According to the recently published statistics from the European Commission, 50 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 14 countries have been selected in the latest round of Horizon2020 SME Instrument Phase 2. This time Spain stole the crown with 14 accepted projects, while Finland took fourth spot with 5, after Germany and France with 8 and 6 respectively.
Two projects came from traditionally prevalent areas for Finland: ICT and Low carbon & efficient energy, while the remaining three appeared in the areas of Security research (1) and Transport & Smart Cities Mobility (2), with generally rather modest Finnish participation.
Two out of five Finland’s winning cases in this cut-off secured funding with the help of Spinverse. Resulting in over 45% of successful Phase 2 applications in Finland made by Spinverse since the start of the Horizon2020 program.
Since the launch of the programme on 1st January 2014, 18 SMEs from Finland have been selected under Phase 2 of the SME Instrument.
Building on such outstanding results for a small country, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Pohjola Bank (part of Finland's OP Financial Group), have recently signed a guarantee agreement to increase lending to innovative SMEs in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is the first InnovFin (EU Finance for Innovators initiative) transaction in Finland signed thanks to European Fund for Strategic Investments support.
Summing up the facts - success in the SME Instrument Phase 2 could considerably leverage further financing for your innovation activities.
Are you convinced yet? Contact us - the next cut-off for SME Instrument Phase 2 is 15 June 2016.