Over 20.000 applications received, € 500 million invested in more than 1400 projects and more than € 692 million of private equity attracted. Since 2014, the European Union’s new € 80 billion Framework Program for Research and Innovation – Horizon 2020 – contains a dedicated tool for financing innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises (EASME) published on 11th November 2016 the Report “Catalysing European Innovation” focusing on 2014-2015, the first two years of the SME Instrument. The report clearly shows that the instrument has kicked off positively and has been given highly effective and valuable support to innovative SMEs. The report analyses the profile of the funded companies, presents their innovations and outlines the first emerging trends.
But who are the funded SMEs?
The SME instrument attracts a very diverse audience: from early stage start-ups to scale-ups with confirmed positions on the market and ready to internationalise their business. The beneficiaries include family businesses, service-oriented SMEs, research-intense companies and many more.
Most funded companies come from Spain and Italy followed by the United Kingdom, although Ireland is proportionally the most efficient country in getting its proposals funded. The ICT sector counts the biggest number of applicants and selected companies.
Almost 1/3 of the funded SMEs are start-ups, meaning that they are operational less 3 years. The average age of the funded companies is 11 years. For some topics, the average age is much higher. For instance, in the Nanotechnologies topic 42% of Phase 1 funded SMEs and 56% of Phase 2 funded SMEs are more than 11 years on the market. On the contrary, ICT companies funded under the SME Instrument are younger: 46% of Phase 1 funded SMEs and 35% of Phase 2 funded SMEs in the ICT topic are less than 3 years old. 11% of the companies are backed by accelerators and 12% are spin-offs by academia.
The average company funded by the SME Instrument has 21 employees. 11% of Phase 1 and 15% of Phase 2 funded companies have between 50 and 249 employees.
SME Instrument applicants come mostly from manufacturing – 24% of funded SMEs – while professional and Science & Technology (S&T) activities account for only 17%, and Information & Communication (I&C) activities only 16%.
63% of SME instrument funded companies are in the pre-industrialised stage. 28% are in the seed stage and 35 % in the project-to-project stage. 22% are in the upscaling stage (22%).
Competition is tough as the success rate is 8% for Phase 1 and 6% for Phase 2. But once they get there, businesses can receive from € 50.000 up to € 2.5 million to finance 70% of their project. In addition, every euro invested is smart money – funded companies get 3 days of business innovation coaching under Phase 1 and 12 days under Phase 2.
First Results: attraction of more investment
A first sketch shows that the selected SMEs have successfully attracted private investment three times more than before participating to the programme. Such SMEs gathered a total of € 692 million in private equity and report benefitting from faster access to their target markets.
Feel free to read the full report and have a look at EASME’s infographic containing 15 facts about the SME Instrument.
.Source: EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises – European Commission)
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The successful SMEs supported by Octopux Consulting
The successful SMEs supported by our firm range from start-ups to scale-up companies, coming from a wide variety of sectors: ICT, biotechnology, environment, nanotechnologies, solar energy, blue growth, automotive, healthcare, etc. Some of our clients represent manufacturing industries while others represent R&D-intense SMEs as well as service-oriented companies.
It is true that some of our SME Instrument proposals didn’t succeed in the first submission, but several of our REsubmissions turned out to be much better… and successful, deserving the opening of a nice bottle of champagne. Plus, the best SME Instrument project – REPHLECT – prepared by Octopux obtained 14,45 points out of 15: that’s not only an outstanding score but we did it with just one shot (without resubmissions).
With currently more than 12 successful projects since 2014, Octopux is proud to position itself as a Brussels-based leader in European Commission’s funding programmes like Horizon 2020 and, of course, the SME Instrument.
Octopux doesn’t only prepare the funding applications (bid writing) for its clients but also supports them in managing approved projects at a legal-administrative and financial level, and provides innovative training programmes (in Brussels or in-house) on Horizon 2020 and the SME Instrument, covering unmet needs with constant updated information based on its real-life day-to-day experience.
Do you seek professional help? Check first the next SME Instrument cut-off dates, then contact us for customised support for your SME funding application.
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