New and renewed funding opportunities in France, Singapore and the UK

We are happy to share with you that several countries have (re)committed themselves to providing funding support for ITEA Call 2022.

France (with partners participating in ITEA since the beginning in 147 projects) and the UK (with partners participating in 15 projects in several Calls since ITEA 1 Call 3) have renewed their funding support for ITEA Call 2022.

Singapore, relatively new to the ITEA Community, started its participation in ITEA with a project in the Eureka Clusters AI Call 2020 and ITEA Call 2021. This year, Enterprise Singapore has funding support available for Singapore companies that want to join in ITEA Call 2022.

Below you will find more information about the funding opportunities in these three countries.

Singapore

Singapore companies interested in joint innovation projects and cross-border collaborations with other countries can now receive funding support by participating in ITEA. Funding support is available through the Enterprise Development Grant Co-Innovation Programme (“EDG(CIP)”), where the Singapore company could be granted up to 70% of the total qualifying project cost. Eligible costs include developmental project cost items such as staff salary, hardware, software, equipment etc., but will be subject to evaluation and benchmarking for cost reasonableness. There is no cap on the grant amount.

To qualify for the EDG (CIP) Programme:

• The project consortium must comprise at least one Singapore company and one company from another participating country, which are independent from one another.
• Companies are encouraged to collaborate with a mix of SMEs, large companies and research performers, subject to each country’s national funding regulations.
• The project duration must be 36 months or less and cannot have commenced at the time of application.
• Budget-wise, a single participant or country cannot be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.
• The Singapore company must be registered and operating in Singapore, with a minimum of 30% local shareholding and should be financially able to see the project through completion.

In this video Mr. Zi Yan Koe of Enterprise Singapore explains the eligibility and application process for Singapore companies. You can contact him for more information.

France

Bpifrance offers two funding opportunities for French partners in ITEA projects: funding via the i-Démo programme or the Aide pour le développement de l'innovation programme.

i-Démo

i-Démo aims to help industrial and service companies to develop, create value and competitiveness and to contribute to energy, ecological and digital transitions. The objective of an i-Démo project is to have a direct economic and technological impact thanks to new products, services and technologies. i-Démo projects also seek to have a social and environmental impact through the structuring of an existing or emerging sustainable industrial value chain.

• The mechanism supports the financing of industrial or pre-industrial innovation demonstrators at an advanced stage (pilot production lines, prototypes in a relevant environment, etc.).
• Projects must be collaborative with a maximum of 6 French partners and a minimum size set at €4M of eligible costs.
• Funding consists of grants and loans.

More information about i-Démo can be found at https://www.bpifrance.fr/nos-appels-a-projets-concours/appel-a-projets-i-demo.

Aide pour le développement de l'innovation

French companies participating in projects labelled under ITEA can individually apply for innovation funding under this programme. This programme is designed to help companies pursuing innovation projects that include industrial research and/or experimental development.

• The project must develop innovative products, processes or services and offer appropriate industrial and commercial prospects.
• The funding will be either a repayable advance for RD&I or a loan.
• This instrument is intended for companies with less than 2,000 employees.

More information on Aide pour le développement de l'innovation can be found at https://www.bpifrance.fr/catalogue-offres/soutien-a-linnovation/aide-pour-le-developpement-de-linnovation.

Also have a look at this video in which both programmes are further explained. For more information, you can contact Bpifrance, or directly the programmes i-démo or Aide à l’innovation.

The UK

Innovate UK has announced that it is committing £5m to ITEA Call 2022. UK companies participating in this ITEA Call that would like to apply for funding, can get more information on https://www.ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk/ where more details about eligibility and application will be available soon.