Subject of the Invitation
This Call will encourage innovation development projects of newly founded companies up to 60 months old, which are part of the identified thematic priority areas of S3. Supported projects will include preparation for the launch and commercialization of products that are new to the market, with an emphasis on significant improvement in product commercialization including intellectual property protection. The technological maturity of the project subject should be beyond the proof-of-concept phase, that is, at the time of submission of the project proposal, it should be in TRL 5-8.
Purpose of the Call
Encourage the growth of newly founded companies that develop innovative products within the identified thematic priority areas of S3, based on knowledge or high technologies, as well as the future development and commercialization of products and increasing the readiness of companies for investments.
Financial allocation
Total available grant amount: EUR 14,622,642.00
up to 85% of eligible costsMinimum grant amount: EUR 30,000.00
Maximum grant amount: EUR 140,000.00
Support intensity
up to 85% of eligible costs
Eligible applicants
Micro, small and medium enterprises that were established from 30 days to a maximum of 60 months before the date of submission of the project proposal and that meet the following administrative conditions:
- They did not distribute the profits
- They are not established by merger or division
- They did not take over the activity of another company
- have a minimum of one employee according to working hours in the month preceding the submission of the project proposal
- they are registered for the activity in which project activities are carried out
- The applicant must be established at least thirty (30) days before the date of submission of the project proposal.
*The date of establishment is the date of registration in the relevant register.
Acceptable activities
In accordance with the subject of the Call, activities intended for the development of innovative products within the identified thematic priority areas of S3, which at the time of submission of the project proposal are located in TRL 5 – TRL 8 and which are new on the market, are acceptable. Activities related to the preparation for the market launch of the product that is the subject of development activities are also acceptable. Projects that do not aim to launch a finished product on the market are not acceptable. Products can be tangible and intangible (including services).
1. Development of an innovative product
Eligible activities may include the following:
- Further development of the technological readiness of the product, including testing, demonstration and incorporation of test results into the final product and optimization,
- Transfer of marketable technological solutions, knowledge and experience (transfer of knowledge and technology), including related advisory services and employee training,
- Revision of the feasibility study,
- Product design with the aim of adapting the product to market requirements,
- Protection and management of the subject intellectual property, including applications for the recognition of rights and implementation of the procedure for the recognition of intellectual property rights and the creation of a strategic plan for the protection and management of intellectual property,
- Production preparation and investment in trial production, zero series.
2. Preparation of the product launch
The activity cannot be carried out independently, but only together with the activity Development of an innovative product.
Eligible activities may include the following:
- Creation of a marketing plan and revision of the business and marketing plan,
- Research and market testing for innovation,
- Verification of market analysis and/or market needs,
- Adaptation to user needs (may include certification, standardization or scaling of systems related to the purpose of the project)
- Operational marketing activities directly related to the commercialization of research results and the launch of products on the market (may include the creation of websites and advertising),
- Preparations for the next investment cycle and attracting additional funding (may include participation in relevant fairs and B2B meetings related to the purpose of the project).
Costs related to the Product Launch Preparation activity group can amount to a maximum of 30% of the total project value.
Levels of technological readiness
It is a measurement system in which each TRL level characterizes the level of technology development. The use of the TRL method enables the standardization of the concept of technical maturity of different types of technology. The TRL system is applied in all types of research, regardless of whether it is an innovation involving a product or a service. There are 9 levels of readiness technology; TRL 1 is the lowest and TRL 9 is the highest, most mature technology.
Table 1. Levels of technological readiness
Eligible categories of expenses
- Costs of procurement of instruments and equipment necessary for the implementation of the project;
- Salary costs of the staff employed by the applicant who will work on the implementation of the project;
- Costs of instruments, equipment and buildings, in the scope and in the period in which they are used for the project, which were not acquired as part of the implementation of the project;
- Costs of access to digital platforms that provide software as a service solution (SaaS), access to platforms for software development, software licenses and other similar costs that are necessary for the implementation of the project and for the duration of the project;
- Costs of external services:
- Costs of advisory services for innovation (advisory services and assistance in the field of knowledge transfer, acquisition, protection and exploitation of intangible assets, application of norms and regulations that include them),
- The costs of innovation support services (refer to the provision of data banks, libraries, market research, laboratories, quality marking, testing and certification for the needs of developing more efficient products.),
- Costs of obtaining, confirming and protecting patents and other intangible assets (intellectual property),
- Costs of contractual research, know-how and patents purchased or licensed from external sources under market conditions,
- Costs of services required for the implementation of project activities such as market research and analysis, product testing, marketing plan creation, product design, etc.;
- The costs of the services of external experts for the preparation of the project proposal (acceptable from the date of publication of the invitation), the services of external experts for the preparation and implementation of procurement procedures and project management – up to the amount of EUR 7,000.00 acceptable costs.
Indirect costs incurred directly as a result of project implementation at the applicant’s place are calculated at a fixed rate up to 7% of the total value of eligible direct project costs.
Indirect costs arising from the implementation of the project include:
- Costs of renting and maintaining premises (periodic inspections prescribed by law, replacement of worn materials and elements, periodic and extraordinary works and repairs),
- overhead costs that include heating/cooling, electricity, water, waste collection and telecommunications),
- the costs of implementing horizontal activities
- advertising and visibility costs
- the costs of preparing the project proposal
Project implementation period
must end within 24 months at the latest
Application deadline:
From 05.03.2025. at 11:00 a.m. until 09.04.2025. at 11:00 am.
Grants will be awarded through an open grant award procedure in the modality of a temporary call, until the available funds are used up (ranking list according to achieved points).
More details about the competition can be found on the official link of EU funds: https://eufondovi.gov.hr/poziv/?id=b598ce04-7318-48b5-94fa-e6725ae47e38
