We explain what the H2020 SME Instrument is, which companies it is aimed at and what is new for the 2018-2020 period. We also present some of the projects benefiting from phase 2 and the distribution of funds.
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The H2020 SME Instrument is a business growth programme aimed at supporting European SMEs aiming to become international leaders in their niche markets.
This programme offers a grant, at 70% intensity, of €50,000 in phase 1 and up to €2.5M in phase 2, plus a business coaching service to all successful companies.
In the period 2014-2017, around 26,000 phase 1 and 13,000 phase 2 projects have been submitted to this programme, of which just over 2,100 phase 1 and nearly 700 phase 2 projects have been awarded grants. Spain is the country that has received the most funds under this programme, with €214.5M distributed between 443 phase 1 and 148 phase 2 projects, of the nearly €1,200M awarded so far (19.4% EU).
For the period 2018-2020, the SME Instrument of H2020 takes on a new role as an instrument for SMEs.mbo and is part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot action, with the intention of targeting its support to European SMEs that are able to create new markets from their innovations and offer new value streams to their customers. In order to identify these projects, the SME Instrument assessment based on the written report is complemented, for phase 2 only, by a face-to-face interview with the company in Brussels.
In view of these new developments in the SME Instrument, the CDTI has developed a set of tools ("SME instrument toolbox") that make it easier for companies to reflect on and fill in the new SME Instrument 2018-2020 templates more accurately.
Although specifically designed for an SME Instrument Phase 2, the results generated by these tools can be used by any company to analyse its market and competition and/or to understand and analyse the variables that condition its scalability.
These new tools offer the following functionalities:
As the European Innovation Council now focuses on market-creating innovations, this will be a variable that will be very present in many of the evaluation criteria. This Excel-based tool allows to analyse the company's value proposition from a market and customer point of view, based on the parameters that define market-creating innovations according to blue ocean strategies.
This Excel tool is intended to be a simple guide to the most relevant information that should be documented in the market part of the phase 2 proposals.
To access H2020's SME Instrument, which seeks to fund companies with scalable and sustainable long-term business models, companies have to explain their business model and growth expectations in their proposals.
This tool integrates several financial models in Excel that allow a projection of the profit and loss of the business in a simple way based on the variables that generate cash or cost.
The Spanish companies that have received the most funds in phase 2 of the H2020 SME Instrument are the following:
| Company | Description | Country | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zilico | Zilico is focused on developing next-generation cancer diagnostics to provide real-time diagnosis of cervical cancer. | United Kingdom | $19M | 04.02.2018 |
| Syndesi Therapeutics | Syndesi Therapeutics is developing molecules that uniquely modulate the synaptic vesicle protein SV2A, which plays a central role in synaptic transmission (communication between neurons in the brain). | Belgium | €17M | 01.02.2018 |
| FIRE1 | FIRE1 focuses on developing new remote monitoring devices to improve quality of life and patient outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs. | Ireland | €40M | 30.01.2018 |
| Enterome | Enterome Bioscience is a pharmaceutical company developing medicines for chronic medical conditions related to abnormalities in bacterial composition. | France | €40M | 04.01.2018 |
| Oculis | Oculis is a private, clinical-stage pharmaceutical development company focused on the development of new ophthalmic medicines. | Iceland | CHF20M | 04.01.2018 |
The distribution of these funds according to sectors of activity is shown below:
http://abra-invest.com/project/sme-instrument-h2020-eic-smeinst-2018-2020/
http://abra-invest.com/beneficiarios-del-programa-de-cdti-feder-innterconecta-2016/
http://abra-invest.com/analisis-cofides-principales-operaciones/
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