Malta Enterprise allots €9.5m in EU funds

Malta Enterprise has allocated EU funds worth €9.5 million to various industries under the European Regional Development Fund.

The budget initially allocated for this first call of allocations amounted to €7.7 million but this was increased to €9.5 million due to a higher than expected demand.

The ERDF helps stimulate economic development and regeneration in the least prosperous regions of the European Union.

The schemes funded are international competitiveness, small start up, innovation, environment, e-business and energy.

Out of the 152 applicants benefitting from these schemes, 95 (62.5 per cent) are small enterprises of which 40 are micro enterprises employing less than 10 people. Forty-one enterprises are medium-sized and 16 are large.

In total Malta Enterprise received 302 applications for funding.

The only fund which witnessed a poor demand was the environment scheme where only nine applications were received. In fact only €0.35 million have been assigned to companies under this scheme, even though €1.5 million had been budgeted.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech he was satisfied with the overall high demand for these funds and somewhat disappointed with the low number of applications for the environment scheme.

"The fact that there was such a high demand by local companies for these funds is very encouraging and Malta Enterprise increased its budget for this first call from €7.7 million to €9.5 million.

"The funds are not only good for these companies, which will help them become more competitive internationally and innovative but there will be an economic benefit for the country through this increased investment," Mr Fenech said.

Mr Fenech said the fact that 62.5 per cent of the companies benefitting from these schemes were small enterprises showed that the government was committed to helping this sector.

He said there were a large number or applications for the energy scheme but not for the environment fund. "I am disappointed by the low response to the environment scheme - these funds improve companies' green credentials - and believe more awareness is needed in this area," he said.

There were 56 applications received for the international competitiveness scheme (total budget €2.5 million), of which 31 will be benefitting from funds. The budget for the first call of this scheme was €0.8 million but this has been increased to €2 million to accommodate the high demand.

The small start up scheme (total budget €2.5 million) received 27 applications and eight have been allocated funds amounting to €0.8 million. Again, this latter amount was increased from the €0.625 originally budgeted for this first call.

There were 68 applications submitted under the innovation scheme (total budget €4 million) - the largest number received of the business schemes - and 23 will be receiving funds totalling €1.85 million, which was increased from the €1.5 million initially allocated.

The environment scheme (total budget €5 million) received only nine applications of which four were accepted amounting to €0.35 million, a fraction of the €1.5 million allocated for this first call.

There were 52 applications for the e-business scheme (total budget €2.5 million) and 27 will be allocated funds worth €1.1 million, which was increased from the €0.8 million initially assigned.

The energy scheme received 90 applications (total budget €10 million), of which 59 have been approved and will be receiving funds worth €3.4 million, increased from the initial budget of €2.5 million.

The evaluation process by Malta Enterprise was implemented in accordance with the procedures and criteria set by the EU Commission during the Monitoring Committee Meeting for the Structural Funds 2007-2013 of December 5, 2007 in line with Article 65(a) of EC Regulation 1083/2006.

A second call for applications of the ERDF energy scheme will open on July 10 and will close on October 2 (concurrently with the ERDF Research and Development Call 1).

This will allow the 150 companies currently benefiting from energy advisor schemes to use such studies as part of their application. This will also allow tourism operators enough time to apply following their peak season in summer.