Hungarian SMEs among new EU fund recipients

The European Commission announced the first results of its new EUR 3 billion SME Instrument program, launched under Horizon 2020 to help innovative small firms get ideas from the lab to the market. The first winners include three Hungarian firms.

In total, 155 SMEs from 21 countries (EU member states or countries associated to Horizon 2020) will each receive EUR 50,000 to finance feasibility studies to develop their innovation strategy. In addition, SMEs can benefit from up to three days of business coaching.

Spanish SMEs were particularly successful in the first round, with 39 proposals selected, followed closely by SMEs from the UK and Italy. In total, there were 2,666 applications for the first grants. Successful applicants will be formally notified in August by the Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) which manages the program.

"The response to the new SME Instrument is encouraging. There is clearly demand out there for this kind of support," commented, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was quoted by the financial website portfolio.hu. "We hope many of the business plans being financed will mature to become real products and services, generating growth and jobs for our economies. We want the champions of innovation to grow," he added.

The SME Instrument is a key element of the funding for small businesses available under Horizon 2020. Worth around EUR 3 billion over seven years, it offers fast and simple grants for business innovation feasibility studies (Phase 1) and demonstration projects (Phase 2). Investment-mature concepts can in addition benefit from business development advice and other support services (Phase 3).