Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Is it for you?

Target, offer, results, hints & tips

Marco RUBINATO Ted ERIKSSON Unit A.2 "Horizon 2020 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises" Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME)

The SME instrument attracted many SMEs

But 88% of proposals are below threshold

We want to clarify the rules of the game

Why this presentation?

• Who shall apply?

• What does the programme offer?

• Why would you participate?

• How are proposals evaluated?

• What were the results so far?

• Lessons, hints and tips

Menu for today

SME instrument video

• SMEs established in EU or associated countries

• Innovative idea – disruptive - demonstration stage

• Clear ambition to grow at EU/global level

• Knowledge of the market and of competitors

• Convincing commercialization plan

SME Instrument Target

SME Instrument target

Technology readiness level 6 or above

Prototype Demo

System Complete

Work Programme 2016-2017

Comparative 2014-2015/2016-2017

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 %

14+15/16+17

Budgets (EUR

million)

33.95 34.76 46 50 +39.7%

Low Carbon and Efficient Energy System - SIE

Reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint

130 (67%)

Low-cost, low-carbon electricity supply

31 (16%)

Biofuel 14 (7%)

Smart grid 9 (5%)

Energy storage 8 (4%)

Mobile energy sources 2 (1%) H2020-SMEINST-Phase 1

194 Energy related projects

Reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint

25 (64%)

Low-cost, low-carbon electricity supply

10 (26%)

Smart grid 2 (5%)

Biofuel 1 (2%)

Mobile energy sources 1 (3%)

H2020-SMEINST-Phase 2 39 Energy related projects

What do we offer?

• A total of 12 days

• Empower SMEs in their efforts toward successful commercialisation of their innovation

• Help strengthening the company’s capability to deal with the challenges of each stage of its life cycle

• Sensing and solving approach

• Cover areas such as strategy, organisation, management, financing and resource development

• Higher efficiency and effectiveness

• Quicker to the market

Business innovation coaching

• Investment without equity

• Seal of excellence!

• Reduce risk and facilitate access to finance

• Visibility at EU and global level

• Broaden your network

• Benefit from business innovation coaching

Why participate?

Evaluation process

• Remote evaluation

• At least 4 evaluators per proposal

• Balancing knowledge of industry, technology, market, finance

• No more than one evaluator from the applicant's country

• No consensus meeting

• Short standardised feedback

• No negociation

• Final score is given by the average of the evaluations points

Evaluation criteria

3 criteria:

o Possible economic impact

o Excellence in innovation

o Implementation

Evaluation: IMPACT

Convince evaluators that your project will make money and create jobs

• Market (willingness to pay) - targeted users

• Market conditions – competition – Market share

• Commercialisation plan

• EU/global dimension

• Knowledge protection

• Jobs created in Europe

Evaluation: EXCELLENCE

Convince evaluators that your innovation is excellent

• Innovative product/process/service

• Viable & Disruptive technology

• Added value

• Better than existing solutions

• Commercial potential

• Understanding of risks and opportunities

Evaluation: IMPLEMENTATION

Convince evaluators that you will make it

• Credibility of the work plan

• Right Resources internally

• Right Partners and stakeholders

• Team organisation

• Realistic time frame

Phase 1 Phase 2

Proposals received 12441 3745

Proposals >threshold 1805 (15%) 1357 (36%)

Proposals financed 991 (55% of above

threshold, 8% overall)

248 (18% of above threshold, 7%

overall)

Budget € 49.550.000 € 420.097.846 (1,7M * prog.)

Mono beneficiaries 92% 80%

What we have achieved in 2014-2015

(Updated at September 2015)

Phase 1 SMEs in terms of staff and years of trading

Who are the winning SMEs?

An autonomous and mobile water treatment plant powered by solar energy

Spain, Phase 2 € 1,4M

Hybrid battery pack have significant efficiency increase, reduction in energy consumption and prolonging the life cycle of the cells. A whole new disruptive technology that will change the direction of the electric power train development.

http://www.rimac-automobili.com

HybridBatteryPack Croatia, Phase 1

€50,000

Ampyx Power develops the PowerPlane, an Airborne Wind Energy System that use the stronger and more constant wind at altitudes between 100 and 600 meters. PowerPlane technology will have a disruptive effect on the electricity generation sector; due to the low levelised cost of energy that can be achieved with it and

to its low capital costs.

https://www.ampyxpower.com/

AMPYXAP3 The Netherlands, Phase 2

€ 2,5M

http://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/sme-instrument-beneficiaries

Part of the SME European Champions League

Unsuccessful proposals were:

• To strongly project-oriented, not enough information on market opportunities and commercialization strategy

• Company profile missing: has the company all the necessary skills to implement the market opportunity?

• Market situation: competitive solutions not mentioned

• Not really new to the market (no “game changer")

• Commercialisation concept missing; TRL to low, no innovation

Lessons learnt

Before taking a strategic decision to apply

• Look carefully at the programme target

• Assess if your project is mature in all aspects of evaluation criteria

• Take advise on other funding programmes from NCP, EEN or others, notably incubators if you are a starter company

• Try a 3 minute pitch

• If you work with a consultant choose a success fee rather than a fixed price

Hints and tips

When applying: • Make sure your proposal is balanced and covers all

aspects of each evaluation criteria

• Write to convince evaluators to invest

• Put concrete realistic figures Show market size, market share, sales price,

Show 3 years projections of sales volumes, turnover, jobs created

• Invest in a catching title and a good abstract

• Use the full 10 pages (phase 1) and 30 pages (phase 2) – delete the hints in the template

• Form matters, test your proposal, review the language

• Do not wait the cut-off date

Hints and tips

Does a Phase 1 help for Phase 2? Analysis of June cut-off

And if you fail…..

…..apply again! Results show that resubmissions have double chances to succeed!

• 3478 (25%) unique applicants resubmitted at least once

• 584 got funded after resubmission (16%)

There is a clear learning factor and applicants resubmitting have double chances to get funding

Resubmissions

2016 2017

Phase 1 24 February 03 May 07 September 09 November

15 February 03 May 06 September 08 November

Phase 2 03 February 14 April 15 June 13 October

18 January 06 April 01 June 18 October

Cut-offs 2016-2017 - Phase 1 & Phase 2

Efforts are always rewarded

http://ec.europa.eu/easme/sme/

Showcases of companies supported by the

SME Instrument

http://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/sme-instrument/showcase

Thank you very much for your attention

@H2020SME

The European Commission is looking for highly innovative firms – based in the EU-28 or in countries associated to Horizon 2020 – that are ambitious and have the potential to develop, grow and have a European or international impact.

What type of SME is targeted by the SME Instrument?

No. Please contact a National Contact Point or an Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) partner in your region for some guidance prior to submitting a proposal.

Can I submit a pre-proposal for a check?

Please see the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) definitions in the General Annex G of the Work Programme.

How do I know the Technological Readiness Level of my innovation?

No. Only one grant in the form of a lump sum of EUR 50 000 will be awarded per selected proposal, which means that this lump sum needs to be shared amongst consortium partners.

If there is more than one SME participating in my phase 1 project, will the lump sum

(EUR 50 000) be multiplied by the number of participants?