This call seeks to aid existing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace which operate within RIS3’s strategic sectors. These sectors include materials, construction and industry, tourism, culture and creative industries, the agri-food chain, environment and circular economy, biosciences, health, pharmaceuticals, transport and logistics, sustainable energy, and digital technologies. Its objective is for these enterprises to create new, innovative, or improved products and services with high added value, thus enhancing their competitiveness and boosting their market position both domestically and globally.

Eligible Beneficiaries

Existing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that: i) Have at least 2 fully closed financial years prior to the electronic submission date, ii) operate predominantly in areas aligned with RIS3 strategy (i.e., with main or highest-revenue VAT code in an eligible activity code in the previous year) and iii) undertake the investment in at least one eligible VAT business code. (Note: The enterprise need not have that VAT business code at application time but must have it before the first grant disbursement).

Eligible Expenditures

Potential expenditures include:

• Buildings and installations.
• Production equipment, IT hardware, electric vehicles, instruments, office equipment.
• Software.
• Advertising, marketing, and networking costs (e.g., exhibiting at trade fairs, building or upgrading a website).
• Certifications of services and processes following national, harmonized, or other EU and international standards.
• Packaging–Labeling–Branding design services.
• Project submission fees and monitoring costs for the investment plan.
• Full payroll for newly hired staff.
• Indirect costs.

Budget Limits

The plan’s funded budget cannot exceed the highest turnover achieved in one of the two fully closed fiscal years prior to the call announcement date (2022 or 2023), plus 20%.

Under the relevant funding scheme:

Regulation (EU) 2831/2023: eligible budgets of €50,000–€600,000

Regulation (EU) 651/2014: eligible budgets of €300,000–€1,000,000

Evaluation Method
All applications undergo comparative evaluation among submissions received within the specified deadline.