SME INSTRUMENT

The SME instrument is part of the European Innovation Council pilot (EIC pilot). This was launched on 27th October 2017 as part of the Horizon 2020 Work programme 2018-2020 to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for funding of innovators/innovations in the EU.

The SME instrument supports close-to-market activities, with the aim to give a strong boost to breakthrough innovation with a market-creating potential. Highly innovative SMEs with a clear commercial ambition and a potential for high growth and internationalisation are the prime target.
The SME Instrument offers small and medium-sized businesses the following:

• Phase 1: business innovation grants for feasibility assessment purposes until 50K€ per project.
• Phase 2: business innovation grants for innovation development & demonstration purposes with an amount which ranges from 500K€ to 2,5 M€
• Phase 3: loan agreement or equity for the commercialization phase by a network of European professionals financed by the Commission

Upcoming deadlines to submit a project:
• Phase 1: 5th September 2018 ; 7th November 2018
• Phase 2: 10th October 2018; 9th January 2019

You can find all the details of the call on the website and on the submission page.
For further information, you can contact people from the network of National Contact Points (NCPs):
Patrick Cornet, Bpifrance: patrick.cornet@bpifrance.fr
Laure Quintin, Minalogic: laure.quintin@minalogic.com