In celebration of National Small Industry Day (India) 2024, we are excited to present a curated selection of funding opportunities available specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These opportunities are designed to help your business scale new heights and achieve significant growth. Explore the following list of generous donors who are offering targeted support to elevate your SME’s potential.

CFC offers Financial Support to SMEs/Enterprises/Businesses, Cooperatives & Institutions

Deadline: 1 October 2024

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) invites applications for financial support from qualifying projects.

The CFC can offer a range of financial and technical instruments of support to meet specific needs of SMEs/enterprises/businesses, cooperatives, and institutions along the entire commodity value chain in its member countries.

Eligible projects are based in one of the CFC Member Countries and intend to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals by investing in commodity value chains. Successful applications will demonstrate clear and visible potential to achieve sustainable positive impact on the livelihoods of the poorest people who depend on commodities.

With poverty alleviation as the mission, the CFC will support proposals investing in poorest and most vulnerable people in the global value chains, which may concern production, processing, financing, marketing, research, and development (R&D), etc.

Quality project proposals from LDCs (Least Developed Countries), LLDCs (Landlocked Developing Countries) and SIDs (Small Island Developing States) will be given priority to alleviate more people from poverty.

The CFC expects that its involvement will enable innovation for positive change in the value chain, providing more income for all participants, securing equitable distribution of benefits, and contributing to social and environmental well-being of its poorest participants at the bottom of the pyramid.

The CFC encourages applications proposing innovative solutions for the commodity sector. These may include new agritech applications, agroforestry, agro-ecology themed innovative productivity practices, regenerative technologies, increased availability of renewable and affordable energy, expanding environmental services, expediting digital and green recovery, adding to the nutrition security, climate friendly practices contributing to biodiversity, preventing deforestation, digitalization, financial inclusion, blockchain and other traceability solutions.

Funding Information

The CFC funds agribusinesses with loans and other debt instruments. The maximum amount is USD 2 million for regular projects, and up to USD 300,000 under the Fast-Track procedure.
CFC can offer a grace period on its loans, not exceeding 2 years.

Eligibility Criteria

If the country where your project will operate is a CFC Member State, you are eligible to apply for the proposal.
The CFC does not finance start-up companies. Eligible proposals must demonstrate a track record of at least 3 years (addressing substantive as well as financial issues).
The existence of a credible historical period of operations (documented by audited financial statements) is important.

For more information, visit Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).

Open Call: Co-creating Smart Solutions with Rural Communities

Deadline: 30 September 2024

The FUTURAL has launched an open call to encourage SMEs, startups, research organisations and rural communities to attract SMEs and other interested parties including start-ups, research organisations, rural communities (e.g., municipalities, regional authorities, development agencies, NGOs etc.) who can either develop and implement SS within the 5 domains or contribute to the expansion of the local ecosystem, capacity building of the community, and improvement of the livelihoods.

Aims

The FUTURAL Open Call aims to:
- Address a wider range of societal and environmental challenges related to the 5 FUTURAL domains.
- Harness the potential of using data from multiple sources and make users themselves part of the solution.
- Enable the transferability and accelerate the uptake and upscale of the digital smart solutions at a pan-European level towards sustainable and resilient rural areas.
- Enhance the FUTURAL meta-search platform by adding at least ten (10) more SS cocreated within rural communities across Europe.

Domains

Proposed solutions must fall within one of the following domains:
- Circular bioeconomy, biodiversity and ecosystem management
- Resilience to shocks
- Citizen Engagement and Quality of Life
- Lifelong Education and Training
- Climate Adaptation and Mitigation

Funding Information

The Open Call will result in at least 10 projects (max €120k euro per project – min €30,000 – max €60,000 per third party). In total, a €1.2m euro budget will be allocated to financial support to third parties.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible stakeholders to participate in the call for third party funding include SMEs, start-ups, research organisations, rural communities (e.g., Municipalities, Regional authorities, Development agencies, NGOs etc.).
An automatic filtering to discard non-eligible proposals will be based on the following criteria:
- legal entity is established in an eligible for HE funding country.
- the consortium is allowed to submit only one proposal.
- a party can participate only in one consortium; If an applicant participates in more than one proposal, then all proposals will be considered as ineligible.
- Proposals are not pre-selected in the other projects’ open calls’ funded under the same topic (HORIZON-CL6-2022-COMMUNITIES-02-01-two-stage), i.e. RURACTIVE and SMART ERA
- Proposal includes at least one technical party SMEs, Start-ups, Research organisations) and at least one rural community (e.g. Municipalities, Regional authorities, Development agencies, NGOs etc);
- proposed solutions fall within one of the five domains proposals and address challenges in rural areas.
On top of that, the following will be considered:
- Existing consortium members of the FUTURAL project and their affiliated entities will not be eligible for the OC.
- The proposal must be delivered before the defined deadline (September 30th, 2024, at 17:00 CET), applying the requested submission procedure.
- Proposals shall only ask for funding for that part of the work that is not yet accomplished and will be carried out once having been selected for funding. Of course, this does not exclude the usage of e.g. results, IP, infrastructures or approaches already held by the applicants.
- All applicants must have a valid VAT number and must be active and operational. However, in case having VAT number is not mandatory according to the national legislation of the applicant’s country, a registration number from the respective national authority (National business registry, Commercial court or similar) must be provided.

For more information, visit FUTURAL.

Internationalisation Grants for SMEs

Deadline: 30 September 2024

The Eurocluster INGENIOUS is supporting Europe’s industry to gain sovereignty, to drive competitive sustainability, to be the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, and to shape Europe’s digital future.

INGENIOUS has a special focus on SME support as they are the backbone of the economy and will support them with the new steps on building resilience and on the green and digital transition. The INGENIOUS project serves as a lever for the companies to implement highly innovative solutions via three financial instruments (Innovation Grants, Training Grants, and Internationalization Grants). The total amount of direct financial support for SMEs under INGENIOUS programme is 1.05 Million Euros.

Funding Information

The applicants can apply only for one Internationalisation Grant (one grant worth € 2500) keeping in mind that the total maximum funding will be € 60.000 per SME including all financial support to third parties (Innovation grants and Training grants) within the INGENIOUS project.
The validity of the Internationalisation Grant is 6 months starting from the approval email date. The entirety of the lump sum must be utilized by the conclusion of the project.

Application Conditions

To be eligible for Internationalisation Grants, any submitted application should meet the following conditions:
- Internationalisation activities should meet one of the mentioned main target destinations (Africa, Asia, North and Latin America)
- Applications must be written in English (applications partially written in another language are not eligible)
- Applicants must be a SME
- Applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  - EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)) and Ukraine
  - EEA countries and countries associated to the COSME part of the Single Market Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature
- Applicants will have to demonstrate the need for the mission to target country in a motivation letter, evaluated and approved by the INGENIOUS responsible
- Members of the cluster organisations participating in the project are eligible to apply, but project partners are not eligible.

For more information, visit Eurocluster.

India Australia RISE Accelerator for Science-based Tech-startups

Deadline: 15 September 2024

CSIRO is currently accepting applications for the India Australia Rapid Innovation and Startup Expansion (RISE) Accelerator to help Indian and Australian science-based technology startups fast-track their cross-border impact by building connections and proving their technology for international expansion into both countries.

RISE Accelerator is delivered through a powerful partnership between CSIRO and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

The RISE Accelerator provides support to startups, micro, and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are working on innovative technology and are considering overseas expansion between India and Australia.

Challenge Statements

Catalysing climate smart agriculture
- The scale of farm operations in India and Australia differs greatly, yet both nations face similar climate variability and agricultural resilience challenges.
- They’re seeking deployable, novel solutions for agricultural production, to support national economies, farmer livelihoods, and food security. Solutions should prioritise farmer needs and on-farm practices.
Does your technology or solution address one or more of these challenge statements?
- Can you optimise natural resource inputs?
  - Innovative technologies and solutions that optimise access to and use of water, drive optimal soil nutrition and health, and/or protect or restore critical natural resources.
- Can you boost productivity and profitability?
  - Innovative technologies and solutions that promote agricultural yield, resilience, and productivity through efficient use of fertilisers, pesticides, seeds or feed.
- Can you influence energy use and emissions?
  - Innovative technologies and solutions that optimise on-farm energy and or lower emissions.
- Can you go beyond incremental innovation to create sustainable farming systems in the longterm?
  - Breakthrough innovations that move beyond legacy technologies and practices to cater to changing climate, population, and economic circumstances.

Benefits

A targeted learning curriculum
- The learning curriculum will help you navigate early steps in a new region, validate and adapt technology and research overseas, fast-track connections to the right partners, customers and talent, and build credibility to succeed in international markets. They’ll also explore a theme-specific curriculum.
Non-equity grants
- You will be eligible for a non-equity grant subject to achievement of program milestones. Non-equity grants will be up to A$75,000 for Australian organisations, or INR 4.5 million for Indian organisations.
A virtual program with the opportunity to travel
- Most of the learning elements of the program will be delivered virtually, with key in-person experiences to meet cohort peers and immersive learning. One representative will be funded to participate in three in-person experiences across the nine months – twice within your home country, and once to your target market.
Science, technology and IP development
- They’ll support you to validate, adapt and scale your technologies overseas. They’ll help you understand how to develop and protect your IP across borders.
Test and pilot your tech
- They’ll support you to broker pilot collaborations with established businesses or institutions in your target market to provide you with testing and demonstration opportunities.
Connect with customers
- They’ll connect you with potential end customers, providing opportunities for them to be involved in pilots and testing processes.
Connections with investment
- The program promotes investment opportunities, supporting due diligence and identifying high-potential startups for investment. Program participation enhances credibility and offer investors full transparency.
A network of experts
- You will have a dedicated expert-in-residence to provide tailored and practical support. You’ll also have access to a pool of experienced subject matter experts from across regulatory, technical and industry fields.
Connection after the program
- At the end of the program, they will continue to foster ongoing connections between cohorts, mentors, investors and industry experts through.

Eligibility Criteria

For Australia
- They cannot consider your Program application if you do not satisfy all the eligibility criteria. To be considered, you must meet all the following:
  - a company incorporated in Australia with ABN and ACN or an incorporated trustee applying on behalf of a trust
  - be headquartered or domiciled in Australia
  - incorporated for less than 10 years
  - registered for GST
  - has not had revenue of more than $20 million in any of the last 3 financial years
  - have a technology or solution at TRL 7 or higher. They may consider solutions at TRL 5-6 that have a clear potential to rapidly advance through expansion into India
For India
- RISE Accelerator Program is open to Indian Start-ups and SMEs.
  - Company registered as a Start-up, as defined, and recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
  - Company registered in UDYAM as a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as defined in the MSMED Act, 2006
  - Incorporated in India for less than 10 years
  - The majority stake (more than 51%) of the Start-up/MSME must be held in India
Have or be actively developing a technology or solution that aligns with one or more of the RISE Accelerator Round 2 Challenge Statements.

For more information, visit CSIRO.