Switzerland and the SME instrument

Tue, 01 May 2018 09:19:59 +0200

Swiss SMEs continuously perform well!

In the latest round of the SME Instrument phase 1, a total of 22 Swiss Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) received funding. The European Commission (EC) received 2009 proposals and selected 257 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) that will receive €12.65 million in the latest round of the phase 1 SME instrument. Out of those 257, Switzerland is well represented with 22 SMEs receiving funding. The companies will receive a lump-sum of €50'000 to conduct a feasibility study. Moreover, they will receive 3 days of business coaching. Taking into account all the 10 cut-off rounds of the phase 1 SME instrument since Switzerland’s full participation in Horizon 2020 on 1 January 2017, 58 Swiss SMEs received in total €2.9 million. Only Spain, Italy and Israel have more SMEs that were selected.

In the phase 2 of the SME instrument, which aims at financing more advanced innovation activities such as demonstration, testing, piloting and scaling up, only one Swiss company receive funding so far. A detailed overview about all the companies that were selected can be found in the recently launched EIC SME Instrument data hub.

The next cut-off dates to apply for the next rounds of the SME instrument are 3 May 2018 for phase 1 and 23 May 2018 for phase 2.

Source: Swisscore