Deadline: 23-Mar-23
The European Commission (EC) has announced an Open Call for the Organisation of the Women TechEU Scheme.
Scopes
- The Women TechEU scheme has been launched under the European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) Work Programme 2021 as a pilot scheme and became a fully-fledged initiative under the EIE Work Programme 2022.
- As a final objective, the scheme supports European early-stage deep tech start-ups, registered and established in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country for at least six months at the time of the submission, founded or co-founded by women, holding a top management position (chief executive officer (CEO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief scientific officer (CSO), or equivalent). All deep tech domains should be eligible, with the emphasis being on overall gender balance and the position held by women in the start-up. The consortium selected under this call must ensure that these criteria are met for financial support to third parties.
- The initiative complements activities funded under the European Innovation Council (EIC), paving the way for the participation of women-led start-ups in future EIC calls.
- The consortium selected under this call is expected to organise the Women TechEU scheme, covering the following activities:
- Ensure the sound design, organisation, and management of the Women TechEU scheme, ensuring continuity of the scheme as implemented by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency in 2021 and 2022;
- Ensure smooth connection with the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS) for the mentoring and coaching support activities to selected applicants;
- Communicate and promote the scheme in order to secure quality applications;
- Organise landmark events, building a network of Women TechEU grantees, and help them to connect with the overall EIC community;
- Promote cooperation and networking activities among the community of women entrepreneurs in the deep tech field;
- Ensure proper geographical distribution and technological areas to be covered by the scheme;
- Report on the implementation of the scheme (key data on applications, start-ups funded, demographics of end-beneficiaries of the scheme, etc.) to European Commission services.
Components
- The applicants should consider a project duration of two (2) years and support provided by the consortium to eligible third parties under this initiative must be made up of the following components:
- Financial support to each selected company as an individual grant of EUR 75 000 supporting activities such as evaluating and refining products/services, design, user experience, upgrading the business model, updating the business plan and growth strategy, finding partners and investors, market validation, etc.;
- The possibility to participate in dedicated activities organised by InvestEU, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), and other relevant networks;
- Please note that mentoring and coaching will be provided by the EIC BAS, under the ‘Women Leadership Programme’, which includes dedicated networking and pitching events funded under a separate EIC budget.
Funding Information
- The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- Public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- Cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Type and range of activities
- A main activity of the consortium will be to run calls for proposals (at least one (1) per calendar year, the consideration of multiple cut-off dates is encouraged), organise the evaluation process, and administer the grants. Beyond providing funding to women-led deep tech start-ups, proposals under this topic should include a sound promotion and communication strategy of the programme (especially in underrepresented Member States), clearly brand the scheme as an EU initiative, including but not limited to, through information and dissemination events, press and outreach events, or roadshows.
- Deep tech innovation aims to provide concrete solutions to their societal problems by finding its source in a deep interaction with the most recent scientific and technological advances and by seeking to produce a profound impact in the targeted application areas.
Expected Outcomes
- Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Support deep tech innovation as a basis for a modern, knowledge-driven, resource-efficient and competitive economy;
- Promote female leadership in the deep tech industry to build fairer, more inclusive, and more prosperous innovation ecosystems in the European Union (EU);
- Ensure a smooth continuation of the established Women TechEU scheme consistent with previous processes, outcomes, and branding;
- Foster cooperation and networking between women entrepreneurs in the deep tech field.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
- A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
- Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting their application, in order to get a participant identification code (PIC) and be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation) before signing the grant agreement. For the validation, they will be asked to upload the necessary documents showing their legal status and origin during the grant preparation stage. A validated PIC is not a prerequisite for submitting an application.
Specific cases
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities linked to a beneficiary3 which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they fulfil the eligibility conditions.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, but without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Entities eligible for funding To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- The Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- Eligible non-EU countries:
- Countries associated to Horizon Europe
For more information, visit European Commission.