Regione Calabria has recently published a call to support industrial research, experimental development and innovation projects submitted as a result of “actual collaboration” between local enterprises and research institutions, aimed at achieving a shared goal and enabling participants to improve their positioning in the market or favour the opening of related new business lines. The call is addressed to Micro-, Small- and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Large Enterprises (LEs) and Research Organizations (ROs) and the activities planned for project implementation should be completed within 24 months since assignment of the funding.
The applicant should be a team including a maximum of three enterprises and one Research organization; if the group includes a large enterprise, at least one MSME should be also included. Enterprises operating in the fishing, aquaculture and primary production of agricultural product sectors are not eligible for funding.
The funding is granted under the CALABRIA FESR FSE 2021-2027 Regional Programme and refers to “PRIORITY’ 1 – More competitive and smarter Calabria”, “ACTION 1.1.1 Support to projects for research, development and innovation activities, in collaboration with research organizations, in S3 priority areas and lines”. In total, the maximum investment cannot exceed one million euros for groups consisting of MSMEs and ROs and €4.25 million for groups led by LEs.
MSMEs and LEs included in the group must support at least 60% of the overall investment, while ROs cannot exceed 40%.
To be eligible for participation, companies should have an operating headquarter in the Region, be independent and be included in a group committed to implement a shared project of collaboration, which will share risks and results according to agreed rules.
Project applications can be submitted on the Fincalabra online platform from 10:00 of 15 April 2024 until 16:00 of 15 May 2024. All the proposals submitted will follow a “ranking” assessment procedure. Therefore, it will be crucial to obtain a high score based on all the required assessment criteria, both objective and subjective.
A summary of the call is available here.
