Innovation Fund Small Scale Projects

Deadline: 19-Sep-23

The European Commission is accepting proposals for the Innovation Fund Small Scale Projects.

Scope

• The following activities can be funded under this topic:
  • activities that support innovation in low-carbon technologies and processes in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive 2003/87, including environmentally safe carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) that contributes substantially to mitigating climate change, as well as products substituting carbon-intensive ones produced in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive
  • activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of projects that aim at the environmentally safe capture and geological storage of CO2 (CCS)
  • activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of innovative renewable energy and energy storage technologies.

Objectives

• The objectives of this call are to:
  • support projects demonstrating highly innovative technologies, processes, business models or products/services, that are sufficiently mature and have a significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • offer financial support tailored to market needs and risk profiles of eligible projects, while attracting additional public and private resources.

Funding Information

• The available call budget is EUR 100 000 000 for grants and EUR 5 000 000 for project development assistance (PDA) support.
• Duration
  • The project must:
    • reach financial close within four years after grant signature
    • operate at least:
    • 3 years after entry into operation.
    • Project duration (see glossary) normally ranges between 3 and 10 years, from grant signature to the final payment. Projects of longer duration may be accepted in duly justified cases. Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment.

Activities

• The following activities can be funded under this topic:
  • activities that support innovation in low-carbon technologies and processes in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive 2003/873, including environmentally safe carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) that contributes substantially to mitigating climate change, as well as products substituting carbon-intensive ones produced in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive
  • activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of projects that aim at the environmentally safe capture and geological storage of CO2 (CCS)
  • activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of innovative renewable energy and energy storage technologies.

Geographic location (target countries)

• Proposals must relate to activities taking place in EU Member States, Norway or Iceland. Projects may also be located in Northern Ireland on the condition that the project concerns the generation, transmission, distribution or supply of electricity.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries: any country in the world.
  •  Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register — before submitting the proposal — and will have to be validated by the Central Validation
• Service (REA Validation). For the validation, they will be requested to upload documents showing legal status and origin.
• Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners, subcontractors, third parties giving in-kind contributions, etc.

For more information, visit EC.