Interregional Innovation Investments Strand 2a (Project Grants)

Objectives

• This call is for Strand 2a and focuses on reinforcing the integration of innovation actors from less developed regions in developing EU value chains. The term “value chain” is associated with both, a set of interdependent economic activities creating added value around a product, process or service, and a group of interlinked economic actors, operating in a strategic network across firms of different sizes, including SMEs, sectors and borders. (Strategic Forum for Important Projects of Common European Commission: Report of the Strategic Forum for Important Projects of Common European Interest) while creating local opportunities for innovation and smart economic transformation in regions with shared (or complementary) smart specialisation areas.
• The objective of the I3 Instrument Strand 2a call for proposals is to support interregional innovation investments by offering consortia of innovation actors from the quadruple helix ecosystems the necessary financial and advisory support to bring their innovations to a more mature level, ready for commercialisation and scale-up, while bridging and reducing the innovation divide in Europe with a strong cohesion policy focus of integrating all regions and in particular the less developed regions into European value chains.
• Thereby, applications under this call seek to facilitate:
  • the support of innovation actors with investment ideas that are ready to be developed into mature business cases;
  • the identification of new regional technological domains and market opportunities with the EU priorities and bridging the gap between the supply and demand sides to help innovation ecosystems overcome market failures;
  • the creation of new value chains in less developed regions and the integration into interregional and cross-border value chains with more developed regions;
  • the application and the deployment of innovative technologies and solutions in less developed regions;
  • the interaction and collaboration of SMES from less developed regions in interregional/multi-national value chains and with innovation actors form more developed regions.
• The focus is on technology transfer and highly specialised advisory support for the implementation of experiments and demonstration cases in companies. Participation of innovation actors is based on shared or complementary innovation priorities, as defined in their regional and/or national smart specialisation strategies. Projects shall show a balanced participation of regions with varying levels of development and innovation performance.
• I3 Instrument business investment cases start with a minimum TRL 6 and have the ambition to facilitate demonstration and to accelerate market uptake and commercialisation. The development of the business and investment cases is facilitated by the regional innovation ecosystems with companies in the lead.

Themes and Priorities

Applications under this call for proposals must address one of the following thematic priorities:

• Digital transition
  • Digital technologies present an enormous growth potential for Europe. In line with the Europe fit for the digital age priority, this thematic priority targets investments in businesses and public administrations (notably in the part related to the innovation sector) with regards to the digital transition. Projects will unlock the potential for digital growth, deploying innovative solutions that improve accessibility and efficiency of services (both for businesses and citizens) while bridging the digital divide.
  • This thematic priority encourages applications in one or more or a combination of the following investment areas (non-exhaustive list):
    • Digital economy innovation
    • Digital transformation of public administration and public services
• Green transition
  • Turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities is the ambition of the green transition. The European Green Deal has the goal to make Europe a resource-efficient and competitive economy, while reducing EU reliance on fossil fuels. In this framework, the EU has set targets to reach climate-neutrality by 2050. This will require substantial investments. This thematic priority intends to support innovative value chain investments, to boost the economy through green technology and to create sustainable industry/transport.
• Smart manufacturing
  • This thematic priority focuses on improving the delivery of new or improved products, processes or services in the manufacturing industry and fostering a circular economy approach. In the context of advanced manufacturing; knowledge and innovative technologies are used to produce complex products and improve processes to lower waste, pollution, material consumption and energy use. Robotics, 3D and 4D printing, artificial intelligence as well as high performance computing for modelling are important elements in advanced manufacturing.

Funding Information

• The estimated total available call budget for 2024 is EUR 36 million.
• The maximum amount of financial support for each third party (‘recipient’) may not exceed EUR 60,000.

Expected Impacts

• Expected impact at the closure of the project (non-exhaustive list):
  • Creation of new value chains in less developed regions;
  • Application and deployment of innovative technologies and solutions (new to the region) in less developed regions (innovation diffusion);
  • Exploitation of research results;
  • Innovative technologies tested and adopted by companies and public administration
• Long-term impact (non-exhaustive list):
  • Reduction of the innovation divide and of disparities between more developed and less developed regions;
  • Increased companies’ productivity and efficiency;
  • Improved user-friendly, accessible and interoperable public services;
  • Improved level of digital skills;

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • non-EU countries:
    • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the I3 Instrument or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature.

For more information, visit European Commission.