EU Call for Proposals towards creation of Sustainable Jobs in Neighborhood South

Deadline: 08-Apr-21

European Union (EU) has announced a call for proposals to Strengthening innovation through supporting cluster cooperation and start-up ecosystems in the South Neighborhood countries.

Objectives

The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the creation of sustainable jobs in the Neighbourhood South by increasing competitiveness of SMEs and stimulating an environment conducive to innovation and economic growth.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:

• Lot 1: to support the development of start-up ecosystems and increase the capacity of local actors, through assisting innovation organisations and Tech Hubs in generating value-added activities, new sources of economic growth and employment.
• Lot 2: to support the development of clusters in specific sectors and enhance cluster cooperation with Europe in order to generate new sources of economic growth and employment.

Funding Information

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 15,000,000. The contracting authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Indicative allocation of funds by lot:

• Lot 1: EUR 8 million;
• Lot 2: EUR 7 million.

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant(s)

In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

• Be a legal person; and
• Be non-profit-making; and
• Be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, public sector operator, local authority, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation; and
• Be established in a Member State of the European Union or one of the ENI South partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia) a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 (IPA) or a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA) This obligation does not apply to international organisations; and
• Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the coapplicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

Co-applicant(s)

• Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
• Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
• Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.

Affiliated entity(ies)

• The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entit (ies).
• Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to coapplicant(s):
  • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
        • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
    • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,…) as the proposed affiliated entities.

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