News

The SME Success Story Call to open on 3 June 

The Vanguard Initiative is launching the SME Success Story Call on 3 June. The call is aimed at facilitating the involvement of innovative SMEs in the VI pilot activities.  

Financial aid will be provided to SMEs facing obstacles in their innovation processes in one of the thematic and industrial areas of the VI Pilots. The VI Innovation Voucher will consist of a one-time, lump-sum payment of 11.000 to finance interregional collaboration activities between at least two legal entities (of which at least one SME) registered in at least two different VI regions and countries.  

The initiative, which has been developed under the leadership of the Steinbeis Europa Zentrum (Baden Württemberg), will allow the creation of success stories through interregional cooperation to showcase the potential VI impact on SMEs, but also strengthen SME- driven interregional value chains and promote faster market uptake of products and services. 
 

The timeline of the Call will be as follows: 

• 03.06.2022 launch of the call  

• 14.07.2022 Call closure and evaluation of the applications by the selection committee  

• 27.07.2022 Applicants informed  

• 30.08.2022 (latest) Signed sub-grant agreements received by the managing authority Steinbeis  

• 30.01.2023 (latest) Submission of the final report for evaluation  

• 15.02.2023 (latest) Voucher payment to beneficiaries  

• February 2023 (TBD) Presentation of the results at the General Assembly  

For more information, please contact [email protected]