Deadline Date: November 28, 2025
The Internationalisation Strategy Support Scheme provides targeted assistance to help enterprises become more efficient, more competitive, and better positioned to strengthen their business credibility.
The focus areas of this scheme are to render the enterprises more efficient and/or more competitive and gain further credibility for their business operations, and to support SMEs through non-repayable Grants to part-finance costs incurred for external services contracted to provide the enterprise with an internationalisation strategy.
This includes the full scope of strategy development such as studying the opportunities abroad and identifying the business overview, global opportunities, market analysis, feasibility assessment and recommendations for market focus, followed by a strategy for a selected country/countries and identifying the country specific analysis, market entry strategy, marketing and sales strategy, financial and operational planning and risk analysis, mitigation, monitoring and evaluation. It also aligns with Policy Objective 1 ‘A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity’, and is linked to PO1: Promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and fostering the creation of new firms, including through business incubators, as well as RSO1.3. Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation in SMEs, including by productive investments.
This scheme supports SMEs through non-repayable grants that part-finance the cost of external services needed to develop an internationalisation strategy. It aims to help businesses explore international opportunities, strengthen their market positioning, and plan effectively for overseas expansion. The strategy can be developed in two phases, beginning with a study of global opportunities and feasibility, followed by country-specific planning that covers market entry, marketing, sales, financial frameworks, operational considerations, and risk mitigation.
The maximum grant available per undertaking is €20,000. The scheme will operate until 31 December 2026, depending on the availability of funds. A total budget of €500,000 has been allocated initially to support participating enterprises.
Eligible applicants include micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises operating an economic activity, regardless of their legal structure. Applicants for Part 1 of the strategy must demonstrate at least one year of active trading at the time of application. Enterprises that do not have automatic legal personality under Maltese law must register under the Second Schedule of the Civil Code.
For more information, visit FONDI.eu.
