Sean Burke, National Delegate, SMEs and Access to Finance, H2020

SMEs in H2020

The SME Instrument Integrated Approach

20 %budgetarytarget inLEITs & SC

'Innovationin SMEs'

SME Instrument – Why participate?

1. To compete among the best European companies "Champions league" with only very few winners, quality label based on a rigorous assessment

2. Visibility at European level

3. Possibility to receive business/management coaching

4. Networking possibility with investors and customer networks

5. Preferential treatment for subsequent financing (EU Financial Instruments: loan and equity facilities)

Main Features• Targeted at all types of innovative SMEs showing a

strong ambition to develop, grow and internationalise

• Only SMEs will be allowed to apply for funding and support

• Single company support possible

• No obligation for applicants to sequentially cover all three phases; each phase open to all SMEs

• 70% funding (exceptions possible)

Funding Gap(range: 1-3 M€)

The SME instrument is not an R&D programme. It is an accelerator for market introduction of promising technological or non-technological innovations. While the scheme does not exclude R&D activities, the purpose is not on knowledge development, but on developing a convincing commercial proposition.

Breakdown of Phase Activity

Business opportunity

• At the end of Phase 2, participating companies should have developed a NEW Innovation led idea (product, process, service) that can be deployed and launched on the market.

• The business innovation plan III to be developed by the end of Phase 2 will contain a detailed marketing and commercialisation strategy and a financing plan describing how private investment will be used

Example of the SME Instrument in H2020

High risk ICT innovationICT-37-2014-190 projects€4.5m

ICT-37-2014~26 projects€40m

ICT-37-2015-190 projects€4.5m

ICT-37-2015~26 projects€40m

ICT-37-2014-1ICT-37-2015-1Topic: Open Disruptive Innovation Scheme (implemented through the SME instrument)Specific Challenge: The challenge is to provide support to a large set of early stage high risk innovative SMEs in the ICT sector. Focus will be on SME proposing innovative ICT concept, product and service applying new sets of rules, values and models which ultimately disrupt existing markets. The objective of the ODI is threefold:

• Nurture promising innovative and disruptive ideas; • Support their prototyping, validation and demonstration in real world conditions; • Help for wider deployment or market uptake.

Proposed projects should have a potential for disruptive innovation and fast market up-take in ICT. In particular it will be interesting for entrepreneurs and young innovative companies that are looking for swift support to their innovative ideas. The ODI objective will support the validation, fast prototyping and demonstration of disruptive innovation bearing a strong EU dimension.

What to do next• Register the company with

the European Commission (if not already done)http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/register.html

• Perform an on-line financial viability self-check (needed only if you are leading a consortium)

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/lfv.html

What to do next (cont)

• Review the on-line documentation for the specific call addressed

Topic selection (open at present)

Read the Specific Challenge

IT-1-2014 Documentation

• Topic Conditions and Documentation

Phase 1 and 2 Applications

Submittal period:

Project applications for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 funding can be submitted anytime during the year. The evaluations of project applications are conducted at predefined times during the year.

Who may apply?The European Commission Documentation states –

“Applications are welcome from SMEs that have their headquarters in the EU-27 (and in the countries associated to Horizon 2020). Important: Innovation projects that are not driven by SMEs, but by research centres, universities or large companies are not fundable under this programme.

The SME instrument caters for two ideal applicant profiles:• An SME that has been created a few years ago with the aim to commercialise knowledge developed through R&D in order to meet a societal demand or to fill an identified and already researched market niche; or• A dynamic young or mature SME that has identified a new market opportunity and has developed a concept to exploit it through an innovative product or service.”

IN REALITY, This means ………………..

Fast Track to Innovation (2015)

• FTI projects must demonstrate a clear market perspective. This implies strong requirements for the expected impact of action. On this basis the call could include one or more of the following conditions: – Presentation of a business plan– Value creation to be captured within 1 to 3 years (i.e.

time to market introduction) – High technology readiness level of TRL 6 or above – Evaluating the 'impact' criterion first and stop the

evaluation if the threshold of 4 or 5 is not reached– Using mainly market and business analysts as expert

evaluators

Thank You for your Attention

Phone: +353 61 777048Fax: +353 61 777001Mob: +353 87 9534606http://www.H2020.ie Email: sean.burke@enterprise-ireland.com