GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

The Single Market Programme (SMP) covers the single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, the area of plants, animals, food and feed, and European statistics. Specifically, the programme brings together aspects in order to streamline, exploit synergies and provide a better flexible, transparent, simplified and agile framework to finance activities aiming at a well-functioning sustainable internal market.

Project budgets (maximum grant amount) are expected to be up to a maximum of € 1,400,000 per project. The budget of each Eurocluster’s proposal should be split in the following way:

• 25% will cover joint activities between cluster organisations and other Eurocluster partners, to finance e.g. design of support measures for SMEs, coordination of actions and joint communication.
• 75% will be directed to SMEs, to finance services in support of their resilience, green and digital transformation, e.g. vouchers for support services, or free access to use testing facilities directly to SMEs.

 The costs will be reimbursed at the funding rates fixed in the Grant Agreement (100% for the costs for providing financial support to third parties and 90% for all other costs categories).

 Around 30 projects are expected to be fund under this call for proposals. Specifically:

• at least one project for each of the Industrial Ecosystem Strand; and
• at least 16 in the Open Strand.

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities (public or private bodies), established in an EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or listed 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.

 Proposals must be submitted by a consortium (Eurocluster) which complies with the following conditions:

• minimum 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities);
• minimum 3 cluster organisations or cluster networks from at least 3 different EU Member States;
• at least half of the partners in each consortium (Eurocluster) must be cluster organisations or cluster networks;
• the applicant consortium must include at least one partner established in a less advanced region of a EU Member State.

 Applicants can participate in several Euroclusters under this call for proposals, but cannot participate in more than one Eurocluster (applicant consortium) per Strand.