The Horizon 2020 SME Instrument as a special financing scheme, in which innovative small and medium-sized enterprises can independently apply for grants, is slowly coming to an end, and its successor, the EIC Accelerator Pilot, is on the scene. The EIC Accelerator Pilot is part of the Enhanced European Innovation Council pilot, under the umbrella of which there are several other programs: EIC Pathfinder (FET-Open and FET-Proactive), Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) and Horizon Prizes, which provides funding for innovations that in their areas are making important advances and creating new markets. Therefore, it is an EU program that offers financial assistance and services to innovative start-up firms, small and medium-sized enterprises, innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers for the development and commercialization of new products, services and business models, which will trigger economic growth, create new or improve existing markets in Europe.
Thanks to EUTA’s cooperation with the Slovenian consulting firm Tiko Pro, which has 12 H2020 funded projects and over 18 MEUR in its portfolio, we will have the opportunity to bring experts to Belgrade who will share their many years of experience and knowledge in working primarily with the H2020 SME Instrument and companies that applied in the previous period for this instrument. In Slovenia, over 60 companies have received funding from the H2020 SME Instrument so far.
During the one-day training for writing EIC Accelerator Pilot and Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) projects, we will analyze what is new and what has changed compared to the previous period, what awaits us from 2021, what the entire process of preparing and writing projects for the mentioned instruments looks like , which are the main challenges and reasons why there are no more funded projects in Serbia and the region, what examples of funded projects look like, and we will also discuss the project ideas of the participants and what are the next steps in the development of your ideas.