Strategic alliances for the uptake of advanced technologies by SMEs on the economic recovery

CALL NAME                                        : Strategic alliances for the uptake of advanced technologies by SMEs on the economic recovery

BUDGET                                              : 5.000.000 EUR

DEADLINE                                           : 2 FEBRUARY 2021

OBJECTIVES

This call for proposals aims to contribute to the European Commission’s recovery package via the establishment of strategic alliances between tech-savvy SMEs and the traditional SMEs facing the need to adapt to the post-crisis economic environment, focusing on the benefits of adopting advanced technologies. The final objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to a wider spreading and diffusion of advanced technologies across SMEs in Europe and boost economic recovery.

The specific objective of the action is to launch two pilot projects focused on building alliances among traditional and tech-savvy SMEs through industrial cluster organisations in order to promote SME collaboration and technology adoption within specific industrial ecosystems.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applicants must be legal entities and shall be representatives of industry, research community, and technology providers. A non-exhaustive list of potential applicants includes, for instance:

• cluster organisations;
• technology centres;
• SMEs.

The different clusters in the consortia applying for this call for proposals may represent groups of SMEs from the same industrial segment or related industrial sectors that offer scope for cross-fertilisation. 

Should technology centres not be formal beneficiaries of the proposed project, applicants shall demonstrate in their application how they intend to ensure their collaboration during the project.

Natural persons are not eligible. 

Linked third parties, i.e. legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as applicants in order to declare eligible costs.

Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible: 

• EU Member States;
• Countries participating in the COSME programme pursuant to Article 6 of the COSME Regulation.

ELIGIBLE CONSORTIA

Proposals must be submitted by consortia composed by eligible legal entities established in a minimum of three different EU Member States.

BUDGET 

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 5.000.000. 

The maximum grant per project will be between EUR 2.000.000 and EUR 3.000.000. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

EASME expects to fund 2 proposals.

TIMETABLE

QUESTİONS/ANSWERS

Potential applicants should address questions related to the content of this call by e-mail to EASME-COSME-STRATEGIC-ALLIANCES@ec.europa.eu.
Only questions sent to this functional mailbox will be answered. Answers will only be published periodically and within a reasonable period of time on this page. Last questions to be answered are those submitted at least 7 calendar days prior to the closing date of this call.

Partner search

If you are looking for partners to apply to this call or you are looking for organisations active in the same domain as you, you may wish to visit the website of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), the Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH), the Knowledge Innovation Communities (KIC).

DOCUMENTS

For detailed information and partner search.

 Call for proposals

 Guide for applicants

 Model grant agreement

 List of previous related projects and activities template

 Description of the action - Technical annex 1 template

 Detailed budget - Technical annex 2 template

 Checklist of documents to be provided