international experiences in vocational training and internships.
4. Adult Education: Provides international projects and exchange opportunities for adult learners and educators.
5. School Education: Organizes projects and exchange programs between school staff and students.

Learning Mobility

Erasmus+ offers students and academic staff the opportunity to study and teach abroad.
The program offers a variety of scholarships and support for participants to meet different cultures, improve language skills and provide opportunities for international cooperation.
European Voluntary Service

(European Solidarity Corps)

Another important area under Erasmus+ that offers community service and volunteering opportunities for young people is the European Solidarity Corps.
Young people can take part in social responsibility projects in Europe and contribute to their communities.


Project and Partnership Support

Erasmus+ encourages the participation of educational institutions, youth organizations, businesses and other institutions.
It provides financial support to support projects and partnerships.


Results and Impacts

The program provides participants with a range of benefits such as cultural diversity, language skills, personal development and gaining a competitive advantage in the world of work.
It promotes a culture of cooperation and learning between education systems across Europe.
The Erasmus+ Programme promotes mobility in the field of education in Europe, offering a wide range of activities to enable young people, students and professionals to gain international experience.

European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH)

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu

EDIHs are European networks that support digital innovation and facilitate the digital transformation of companies.
They provide services to help businesses to use digital technologies.
They provide access to a variety of resources to support SMEs and startups, such as consulting, training, testbeds and networking opportunities.

Description and Objective

European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) is a European network that supports and disseminates digital innovation.
Its main objective is to accelerate the digital transformation of industry and the public sector, foster innovation and strengthen access to digital technologies.


Services and Areas of Activity

EDIHs offer a wide range of services:
1. Innovation Services: EDIHs provide support to companies and SMEs on innovation issues related to digital technologies.
2. Training and Consulting: They provide training and consulting services for SMEs and industry to improve their digital skills.
3. Testing and Validation Services: EDIHs offer testing and validation of new digital solutions.
4. Connectivity and Collaboration: They create collaboration opportunities by bringing together industrial players, academic institutions, SMEs and other stakeholders.


Distribution across Europe

There are a number of EDIHs across Europe. These hubs operate to foster digital innovation in specific geographical regions and sectors.
EDIHs provide support to companies operating in various sectors such as industry, healthcare, agriculture, transportation and energy in different parts of Europe.


European Commission Supported

EDIHs operate as an initiative supported by the European Commission.
The European Commission funds these hubs to promote digital innovation and technology transfer.

Strategic Objectives

EDIHs aim to contribute to Europe’s digital transformation objectives.
These objectives include strengthening digital skills, enhancing industrial competitiveness and facilitating access to digital technologies.
Strengthening the Digital

Innovation Ecosystem

EDIHs strengthen digital innovation ecosystems at the local and regional level.
These hubs encourage companies, academic institutions and other stakeholders to come together and engage in innovation projects.

European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) is a network that supports Europe’s digital transformation and fosters digital innovation in various sectors. These hubs operate to accelerate the digitalization of industry, support SMEs and increase Europe’s global competitiveness.

The Empresa Nacional de Innovación, S.A (ENISA) is an entity of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism that provides financial support through participatory loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to promote their innovative entrepreneurship projects.

Participative loans are a financial instrument halfway between the traditional loan and venture capital. Apart from ordinary interest, ENISA obtains a remuneration that depends on the performance of the company to which it grants the loan. Among other characteristics, no endorsements or guarantees are required, they are loans of up to nine years and offer repayment and grace periods of up to seven years.

ENISA has various help lines depending on the stage the company is in: creation, growth and consolidation.

https://nacionemprendedora.gob.es/actualidad/noticias/ayudas-publicas-para-el-emprendimiento-innovador-en-2023-10-oportunidades-para

Empresa Nacional de Innovación, S.A (ENISA) is an entity of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism that provides financial support through participatory loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to promote their innovative entrepreneurship projects.

Participative loans are a financial instrument halfway between the traditional loan and venture capital. Apart from ordinary interest, ENISA obtains a remuneration that depends on the performance of the company to which it grants the loan. Among other characteristics, no endorsements or guarantees are required, they are loans of up to nine years and offer repayment and grace periods of up to seven years.

ENISA has various help lines depending on the stage the company is in: creation, growth and consolidation.

https://impulsochileno.cl/noticias/buscas-apoyo-conoce-las-convocatorias-2023-de-sercotec/

The ERC Accelerator offers SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs the possibility to access grants of up to EUR 2.5 million to finance projects of some risk, but with great potential. In addition, it also allows access to capital investment for commercial activities and strengthening its international presence. All participating projects access services that allow them to benefit from mentoring, mentoring and expert guidance, partnership opportunities with companies, investors and others, as well as various services and activities.  Spain is the country that has had the most success in achieving this aid with 1,034 projects financed (if we take into account its predecessor, the SME Instrument) between 2014 and 2022.

The LIFE Programme, for its part, supports up to 60 % of the total budget projects of companies and institutions on the environment or climate action. In 2022, LIFE has turned 30 and in this period has supported more than 900 projects in Spain.

https://spain.representation.ec.europa.eu/empresas-y-financiacion/financiacion-para-pymes-y-start-ups-innovadoras_es?etrans=en

The Spanish Digitalization Plan (2021-2025) is an ambitious public program that includes a set of measures, reforms and investments aimed at promoting more sustainable and inclusive growth from a digital point of view. Among these measures are, among others, the strengthening of digital skills of all citizens, the extension of adequate digital coverage for 100 percent of the population or the deployment of 5G, among many others.

One of the main characteristics of the Spanish economy is that 98.99% of all companies are SMEs. Spain, despite showing a positive evolution in the main international digitization indicators, has not made the same progress in the integration of digital technology by small companies.

The drive to digitize SMEs is highly conditioned by the availability of financing, as well as by the lack of training for the acquisition of digital tools to meet the new technological challenges.

The Plan has a total investment of 4,656 million euros, with 14 proposals distributed among four lines of action:

  •     Basic digitalization for SMEs.
  •     Support for change management.
  •     Disruptive innovation and digital entrepreneurship.
  •     Support for sectorial digitalization.

In addition to improving the basic digitalisation of SMEs, the Plan envisages boosting disruptive innovation (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data) to seize the opportunities of the data-driven economy through scalable programmes to be deployed through public-private partnerships.

The main objective of the Government is that this plan can reach one and a half million SMEs in a period of five years, which represents approximately half of the total number of companies with less than 250 workers in the country. The program is partly supported by EU Next Generation funds.

https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/actions/national-initiatives/national-strategies/spain-sme-digitalisation-plan

Smart&Start Italia, yenilikçi yüksek teknoloji işletmelerinin kurulması ve büyümesi için bir teşviktir (İşletmeler Bakanlığı ve İtalya’da üretilmiştir). Ülke genelinde yeni girişimciliğin yayılmasına yönelik koşulları teşvik etmek ve teknoloji transferi ve kamu ve özel araştırma sisteminin sonuçlarının ekonomik olarak kullanılmasına yönelik politikaları desteklemek için kolaylaştırıcı bir araçtır.

Bu teşvik, İtalya’nın her yerinde yenilikçi girişimlerin yaratılmasını ve büyümesini desteklemektedir. Toplam bütçesi yaklaşık 200 milyon euro olup, maliyeti 1,5 milyon euroya kadar olan projeleri finanse etmektedir.

Smart&Start İtalya, aşağıdaki özelliklere sahip yenilikçi girişimlerin yaratılmasını ve büyümesini finanse eder:

– Güçlü bir teknolojik boyuta sahip olmak

– dijital ekonomide faaliyet göstermek

– arama sonuçlarını geliştirmek (araştırmanın yan ürünleri)

– maliyeti 100.000 euro ile 1,5 milyon euro arasında olan fonlanabilir projelerdir

Smart&Start İtalya şunları sunar:

– toplam yatırımın %80’ine kadar faizsiz kredi. Startup’ın yalnızca kadınlardan veya 35 yaş altı gençlerden oluşması veya yurt dışında çalışan ve İtalya’ya dönmeyi düşünen en az bir İtalyan doktoralıyı içermesi durumunda finansman yüzdesi %90’a çıkabiliyor.

– Yalnızca Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Puglia, Sardunya, Sicilya ve Aquila’nın “Sismik Krater” bölgesinde bulunan startup’lar için kredinin %30’u tutarında geri ödenmeyen hibe.

Kuruluşu bir yıldan az süren girişimler, başlangıç ​​aşamasında teknik ve yönetim destek hizmetlerinden yararlanabilir.

İş planınızı göndermek için:

İş planınızı yalnızca Invitalia web platformu aracılığıyla çevrimiçi olarak sunabilirsiniz (sayfa İtalyancadır): https://www.invitalia.it/cosa-facciamo/creiamo-nuove-aziende/smartstart-italia/currenta-la-domanda

Invitalia – İtalyan Kalkınma Ajansı ( https://www.invitalia.it/eng )

INNOVA Venture, Risk Sermayesine adanmış Lazio Bölgesi fonudur.
Amacı, özel ortak yatırımcıların sermayesi üzerinde bir kaldıraç etkisi ve bölgenin reel ekonomisi üzerinde bir etki yaratarak, Lazio bölgesinde bulunan veya yerleşmeyi planlayan startup’lara ve KOBİ’lere risk sermayesi arzını artırmaktır.

INNOVA Venture directly co-invests in the venture capital of Lazio companies exclusively together with private and independent investors. There is also provision for:
– operate through Co-investment Framework Agreements with investors of proven ability interested in structurally investing in Lazio, especially in startups in the most seed stages;
– co-invest with capital through Equity Crowdfunding campaigns with authorized agreed platforms through ad hoc corporate vehicles.

Features
Fund allocation € 21.8 million
Target: Eligible companies with operational headquarters in Lazio (existing or planned)
Eligible Sectors: All (except for specific and limited exclusions)
Investment Phases: seed, start-up. scale-up, expansion
Investment Limits:
Minimum Initial Investment € 150,000 and maximum € 1.4 million
Maximum investment (Initial + Follow on): € 2.5 million
Expected duration of investment: up to 8 years

Submission of porposal
The updated version of the Public Notice of INNOVA Venture was published in BURL No. 117 of December 16, 2021, and the submission of the relevant Proposals is from 12 noon on December 16, 2021 until 12 noon on July 31, 2023 (unless earlier exhaustion of funds).

Submission of Investment Proposals must be made exclusively through the GeCoWEB Plus platform (gecoplus.lazioinnova.it) by filling out the INNOVA Venture form provided therein and uploading the following documents to it before the form is finalized and digitally signed:

the complete 5-year business plan (intended as a unified and complete document including the descriptive and numerical part of the business project, as per Appendix 3 of the Invitation);
expressions of interest from independent Private Co-investors interested in investing together with Innova Venture (prepared using template 1, if non-binding, or template 2, if binding, as per the Notice).
Please note: In case of entities (Proponents and/or Co-investors) not subject to Italian law, the appointment of an Italian representative (lawyer or auditor) is mandatory, according to art. 15 point 3 of the Invitation.
https://www.lazioeuropa.it/bandi/por_fesr_fondo_innova_venture_per_il_capitale_di_rischio_di_startup_e_pmi-536/

The “New Zero Interest Businesses” measure aims to support, throughout the country, the creation and development of micro and small enterprises with predominantly or totally youth or female participation.

Who it is aimed at
Micro and small businesses established for no more than 60 (sixty) months at the date of submission of the application for facilitation and in which the corporate structure is composed, for more than half of the numerical members and shares, of individuals aged between 18 and 35 years or women.
Individuals who intend to set up a new business are also eligible, provided that they submit the necessary documentation to prove their establishment within the deadline indicated in the notice of admission to the facilities.

What it provides
Eligible are initiatives, feasible throughout the country, promoted in the following sectors:
– production of goods in the sectors of industry, handicrafts and processing of agricultural products,
– provision of services to businesses and individuals including those pertaining to social innovation,
– trade in goods and services,
– tourism including tourism-cultural activities aimed at the enhancement and enjoyment of cultural, environmental and landscape heritage, as well as activities aimed at improving services for accommodation and hospitality.

The investment programs proposed by enterprises established for not more than 36 months may provide for eligible expenses not exceeding 1,500,000 euros, within the above ceiling may also include an amount to cover the needs of working capital (to be justified in the business plan and usable for the purpose of payment of raw materials, services necessary for the conduct of business activities and enjoyment of third party assets), limited to 20% of investment expenses. For enterprises established for more than 36 months and not more than 60 months, the amount of eligible expenses may not exceed 3,000,000 euros. Programs must be implemented within twenty-four months from the date of signing the financing contract.
https://www.incentivi.gov.it/it/catalogo/oltre-nuove-imprese-tasso-zero
To submit the application
https://www.invitalia.it/cosa-facciamo/creiamo-nuove-aziende/nuove-imprese-a-tasso-zero/presenta-la-domanda

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