The SME Instrument provides funding support to innovative small and medium enterprises through three phases. Phase 1 provides €50,000 grants for feasibility assessments lasting 6 months. Phase 2 provides €0.5-2 million grants covering 70% of costs for demonstration and prototyping projects lasting 1-2 years. Phase 3 does not provide direct funding but supports commercialization. There are four cut-off dates per year to apply. Proposals should use graphics and easy-to-read text to convince evaluators of commercial potential and technical feasibility. Resubmissions are common before projects receive funding.

1. SME Instrument
@finodexproject #publicfunding #myFIWAREstory
Albert Alonso
aalonso@zabala.es13/04/2016

2. 2
Support highly innovative SMEs with a clear
commercial ambition and a potential for high growth
and internationalisation
SMEs on
their own or
consortia
Broad
topics:
nearly
bottom-up
4 cut-off
dates per
year
SME Instrument
3 DIFFERENT PHASES

3. SME Instrument. Phase 1
3
Funding  50.000€
Proposal  10 pages (a draft of your business plan)
Score  +13/15
Lenght  6 months
Activities covered:
risk assessment, market study, user involvement,
Intellectual Property (IP) management, innovation
strategy development, partner search, feasibility of
concept (this is the basis for the Phase 2 proposal).

4. SME Instrument. Phase 2
4
Funding  70% [€0.5M - €2M]
Proposal  30 pages (an
extended business plan)
Score  +12/15
Lenght  1-2 years
Activities covered
demonstration, testing, prototyping, piloting, scaling-up,
miniaturisation, design, market replication

5. SME Instrument. Phase 3
5
No direct funding!
Activities covered
Indirect support measures and services as well as access
to the financial facilities. Building a community of
successful European SMEs and easing investment by VC
and big companies.

6. SME Instrument. What’s the best topic?
6
Besides the topic as such, check the
success rate and choose wisely.

7. SME Instrument. Proposal Style
7
Use graphics, tables, figures and make the
text easy-to-read

8. SME Instrument. Who decides?
8
- Profile of SME Instrument evaluators-
This is the kind of people you need to
convince! Make it as a pitch-deck not as a
technical description.

9. SME Instrument. Time dedication
9
1 Month: Phase 1 (last week for refining)
2 Months: Phase 2 (2 last weeks for
refining)

10. SME Instrument. Resubmission
10
Proposals get funded after several
resubmissions. Don’t give up!

11. SME Instrument. Dates
11
Phase 1
Phase 2
24-02-2016
03-05-2016
07-09-2016
09-11-2016
15-02-2017
03-05-2017
06-09-2017
08-11-2017
03-02-2016
14-04-2016
15-06-2016
13-10-2016
18-01-2017
06-04-2017
01-06-2017
18-10-2017

12. SME Instrument: Success Stories
12
Also from the FIWARE Accelerate Programme
2 out of the 3 best projects in FINODEX call 1
succeded in SME phase 1 instrument too.

13. SME Instrument. Final advise
13
Page 1 is not a copy
paste. Provoke emotions
in the reader! It’s a pitch.
It’s not about luck. It’s about
writing a convincing proposal out
of a good project.
Evaluate your chances. Check
the statistics, topics, etc.

14. Thanks!
info@finodex-project.eu
www.finodex-project.eu
finodex
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This project is co-funded by the European Union