The seed money scheme is intended to facilitate the process of preparation of full-scale projects to be implemented and financed under the Interreg South Baltic Programme regular calls for proposals. In general, it aims at stimulating the development of high-quality projects and serves as an incentive for potential beneficiaries to convince local decision-makers to develop a project idea, as the respective costs are co-financed from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

During the 2014-2020 programming period, the Programme organized three dedicated calls for seed money proposals. 

The 1st call for seed money projects was held between 31 May 2016 and 17 June 2016. In result, 19 projects have been selected for funding by the Monitoring Committee (MC) of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020. One of the projects resigned from signing the Subsidy Contract. The allocated resources from the European Regional Development Fund to these projects amounted to approximately 547 000 EUR. The projects approved covered six out of seven specific objectives of the Programme (no projects approved under specific objective 4 skills development). The majority of the lead partners of the approved projects were from Poland (12 projects).

The 2nd call for seed money projects was held between 10 and 30 January 2017 for specific objectives 3.1 (sustainable transport) and 4.1 (skilled labour force). The Monitoring Committee selected for founding 8 new seed money proposals and in total allocated ca. 255 000 EUR ERDF.

The 3rd seed money call for proposals was open between 13 September and 5 November 2021 and aimed at developing ideas for regular projects to be implemented and financed under the future Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027. The call was open for six out of seven specific objectives (due to lack of allocation stayed closed for specific objective 4 skills development). In result of the call, 43 projects were selected for funding with total ERDF amounting to approx. 1 386 000 EUR.

Next seed money calls will be announced depending on the availability of savings generated by finalised projects and the decision of the Monitoring Committee. The direction of utilisation of savings will be announced probably at the beginning of May 2022 or later.