During the second phase of the SME Instrument that started in October 10th 2018 the European Commission is attempting to support 283 new innovative projects. All that under the European Innovation Council pilot (EIC). The aim of this EU funding opportunity is to manage and help modern companies bring their innovations to the marketplace a lot faster.
The selected number of the companies that will be supported under the SME Instrument during the second phase is 278 SMEs from 27 different countries. These companies will be receiving a total of 129 million euros under Phase 2 and 10 million euros under Phase 1 for the European research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. Additionally a total of 15 companies from 15 different countries will receive EU funding of 34.4 million euros under the latest round the Fast track to Innovation scheme.
Including the funding already mentioned, the European Innovation Council pilot has, to this day, supported a total of 1.276 projects and has provided funding of 731.15 million euros.
Phase 1 of the SME Instrument
During the Phase 1 of the SME Instrument, 200 projects were selected and received a total of 50.000 each, in order to draft their business plan. These companies have the option of teaming up in order to propose one whole projects instead of individual ones. Once again, under the European policy, the companies will be receiving free coaching and business acceleration services. Just like Phase 2, in Phase 1 Spanish companies were more successful with 32 companies selected for EU funding. They were followed by Switzerland and Israel with a total of 21 companies and Italy with a total of 20 companies.
Within the latest round of the Fast Track to Innovation scheme a total of a 2 million euros funding will be given to each of the 15 innovative projects that were selected. The Fast Track Innovation scheme is addressed to mature groundbreaking technologies, concepts and business models that are close to the market. The SMEs participating under this EU funding will also be receiving free access to business coaching and acceleration services.
Phase 2 of the SME Instrument
The projects that were selected during Phase 2 of the SME Instrument vary in subject as well as technological focus. In particular the projects include, among others, single quantum photodetectors, a bio-compostable packaging film, several block chain technologies, a chip detector for the process of visualization of 3-D tissues, nano-satellites that enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and a big data driven personalized knee replacement.
During Phase 2 of the SME instrument the funding will go as followed: 68 projects in total, will be receiving funding between 0.5 million to 2.5 million euros to finance their innovation activities. These activities will include demonstration, testing, piloting and scaling up the invention. Every company has the option to request a higher amount of money, upon applying, in order to ensure that their innovation activities can provide market-mature results.
The projects will be selected after face-to-face interviews done by a jury of innovators, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Under European policy, the companies will also be benefited from 12 days of free business coaching and business acceleration services. During the interviews already conducted, Spanish and Israeli SMEs were the most successful with nine companies selected for funding. They were immediately followed by eight Norwegian and French companies and seven companies from Denmark and Germany. Most of these selected companies are currently active in the field of ICT, health and engineering.
A quick Background of the EIC Pilot
The EIC pilot aims to support top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies and researchers with bright ideas and the ambition to scale-up internationally. A first phase of the EIC pilot was launched on 27th October 2017 as part of the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020. These instruments continue to offer funding to innovative companies in support of market-creating innovations.
It offers in a single place:
- €2.7 billion in funding for the period 2018-2020
- Opportunities for networking, mentoring and coaching
- Strategic advice to upgrade the innovation ecosystem in Europe
It brings together the parts of Horizon 2020 that support high-risk/high-return, breakthrough research or market creating innovation and will experiment with a number of new approaches.
The EIC pilot was designed on the basis of the results of a call for ideas carried out in spring 2016. As of 2018 the SEM Instrument and the Fast Track to innovation scheme are central parts of the EIC pilot. They are targeting radically new, breakthrough products, services, processes and business models that will open up new marketplaces. Between the years 2018-2020, the EIC pilot will provide a total of 2.7 billion euros to breakthrough, market-creating innovations under the Horizon 2020 Programme.
