There were no Maltese SMEs among the 155 small firms to receive funding in the first wave of grants under EU SME Instrument. However, 645 other projects under Phase 1 and 2 should be funded in 2014, rising to 670 in 2015.

The €3 billion SME Instrument was launched under Horizon 2020 to help innov-ative small firms get ideas from the lab to the market. In total, 155 SMEs from 21 countries will each receive €50,000 to finance feasibility studies to develop their innovation strategies. 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 programme.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: “The response to the new SME Instrument is encouraging. There is clearly demand out there for this kind of support. 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!”

Applications can be submitted at any time but are evaluated four times each year. The next cut-off dates for evaluation are September 24, 2014 for Phase 1 and October 9 for Phase 2.