The Fund for Innovation Activity announces a Public Call for the COLLABORATIVE GRANT SCHEME PROGRAM

Program Goals: The goal of the Science and Business Cooperation Program (hereinafter: the Program) is to support research that is important to the economy by encouraging private sector companies and public scientific research organizations to engage in joint research and development projects with the goal of creating new or improved commercially oriented products and services, as well as innovative technologies with significant future impact and market potential.

The maximum amount of financing that the Fund for Innovation Activities (hereinafter: the Fund) can allocate per individual project is 500,000 euros in grants.

The financing allocated by the Fund can cover:

• Maximum 70% of the total costs of the project (Approved Project Budget) for projects whose main applicant is a micro or small business enterprise and a maximum of 60% of the total approved budget of the project for projects whose Main Applicant is a medium-sized business.

Each Applicant must provide mandatory co-financing for the project as follows:

• Minimum 30% of the total Approved Project Budget for projects whose Main Applicant is a micro or small business and 40% for projects whose Main Applicant is a medium-sized business.

Co-financing by the Applicant must come from other, private sources, independent of the Fund or any other public financing program.

The duration of the project within the Program can be up to 18 months.

The Fund will consider financing projects from all areas of science and technology and from any industrial sector. However, this program is aligned with the Smart Specialization Strategy in Serbia, which focuses on four priority domains:

• Food for the future;
• Information and communication technologies (including a special focus on Artificial Intelligence, as this is foreseen by the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2020-2025, available at link);
• Machines and production processes of the future;
• Creative industries.

At least 50% of the available funds for this public call will be allocated to applications from the above priority domain, if enough quality projects are available.

In addition, the Fund for Innovation Activity will continue to, together with the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union as the main partners in supporting innovations, provide support for projects that contribute to the increased social inclusion of people with disabilities using advanced technologies.

Participation conditions:

• The Applicant is a consortium that fulfills the following:
  • The main applicant of the Application must be a micro, small or medium-sized company in majority private ownership, established in Serbia in accordance with the current Law on Business Companies of the Republic of Serbia, with an annual operating income of at least EUR 300,000 (in the last fiscal year, or in the current year if applicable) and must be profitable;
  • The consortium must include at least one public (majority state-owned) scientific research organization as the Main co-applicant of the Application, registered and accredited in Serbia and listed in the list of accredited scientific research organizations of the Ministry of Education, which is available at link, relevant to the field of industry and technology described in the proposed project.

In addition to the mandatory Main Applicant and Main Co-Applicant listed above, the consortium may also include other micro and small businesses from the private sector and/or scientific research organizations, both domestic and foreign, and innovation centers of universities/faculties in Serbia as Co-Applicants, as long as their involvement is justified by the development needs of the Project proposal. The consortium may not have more than five (5) members.

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Qualifications of management and key personnel and the ability of the consortium to realize the project;
• Quality and potential for cooperation of consortium members;
• Innovative technology, product or service; clearly defined and undisputed intellectual property rights and its potential;
• Clear market need, competitive (preferably global or EU) position and potential for commercialization;
• Co-financing level, use of funds and budget adequacy;
• Quality-developed organizational design and project management system (including clear roles, responsibilities, powers and responsibilities for all consortium members and a well-designed performance control process and management strategy risk).

Only Applications that meet all the above criteria and achieve exceptional results in them will be proposed for funding. Additional details regarding the evaluation process can be found in the Review Guidelines, available at link.

Required documentation for application

In order for the Application to be considered, it must be submitted as a complete, structured package of documents within the given deadline for submitting the Application in electronic form through the Fund's internet portal. The complete set of necessary documentation is available on the website of the Fund for Innovation Activities: Documentation - June 2023.

Applicants are obliged to use the predefined application document forms provided by the Fund for Innovation Activities.

In order to apply for financing, Applicants are required to submit the following documentation:

• Statement of the Main Applicant;
• Business plan;
• Project budget;
• Project presentation*;
• Financial forecasts (Expected income for the next 5 years).
• Questionnaire about environmental impact assessment (eng. "Environmental Screening Questionnaire" - ESQ);
• Biographies of key members of the project team engaged in the project (maximum 5, in free form, in English);
• Financial statements of the Main Applicant for the last applicable year.

Note: The Application documentation must be submitted in an identical visual and structural format and style in which it is found on the website of the Fund. Any attempt to modify the Application documentation by unlocking and/or changing formulas or text will result in disqualification of the Application from further evaluation. Applicants can use style formatting options within the predefined text fields in the business plan.

*The PowerPoint presentation form is the only exception, and should be submitted in accordance with the instructions indicated in the form itself.

Due to the international two-stage project proposal evaluation process, the submitted project proposal documentation must be in English, except in situations where this is not applicable (applicant's statement and financial reports).

It is possible to submit only one Application per public call.

The deadline for submitting applications is September 15, 2023 until 12:00 hours.

Incomplete Applications, as well as Applications that are not submitted by the deadline for submitting applications, will not be taken into consideration.

Handbook in which the conditions of the Science and Business Cooperation Program are described in detail and the set of necessary documentation are available at link.

State aid rules apply to the funds that the Grant Beneficiary receives from the Fund through the Program in accordance with the Fund's Rulebook on rules for awarding state aid.

Please use the following link to apply: APPLY

Contact: cgs@inovacionifond.rs