THE INNOVATION FUND

Innovative companies and teams have at their disposal a new public call for the allocation of grants through the funding programmes of the Innovation Fund, from today, September 15, to November 15 of this year. The funds in the amount of 3.2 million euros are jointly provided by the Republic of Serbia and the European Union through the IPA project “Increasing the capacity and technological readiness of small and medium-sized enterprises”.

Depending on the programme, the Fund allocates from 80,000 to 300,000 euros per individual project, and the companies are obliged to provide part of the funds from other private sources for the implementation of the project. In this way, the Fund, together with the companies, participates in research and development of innovative solutions, which consequently have a positive impact on the national economy.

Project applications from all fields of science and technology and all industrial sectors are submitted via the portal, and the necessary documentation for the application and detailed information about the public call can be found on the Fund’s website.

EU PRO Plus

The European Union programme for local development (The European Support to Municipal Development Programme), EU PRO Plus, which has been implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration, has announced a public call for business infrastructure projects. The European Union has allocated 4.8 million euros for this initiative in order to contribute to the improvement of conditions for investments in production, services and tourism and to create new jobs in the regions of Šumadija and Western Serbia and Southern and Eastern Serbia.

99 local governments included in the EU PRO Plus programme have the right to participate in the call and they can apply for the projects of construction or reconstruction, infrastructural equipment of industrial zones, science and technology parks, business incubators, tourist zones, as well as the projects for the preparation of technical documentation for the purpose of development business infrastructure.

The local self-governments themselves, in proportion to the level of development, should provide funds for co-financing in the amount of ten percent of the total value of the project for municipalities from the fourth category, or 15, 20 or 30 percent for those self-governments belonging to the third, second and first categories.

The public call will be conducted in two phases. More information about this call as well as the application documentation is available on the website of the EU PRO Plus programme, Public Call for Economic Infrastructure Projects. The deadline for submitting the concept (first phase) is October 25.

DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF SERBIA

“Serbia and the EU – EQUIPMENT FOR THE ECONOMY” is a competition to which you can apply until the funds are used up, and no later than December 31, 2022, and is intended for entrepreneurs, micro and small legal entities, cooperatives, business entities that perform production/construction activities.

As much as 1.9 billion dinars in grants were provided from budget funds, while additional funds were provided from the EU pre-accession funds – IPA 19, in the amount of 10 million euros.

It is a combination of grants and favourable loans from commercial banks, i.e. financial leasing from leasing companies. The Ministry of Economy co-finances the procurement of new equipment directly involved in the process of production of tradable goods and new equipment for the execution of construction works, in the form of a grant in the amount of 25 percent of the net value of the equipment being procured, 70 percent of the net value of the equipment is financed from loans from commercial banks or financial leasing of leasing companies (partners in the Programme), and 5 percent is the participation of the business entity itself. The primary means of securing the loan is a pledge over the purchased equipment.

More information here.