Available funding

As a SME, it is difficult to decide to invest scarce resources into more risky innovation despite the higher potential return.  Furthermore, innovation often only becomes possible in collaboration with others who can provide missing expertise in tools and technologies, or give access to necessary content and datasets. In this case, acquiring public funding can be a preferable way to enable SME collaboration leading to exciting new innovation and opening up fresh business opportunities.

An event taking place before the ESTC 2010 conference in Vienna, Austria on 1st of December will present three important funding lines for SME innovation and facilitate attendees to form proposals and consortia. The calls to be considered are:

SME Initiative on Digital Content and Languages is a new call being made in the Cooperation part of the EU’s 7th Framework Programme, within the ICT Theme 3 and the Challenge for Technologies for Digital Content and Languages (Objective 4.1). This call seeks to bring together SMEs with

  1. A good idea
  2. Data and content which can help realise that good idea
  3. Skills and technologies which can help realise that good idea

It seeks novel partnerships between new programme entrants and established players, stimulating innovation and expanding markets. These partnerships shall provide for result-driven knowledge transfer between researchers and technology providers, data brokers and content owners. The intended impact of projects in this call is improved European competitiveness in a global digital market through the provision of better services to citizens and business.

AVAILABLE FUNDING: €35 MILLION EURO

The first PlanetData Program is an open call for innovative small projects around large scale data management topics. It is being driven within the Network of Excellence PlanetData, which will publish a first call in April 2011 around a small set of selected, relevant topics. SMEs will be welcome to participate in consortia as business exploiters, data providers or technology developers. We will give some first details about the opportunities in this call.

AVAILABLE FUNDING: €750 000

Research for the benefit of SMEs is an annual call for supporting small groups of innovative SMEs in solving technological problems and acquiring technological know-how. The goal is to advance the business and innovation needs of SMEs by allowing them to subcontract research to R&D performers (including R&D SMEs) in order to acquire necessary technological knowledge.

The main requisite for a proposal in this call is a clear exploitation potential and economic benefits for the SMEs involved.

AVAILABLE FUNDING: €189 MILLION EURO