3rd Call for WORTH Partnership Project

WORTH Partnership Project is funded by the European Commission under COSME, the EU Programme for the competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. WORTH is the sole European project where designers, SMEs, manufacturers, and tech providers work together to develop innovative, design-oriented business ideas.

Thematic Areas

• This Call aims to support design solutions that contribute to the green and digital transition and boosting entrepreneurship in creative and lifestyle industries through transnational collaborations between designers, creative people, manufacturing SMEs, crafters/makers and technology firms looking to develop design-driven and innovative products, services, techniques or business models. Solutions must be in one of the areas of the following industries: textile/fashion, footwear, furniture/home decoration/interior design/architecture, leather/fur, jewellery, accessories. Proposals should address one or more of the following areas:
  • Circular Economy (including green transition, energy efficiency, reducing carbon footprint, sustainable production and consumption)
  • Digital Manufacturing
  • High-added value solutions (including disruptive approaches and digitized value chains)
  • High-performance and innovative materials
  • Reinventing craftsmanship
  • Social Innovation

Offerings

The project provides companies with an incubation programme to develop new businesses, including

• 10.000 to 20.000 € in financial support;
• coaching on business strategy and technology development;
• legal advice on intellectual property rights and protection;
• participation in exhibitions;
• networking and professional links.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible partners:
  • To be eligible, the partners (lead applicants and partners) must:
    • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.: (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden), COSME associated countries (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine) or the United Kingdom.
      • be legal entities forming a consortium, including:
        • self-employed professionals. They must be legally established according to the laws of each participating country, as of the signature of the grant agreement and at least during the whole duration of their project implementation
        • private non-for-profit organisations
        • private for-profit organisations
        • other entities, such as universities, research organisations, design labs etc., if justified as relevant to the project
    • be active in any eligible lifestyle industry sectors and have any of the following business activities: design, manufacturing/craftsmanship, technology development
    • Partners must not be in the process of receivership or bankruptcy.
• Notes:
  • Large companies are not eligible.
  • Both the lead applicants and partners must complete a registration form where these eligibility criteria will be checked.
• Eligible partnerships
  • Applications must be submitted by partnerships consisting of a minimum of two and a maximum of three eligible partners.
  • Partnerships must be transnational, meaning members must come from at least two different EU or COSME-associated countries or the United Kingdom.
  • Each partnership will nominate a lead applicant. The lead applicant can only be an SME or a self-employed professional.
  • At least two of the following roles must be represented in the partnership:
    • designer/creative;
    • manufacturer/crafter/maker,
    • technology developer/technology supplier/technology owner;
  • Partnerships must address solutions for the eligible lifestyle industry sectors, including textile/fashion, footwear, leather/fur, furniture/home decoration/interior design/architecture, jewellery, and accessories.
  • Applicants can only participate in one submitted application per call.
  • Already awarded under previous WORTH calls can participate in future calls only if the project idea is completely different from the one awarded in previous WORTH.
  • The technology provider/owner/supplier must own or have the right to use the relevant technologies to be applied freely.

For more information, visit European Commission (EC).