ct ate guide for applicants b2b voucher eur 12,000 · • netherlands: liof, stichting dsp valley....

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connect develop innovate

Innovation2Market B2B Voucher

GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS

A. GENERAL INFORMATION

Target of the HYPEREGIO projects is to create a “cross-border value chain for innovation for companies, especially SMEs”, starting from the very early-stage of idea generation / problem solving and ending at the latest possible pre-competitive stage before market entry. Each project covers a specific range of actions, tools and measures, supporting each other, using and developing further the results along this chain.

For I2M EMR+, recent experiences within INTERREG IVA proofed that innovation is not only based on S2B, but very often on B2B-driven relations. SMEs obtain a very specialised and unique know-how by a facility ('provider'), so that the combination of the right, complementary business partners (B2B) is advised, leading to concrete market-oriented innovations:

• focus on market-oriented, but still pre-competitive business-to-business cross-border relations (B2B)• interdisciplinary, application- & B2B-oriented• network antennas: “business development support managers” will mainly be in contact with the

business environment• B2B vouchers (12,000 € each) for SME consortia, dedicated to verify & stimulate the feasibility of a joint

cross-border innovation project relying on know-how of a third facility party ('provider'). I2M EMR+ adressesmainly Euregional innovation funds, but contributes also to European consortia building.

You can find further information on the website: hyperegio.eu

This guide gives you a detailed overview regarding the I2M EMR+ B2B vouchers and how to apply for them.


B2B VoucherEUR 12,000

valid till:

By the end of the INTERREG IVA program period Stichting Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) established a so-called „Innovation platform EMR+“ as an open forum for accompanying the process of cross-border cooperation and partnership building the field of innovation and economy in the period 2014 – 2020. Regarding the further project development two working groups, Science-to-Business (S2B) and Business-to-Business (B2B), were implemented. Finally, this process brought-up so far three (of in total four) new project sketches for INTERREG VA: EarlyTech, BuSyBee and I2M EMR+. These projects will allow a strategic cross-border approach to fostering innovation and economy in the enlarged Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR+), the area located roughly between Eifel, Düren, Heinsberg, Eindhoven, Leuven, and Liège.

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Start at hyperegio.eu

EarlyTech BuSyBee Innovation2Market

Vouchers are provided for innovative cooperations / projects of SMEs across the national borders (so-called: cross-border cooperation consortia) for activities centred on or combining technology/services related to the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs).

The voucher is aimed at verifying and stimulating the feasibility of a SME-based joint innovation project by granting:• access to equipment, analytical services, short research projects, clinical trials,

product design / prototype manufacture, technical training,• consultancy services: only for transfer of specific technical knowledge or

– in case the ad hoc-group decided for it – the set-up of a consortia.

Not eligible are:• activities that could be considered as part of ongoing projects between the facility and SME,• general business consultancy, marketing or any other activities that are not part of

the R&D activities of the SME and• basic research, standard tasks (e.g. physical and / or chemical tests) or own research

and development hours of SMEs.

At least two SMEs from two sides of the national borders constitute a cooperation consortium (other partners, e.g. big companies, universities, R&D institutes are able to join). One of the participating SMEs representing this consortium can apply for an innovation voucher. A voucher is dedicated to a SME-based R&D consortium cooperating across borders, even though - in order to minimize administrative burdens - the voucher is always paid to one (the leading) SME!

If you are looking for a partner across the national borders so far, our regional BDS-managers will give you hands-on support in order to do so (for further details on the conditions see: ‘B. Innovation2Market B2B voucher consortia / projects’).

Partner regions belonging to the Greater EMR area as well as institutions offering / conveying Innovation2Market vouchers are:• Belgium: Innovatech, Basse Meuse Développement, GREOVA, DSP Valley VZW• Germany: AGIT (lead partner), Stadt Aachen, Kreis Euskirchen• Netherlands: LIOF, Stichting DSP Valley

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B. INNOVATION2MARKET VOUCHER CONSORTIA / PROJECTS

At least two technology-oriented SMEs, independent from each other, from two sides of the national border within the Greater EMR area can form a cross-border cooperation consortium to develop / carry-out a joint innovation project (called: the partnership). Additionally, larger companies (multinationals) and other institutions can join. At least one of the participating SMEs has to be located within the core area of Euregio Meuse-Rhine1.

One of the SMEs within (and representing) the cross-border cooperation consortia can apply for a B2B voucher. Additionally, SMEs, who haven’t found an SME-counterpart for setting up a cross-border cooperation consortium so far, can also apply, if they take advantage of the Business Development Support offered within I2M EMR+. These companies are asked to provide their regional BDS-manager information about the relevant competencies / potential (SME)-partners needed, so that she / he is able to help in finding a suitable partner across the borders (see ‘C. Procedure for allocation of vouchers’).

The B2B voucher provides access to a knowledge provider in the Greater EMR area. Providers from other destinations (within the EU) are only applicable, if the requested knowledge is not available there. Latter has to be checked thoroughly by the SMEs and clear-ly stated within the application.

A B2B voucher is a cheque worth € 12,000 (excluding VAT) which is non-transferable and will not be paid out in cash. The voucher fosters the cooperation between SMEs and a know¬ledge provider of innovation services, who is independent from the SMEs. The innovation voucher, distributed by the I2M-project partners, is granted as a non-repayable lump sum for research / consultancy services. This service must be profitable for the collaboration, i.e. have benefits for all members of the consortium.

Activities using a voucher could for example include a feasibility study, a patent research, the use of laboratories and state-of-the-art equipment or prototyping and testing (examples named here are not an exhaustive list). The voucher is not be used to pay for management consultants, basic research or standard tasks (e.g. physical and / or chemical analysis).

A project may be larger than the value of the voucher, which means that the voucher will cover only part of the total project costs.

The amount of €12,000 is paid as a lump sum, if the predefined terms of agreement on activities and/or outputs are completed (see 'D: Execution of a B2B voucher project' and 'E: Guidelines for applicants'). The lump sum alleviates the administrative workload for SMEs as the cooperating partners show, that they work together in a partnership and by doing so, the need to obtain at least three offers is omitted.

1 NUTS3-units are Zuid- and Midden-Limburg (NL), Arrondissements Maaseik, Tongeren, Hasselt, Verviers (incl. Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft Belgien)

and Liège (all B), kreisfreie Stadt Aachen, StädteRegion Aachen, Kreise Düren, Euskirchen and Heinsberg (all D).




A maximum of one voucher will be granted per cross-border cooperation consortium / business case. After the consortium finished the proposed activities and provided the “Innovation2Market – B2B voucher EvaluationFinal Report” to the regional voucher provider, he assesses, if all deliverables have been elaborated and are of high quality. His findings, as well as relevant information on the de-minimis aid are laid down in the „I2M – B2B voucher Assessment Report“ and send to the SMEs.

If all deliverables are fulfilled, the B2B voucher based on a call for the lump sum will be paid directly from the regional voucher provider to the lead SME knowledge provider. In case delive¬rables are not worked-out well and / or provi¬ded sufficiently he refers back to the consortium and asks for fulfilment. Only completely fulfilled or pre-defined partially fulfilled deliverables entail a payment of the lump sum respectively the lump sum share.

For improving the deliverables a max. period of four weeks can be granted. The maximum duration for completing the B2B Voucher activity is six months and four weeks. Partnerships are recommended to finalize their activities sooner, though. Finally, if the deliverables are not positively assessed by the voucher provider, no payment of the second installment (€ 9,000) will be made.

C. PROCEDURE FOR ALLOCATION OF VOUCHERS

Applications for B2B vouchers have to be submitted through a completed application form, which will be used for a single stage evaluation and selection by the I2M EMR+ partners. Proposals must be sent via e-mail to the I2M EMR+ lead partner and the regional contact point (see below for details).

The application form can be downloaded from the project website (hyperegio.eu). The application form is submitted by the lead SME, but should already include the details of the consortium, the fknowledge provider and activities for which the voucher will be used, as well as the offer of the knowledge provider. If an SME is willing to set up a partnership, but still needs a suitable knowledge provider and/or another SME is asked to contact its regional BDS-manager, who will support it in find-ing the right partner(s) across the border(s) and in setting up an application.

On the basis of the activities, the SMEs and the knowledge provider agreed upon, deliverables are defined by the partnership. The validity of the voucher covers the execution of these activities and the fulfilment of the deliverables. The granting ad hoc-group “Innovation2Market B2B vouchers” agrees on or can impose further deliverables to the partnership.

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Furthermore, within the B2B voucher scheme the payment is split into one part of € 3,000 and one part of € 9,000. The first installment (€ 3,000) will be paid to the lead SME as an advance, if the application form has been approved and the signed cooperation agreement as well as the signed de-minimis declarations for the SMEs is received by the regional voucher provider.The second installment (€ 9,000) will be paid to the lead SME, if the predfined deliverables and corresponding tasks were fulfilled. This lowers especially for start-ups and small companies their expenses for pre-financing.

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In case of any doubts and questions about the application procedure for the voucher scheme, please contact the regional contact points for your region (see below for details).

D. EXECUTION OF A B2B-VOUCHER PROJECT

In case the B2B voucher application is approved, before the start of the cooperation the SMEs and the knowledge provider will need to sign a short “I2M – B2B voucher Cooperation Agreement” with the regional voucher provider. The successful applicants shall make their best efforts to start the execution as soon as possible, with a maximum of six months after the last party has signed this agreement. The regional voucher provider will send at least four copies of this cooperation agreement to the lead SME. After each party having signed them, one copy with original signatures has to be sent back to the regional voucher provider; one remains at each SME and one at the knowledge provider. In addition to the cooperation agreement, the SMEs will also fill-in, sign and send back a de-minimis declaration (attachment to the cooperation agreement). Having received the signed copy and de-minimis declaration, the voucher provider will send the B2B voucher to the lead SME.

The following steps for execution of a Innovation2Market B2B voucher have to be taken:

1. Based on the signed “I2M – B2B voucher Cooperation Agreement” the SMEs and the knowledge provider starttheir innovation activity.

2. By a signed de-minimis declaration the SMEs, which benefit from the voucher, proof, that the aid it has receivedin the period 2016-2018 is under the de-mini¬mis aid ceiling of € 200,000 per EU member state (BE, DE, NL).

3. Further agreements can be closed multilaterally between the SMEs and the knowled¬ge provider concerningdetails of the cooperation (e.g. presentation form of the research and development results, confidentiality, IP,VAT payment / invoicing)

4. On completion of the consultancy / research activities, the SMEs and the know-ledge provider are required tocomplete an “I2M – B2B voucher Final Report” to be submitted to the regional voucher provider, in which a shortdescription of activities performed, results delivered (deliverables), possible future cooperation considered andfeedback about the B2S voucher is given.




Evaluation of eligible applications will be based on the selection criteria indicated in the section ‘E. Guidelines for applicants‘ below. Subsequent selection and allocation of vouchers will be done by the ad hoc-group “I2M EMR+B2B vouchers”, taking into account the following three aspects:

• Evaluation score, following the selection criteria (the criteria obtain the same weights, see: E. ‘Guidelines forapplicants’)

• Available budget per regio• Territorial balance in SMEs and facilities that receive vouchers

The evaluation and allocation of vouchers by the ad-hoc group will be carried out on-demand. Both successful and unsuccessful proposers will receive notification of the decision whether their voucherproposal has been selected for funding.

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E. GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Voucher applications are to be submitted by SMEs which have already identified the facility they would like to work with. SMEs which have not yet identified a suitable knowledge provider for cooperation can contact the regional contact points. Contact details for the regional contact points are given at the end of this document.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Eligibility criteria are given below. If you have questions about eligibility, please contact your regional contact point.

Eligible ‘recipients’ of a B2B voucher must be:

• a Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (under EU definitions2) or a Small or Medium-sized start-up company,• located within one of the participating regions (for exact definitions see ‘B) B2B voucher consortia / projects’),• not in receivership or under liquidation at the time of receiving the voucher.

To be eligible as a ‘knowledge provider’ a facility must be a university, hospital (with R&D activities), public or private research centre or company (incl. engineering offices) located within the Greater EMR area (Euregio Meuse-Rhine including adjected regions of Leuven (B), Eindhoven (NL) and Rhineland-Palatinate (D)). Providers from other destinations (within the EU) are only applicable, if the requested knowledge is not available there.

Eligible activities are defined as follows; they should

• be centred on or combine technology / services related to Advanced Materials / Chemicals, Energy,Health / Life Sciences and ICT,

• be limited to one of the following activity areas:




2 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 364/2004 of 25 February 2004 amending Regulation (EC) No 70/2001 as regards the extension of its scope to include aid for research and development.

5. After submission of the signed cooperation agreement and the signed de-minimis declarations of the SMEs, the voucher provider pays the first installment of the amount of € 3,000 to the lead SME.6. The regional voucher provider checks and assesses the fulfilment of the delive-rables and lays down his findings in the “I2M – B2B voucher Assess¬ment Report”. In case of a positive assessment, the regional voucher provider informs the lead SME about this result and gives information on the amount of de-minimis aid provided via the B2B voucher, too.7. The voucher provider pays the second installment of the amount of € 9,000.8. In case the deliverables are not positively assessed by the voucher provider and if after the extension granted their quality is not improved, no payment of the second installment (€ 9,000) will be made to the partnership.

• ·activities that could be considered as part of ongoing projects between the facility and SME,• general business consultancy, marketing or any other activities that are not part of the R&D activities of the SME

and• basic research, standard tasks (e.g. physical and/or chemical tests) or own research and development hours of

SMEs.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The following criteria will be used in the selection process:

• foreseeable degree of a market-oriented cooperation initiated by the voucher (market potential)• innovative results to be expected out of the proposed activities (innovativeness)• expected degree of regional interlinkage(s) with an / several SME(s) across the national borders (regional

component)• quality of high-tech / service element of the voucher and its contribution to the R&D strategy of the recipient / the

consortia (high-tech character)

When calculating the final score for the B2B Voucher application these four criteria considered are scored equally (market potential, innovativeness, regional impact and,high-techcharacter: 25% each). Furthermore the contribution for constituting a new working relationship between the SMEs and the opportunity to initiate a larger (follow up) project emerging from the voucher activity will be taken into account.

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• access to equipment, analytical services, short research projects, clinical trials, product design/prototypemanufacture, technical training,

• consultancy services: only for transfer of specific technical knowledge or – in case the ad hoc-group decided for it– the set-up of a consortia,

• reasonably to be executed within the limited timeframe of 3 to 6 months.

Not eligible are:

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Please notice, that due to the end of the I2M-project on December 31st 2019, the last voucher activities including the invoicing call for the lump sum to the voucher provider have to be finished until December 1st 2019 at the latest.

I2M EMR+-partners assume that in the majority of cases no IPR agreement will be needed since a voucher project would be too small for IPR to be generated. In exceptional cases where IPR is involved, such agreement must be signed between the facility and the SME.

• comply with any national state-aid rules• agree IP positions before undertaking the work. The I2M EMR+ project partnership recommends that

IP generated by the project is owned by the SME• Agree to complete the project within the specified timeframe.• Complete the I2M – B2B voucher Final Report” within 15 days after the end of the project.• take part in an interview in the final phase of the I2M project (4th quarter 2019) in order to evaluate

also midterm-effects of the B2B vouchers,• participate in the final event of the I2M-project in the beginning of December 2019, giving the

opportunity to report about experiences and perspectives in cross-border co-operation.• project related documents have to be kept by all partners until December 31st 2028.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Successful recipients and providers will be expected to:

ct ate guide for applicants b2b voucher eur 12,000 · • netherlands: liof, stichting dsp valley....

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