EUROPEAN
HUB
Innovation and Investment
EU Funds for SMEs and Startups
European Hub
Who we are
•
European Hub is a company of experts that have
worked in the EU Institutions.
•
We are specialised in different sectors and we have
different expertise.
•
Our headquarters are in Pavia (Italy) and Brussels.
•
Carlo Peano, Co-founder and Executive Partner of
European Hub
SME
EU
Definition
Company
category
Staff headcount
Medium-sized
< 250
≤ € 50 m
≤ € 43 m
Small
< 50
≤ € 10 m
≤ € 10 m
Micro
< 10
≤€2m
≤€2m
Turnover
or Balance sheet total
European Funds
•
The European Commission (EC) has mediumand long-term objectives
•
The EC develops working programmes to reach
them
Why?
European Funds
•
How?
•
Reaching the objective by funding projects in two
ways:
o
Directly managed funds
o
Indirectly managed funds
Grants vs Loans
o
Grant is a sum of money given by a
government or other organization for a
particular purpose
o
Loan is a sum of money that is expected to be
paid back with interest
Funds
Interesting
funds
•
Horizon 2020
•
SME Instrument
•
Funds managed by European Investment Bank
•
Eurostars
Horizon 2020
Definition
•
What is: Programme for the EU Innovation, Research
and Development
•
Objective: keeping the EU research at an excellent level
•
Type of fund: Grant (70% - 100%)
•
Budget: 77 billions euro
•
Sectors: new technologies frontiers and product
innovation
•
Scope: increase the competitiveness of the research and
entrepreneurship in the EU
•
Beneficiaries: companies, organisations, public bodies
•
Partnerships: usually mandatory (it depends from the
subprogramme)
Horizon 2020
•
Research and Innovation Actions (RIA)
o
Basic research, applied research, technology
development, integration and testing evaluation on a
small scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated
environment
o
Grant (100%)
Main Type of
Actions
•
Innovation actions (IA)
o
Prototyping, testing, demonstration, piloting, largescale product validation and market replication
o
Grant (70-100%)
SME Instrument
Definition
•
What is: Horizon 2020 sub-programme for Smalland Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
•
Type of fund: Grant (70% - 100%)
•
Objective: It aims to bring an innovation idea
(product, process, service etc.) to industrial
readiness and maturity for market introduction
•
Sectors: 13 different sectors
•
Scope: increase the competitiveness of the EU
SMEs
•
Beneficiaries: SMEs
•
Partnership: not mandatory
SME Instrument
•
3 Phases
Phase 1:
o
•
Phase 2:
o
•
Concept & Feasibility Assessment
Demonstration Market Replication R&D
Phase 3:
o
Commercialisation
SME Instrument
Phase 1 –
Part I
•
Provides funds to explore and assess:
o the technical and technological feasibility
o the commercial potential/economic viability of a
breakthrough idea
•
Focused on activities
o risk assessment
o market study
o user involvement
o Intellectual Property management
o innovation strategy development
o partner search
o feasibility of concept
SME Instrument
Phase 1 –
Part II
•
Only one project per SME
•
Grant: Lump sum of 50.000,00 euro (70%)
•
Duration: 6 months
•
4 deadline per year
SME Instrument
Phase 2 –
Part I
•
Developing a technology for market introduction
•
Focused on innovation activities
o demonstration,
o testing,
o prototyping,
o piloting,
o scaling-up,
o miniaturisation,
o design,
o market replication
SME Instrument
Phase 2 –
Part II
•
Only one project per SME
•
Grant: 70% (100% for healthcare
biotechnology)
•
Timing: 12 – 24 months
•
0,5-2,5 M (1-5 M for healthcare biotechnology)
per project
•
4 deadline per year
SME Instruments
•
Disruptive Innovation
•
Agriculture
•
Advanced materials,
manufacturing and
processing
technologies
•
Blue growth
•
Low carbon and
energy efficiency
•
Biotechnology
•
Transport and mobility
•
Space
•
Environment
•
Healthcare
biotechnology
•
Inclusive technology
•
Security
Sectors
•
Health
SME Instrument
•
Promotes the implementation and successful
commercialisation of innovative solutions
•
Facilitates access to private capital and first
customers as well as offering support services
•
No direct funds
•
SMEs can benefit from indirect support measures
Phase 3
European Investment
Bank - Loans
Definition
•
What is: the European Investment Bank is the
European Union's non-profit long-term lending
institution
•
Type of Fund: direct or indirect loans (it depends on
the amount requested)
•
Repayment: normally on a semi-annual or annual
basis. Grace periods for capital repayment may be
granted for a project’s construction phase.
•
Objective: supporting sustainable growth and jobs
•
Sectors: 11 sectors
•
Partnership: not mandatory
European Investment
Bank - Loans
Sectors
•
Agriculture
•
Regional Development
•
Digital Economy
•
•
Education and training
Trans-European
Network
•
Transport
•
Urban Agenda
•
Water and Wastewater
Management
•
•
•
Energy
Forestry
Health and Life Science
European Investment
Bank - Loan
•
Direct Loans
vs Indirect
Loans
Directly Managed:
o
•
Proposals higher than 25 millions euro
Indirectly Managed: lower than 25 millions
o
National intermediaries
o
List of national intermediaries in Belgium
Eurostars
Definition
•
What is: fund managed by Eureka Network, it’s a
joint programme supporting R&D performing SMEs
•
Objective: supporting innovation of product, process
or service and international innovative projects led by
R&D-performing SMEs
•
Type of fund: Grant/Loan (it follow national criteria)
•
Sectors: different sectors
•
Beneficiaries: R&D-performing SMEs
•
Partnership: mandatory (Minimum 3 partners)
Eurostars
•
R&D
performing
SME
•
SMEs with a headcount of 100 FTE employees or fewer
must:
o
have at least 5.0 FTEs dedicated to R&D activities
o
or dedicate at least 10.00% of their FTE to R&D activities
o
or dedicate at least 10.00% of their turnover to R&D
activities
SMEs with a headcount of more than 100 FTE employees:
o
have at least 10.0 FTEs dedicated to R&D activities
o
or dedicate at least 10.00% of their FTE to R&D activities
o
or dedicate at least 10.00% of their turnover to R&D
activities
Conclusions
•
European Commission funds companies with a
sustainable balance of sheet
o
Problems
•
Timing
o
•
Startups can have troubles to be funded
SME Instrument funding process is long and has a
low success rate.
Business plan and market research
o
Companies often under-estimate them
o
The lack of concrete data is a common mistake
Conclusions
•
The solution depends on
•
Best solution
– Variables
•
The structure
o
SME ?
o
Start-up ?
o
R&D-performing SME ?
The business model and business plan
o
Project will be implemented in few months ?
o
Project can be implemented in one or two years ?
Conclusions
•
SME
o
SME Instrument if the company has time
o
EIB if the company needs to do start the project
in few months
Best solution
•
Start-up
o
•
EIB first and SME Instrument after
R&D-performing SME
o
Eurostars
o
EIB
o
SME Instrument
Questions
Thank you!
Carlo Peano
Executive Partner
[email protected]
+32-(0)483-698.390