Deadline: 17 September 2020
The Innovation Norway has announced a second Call for Proposals for its program “SMEs Growth Romania”.
The Programme “SMEs Growth Romania” (hereafter referred to as “the Programme”) shall contribute to the general objectives of EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021, respectively to the reduction of economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and to strengthening bilateral relations between EEA EFTA States and EEA and Norway Grants Beneficiary States.
The Programme has the objective to increase value creation and sustainable growth in Romanian business sector. The Programme seeks to stimulate and develop long-term business cooperation between Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway (hereafter referred to as “the Donor States”) and Romania based on business development and innovation.
Project and project funding
This Programme will finance projects proposed by Romanian enterprises in one of the three focus areas: Green Industry Innovation, Blue Growth and Information and Communications Technology (hereafter referred to as ICT). The aim is to finance development and application of innovative green, blue or ICT technologies/products, processes and solutions. The expected outcome of projects financed by these Calls is increased competitiveness for Romanian enterprises within the mentioned areas, in the form of growth in turnover and net operational profit and job creation. Projects are also expected to contribute to the development and application of innovative technologies, processes and solutions, as well as reduction of CO2 emissions and more energy efficient production processes.
The target group for this Programme is Romanian enterprises in private sector, mainly Small and Medium sized Enterprises(SMEs). It’s not mandatory to have Partners in the projects, but Partnership Projects are encouraged and will be awarded additional points during assessment. Most points will be awarded to cooperation with entities from the Donor States in Donor Partnership Projects.
- A Donor Partnership Project is defined as cooperation between a Project Promoter in Romania and at least one legal entity in Norway, implementing a project where all entities are independent of each other and perform substantial and relevant tasks in the completion of the project. Such projects will be awarded additional points during project assessment. To qualify forsuch points, the donor state partner should be actively involved in, and effectively contributing to, the implementation of the project, and it should share with the project promoter a common economic or social goal which is to be realized through the implementation of the project. The simple provision of services does not qualify as a project partnership.
- A Partnership Project is defined as cooperation between a Project Promoter in Romania and at least one legal entity in Romania, implementing a project where all entities are independent of each other and perform substantial and relevant tasks in completion of the project. The partner should be actively involved in, and effectively contributing to, the implementation of the project, and it should share with the project promoter a common economic or social goal which is to be realized through the implementation of the project. The simple provision of services does not qualify as a project partnership.
Funding Information
The total amount available for financing of projects from this Call is EURO 18,466,666.
The amount is divided between the Programme focus areas into the following indicative amounts:
- Green Industry Innovation: EUR 11,066,666
- Blue Growth: EUR 3,700,000
- ICT: EUR 3,700,000
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants: SMEs, as defined in the Commission Recommendation 2003/361, and large enterprises with no more than 25 % public ownership, registered as legal persons in Romania and functioning in accordance to enforced Romanian legislation on commercial companies, respectively: Law 31/1990 regarding commercial companies, republished, with subsequent modifications and completions.
- The applicant must have been established at least 3 years before the deadline of the present Call for the areas of Green Industry Innovation and Blue Growth and at least 1 year before the deadline of the Call for the area ICT (the period is calculated from the day of the registration).
- Eligible partners: any private or public entity, commercial or non-commercial, registered as legal person in Norway or in Romania.
For more information, visit https://www.innovasjonnorge.no/en/start-page/eea-norway-grants/Programmes/business-development/romania/smes-growth-2nd-call/