SME development
Who can receive funding?
Where is the funding eligible?
How much funding is available?
Why is it beneficial to participate?
How can you participate?
How to start?
The following types of organisations can form partnerships and submit applications (non-exhaustive list):
- Chambers of commerce, business development agencies, business incubators, technology parks and other business support and finance organisations;
- Formal associations, clusters and networks of SMEs (having legal personality);
- Regional development agencies;
- NGOs providing international promotion and marketing, research and services (e.g. training) or promotion and services focused on innovation aspects;
- Higher education and R&D institutions;
- Local and regional authorities and their associations.
Where is the funding eligible?
- in Denmark – Regional Municipality of Bornholm and Region Zealand (subregions: Østsjælland, Vest- og Sydsjælland);
- in Germany – districts (Landkreise) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Nordwestmecklenburg, Rostock, Vorpommern-Rügen, Vorpommern-Greifswald and district-free city (kreisfreie Stadt): Rostock;
- in Lithuania – counties of Klaipėda, Tauragė and Telšiai;
- in Poland – subregions of Miasto Szczecin, Szczeciński, Stargardzki, Koszaliński, Słupski, Starogardzki, Gdański, Trójmiejski and Elbląski;
- in Sweden – counties of Kalmar, Blekinge, Skåne and Kronoberg.
How much funding is available?
The Programme provides co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for cooperation activities between two or more organisations from at least two participating Member States. The funds available for the internationalisation and innovation capacity of SMEs amount to ca. 10 M EUR. The co-financing rate for Polish, Lithuanian and German beneficiaries is up to 85% of their eligible project costs, while Swedish and Danish beneficiaries receive up to 75% of ERDF co-financing. The ERDF co-financing is paid on the basis of semi-annual reimbursements.
Why is it beneficial to participate?
By participating in a project you would be able to:
- investigate best practices and exchange knowledge and experience related to the increase of SME internationalisation potential or SME innovation capacity;
- cooperate with partners and jointly develop tailored solutions that you can offer to the SMEs in your region;
- test innovative tools, methods and support schemes for SMEs in practice;
- form international networks with organisations pursuing the same mission;
- experience the cross-sector cooperation possibilities in an international setting.
- Your organisation has a legal personality;
- Your organisation is based in the eligible area (in exceptional and well-justified cases, project partners can be located outside the eligible Programme area; see section III.2 of the Programme Manual);
- Your organisation faces a challenge/an opportunity related to SME internationalisation or SME innovation;
- The challenge/opportunity requires joint actions across borders;
- The joint action can be accomplished by your organisation and your partner organisation(s) from (an)other Member State(s);
- The joint action will be carried out in the Programme eligible area;
- The joint action corresponds with a Programme specific objective.
The Programme resources are invested in key areas relevant to the South Baltic blue and green economy. These are called specific objectives. Two of them are the internationalisation of SMEs (specific objective 1.1) and their ability to create or absorb innovation (specific objective 1.2). Your potential project is expected to correspond with one of them. The aspects of internationalisation and innovation capacity should not be mixed within one project or at least there should be clear domination of one of the supported areas. Your potential project can support SMEs from the blue and/or green growth sectors. It is, however, desirable to concentrate on certain domains rather than trying to embrace the entire blue and green growth potential with one single project.
Specific objective 1.1
Can you help Interreg South Baltic to increase the presence of blue and green sector SMEs from the South Baltic area on international markets through joint cross-border actions? What we are looking for are cross-border support services/schemes fostering internationalisation efforts that are used by blue and green sector SMEs.
Specific objective 1.2
Can you help Interreg South Baltic to improve the transfer of innovation for the benefit of blue and green sector SMEs through joint cross-border actions? What we are looking for are newly established or enhanced cross-border clusters, networks and triple-helix models as well as cross-border support services/schemes fostering innovation capacity that is used by blue and green sector SMEs.
- Get in touch with a Contact Point in your region: www.southbaltic.eu/contact-points
- Share a project idea for consultation with the Joint Secretariat: www.southbaltic.eu/consultation
- Look for upcoming calls for proposals: www.southbaltic.eu/call-for-proposals
- Check for possibilities to fund project development activities: www.southbaltic.eu/seed-money