Innovation Fund (InnovFund)
Innovation Fund Small Scale Projects
2020 call for project – submission deadline 10 March 2021 at 17:00 CET, Brussels
Eligible activities
Projects MUST demonstrate highly innovative technologies (low-carbon technologies), processes or products, that are sufficiently mature and have a significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
NB! Incremental innovation will NOT be financed under this call for projects.
Projects must contribute to the completion of the transition to a climate-neutral economy.
- Legal persons residing in one of the 27-member states, Norway and Iceland;
- Belong to one of the following categories: private entities, public entities, or international organizations;
- Be directly responsible for the implementation and management of the project where relevant jointly with other applicants, i.e. not acting as an intermediary.
Interested companies can apply as stand-alone and/ or partnerships.
NB! INEA encourages the submission of projects by partner entities (technology provider-client) to demonstrate de “market readiness” evaluation criterion.
Projects must have a minimum total capital expenditure of EUR 2 500 000 and maximum total capital expenditure below EUR 7 500 000 to be eligible under this call.
This call for projects has a total budget of 100 mil EUR. The program does not fall under the State aid Regulation, but it will be taken into consideration when calculating the State Aid threshold.
Applicants must carry out two calculations according to the methodology for calculation of GHG emission avoidance provided:
- The absolute GHG emission avoidance is calculated as the difference between the expected GHG emissions of the reference and the GHG emissions in the project scenario during the first 10 years after entry into operation. As a minimum requirement, the process emissions of the project per unit of product must be below the EU ETS benchmark(s) applicable at the time of the deadline for submission of the applications.
- The relative GHG emission avoidance equals the absolute GHG emission avoidance of the project divided by the GHG emissions in the reference scenario. If the project activities take place across several sectors, the denominator will only include the reference GHG emissions that are related to the activities within the specified sector.
Out of the proposals that are not invited for grant preparation, those proposals are considered for PDA that:
- meet the minimum requirements under greenhouse gas emissions avoidance and degree of innovation criteria; and
- are awarded at least 50% of total points under the project maturity criterion; and
- are considered by evaluators as having the potential for improving their maturity through specific project development assistance.
The EIB will provide the Commission with a short-list of up to 20 proposals that could be awarded the project development assistance.
The PDA support will be tailor-made to the specific projects, based on their needs identified in the evaluation. Possible PDA support may include but is not limited to:
- improvement and development of project documentation, or of components of the project design, with a view to ensure the sufficient maturity of the project, including support with the permits plan;
- assessment of the feasibility of the project, including technical and economic studies (e.g. terms of references for the FEED study) and due diligence;
- advice on the financial and legal structure of the project;
- capacity building of the applicant.
For further information, please contact us:
Andreea CARP – Director EU Funds
Tel.: 0740.51.03.04
E-mail: andreea.carp@sph3ra.ro