We can help you analyse and evaluate your needs and define and implement the optimal solution based on the parameters of the programme.
Click, here, to book a Telephone Appointment for free assessment of your Eligibility and Needs, so as to prepare in a timely manner and/ or contact us for support for proposal preparation and submission.
INTRODUCTION
The Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) announces the Call for Proposals for the «Development and Promotion of Internationally Competitive Innovative Products and Services by Existing Enterprises (INNOVATE)» Programme within the framework of the «RESTART 2016-2020» Programmes for the period May 2022-June 2025 and invites potential beneficiaries to submit relevant Project Proposals (Proposals).
The present Call will be co-financed by the Republic of Cyprus and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the frame of the Operational Programme «ΘΑλΕΙΑ» 2021-2027 under Priority 1: «Competitive, Smart and Digital Economy» and the Specific Objective (1i): «Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies».
GENERAL CALL INFORMATION
| Pillar | ΙΙ. SUSTAINABLE RTDI SYSTEM | |
| Programme | Development and Promotion of Internationally Competitive Innovative Products and Services by Existing Enterprises | |
| Call Identifier | INNOVATE/0525 | |
| Funding Source | EU Recovery and Resilience Facility | |
| Call Budget |
3.200.000 Euro Category Α: 1.000.000 for the following Priority Areas of the Smart Specialization Strategy: 6.1 (Exploitation and use of data generated from space-based infrastructures for downstream applications), 6.2 (Advanced materials for structures and equipment used in earth observation facilities and spacecrafts). Category Β: 2.200.000 Euro for the remaining Priority Areas of the Smart Specialization Strategy with the exception of Priority Area 6.3. |
|
| Maximun Funding Per Project | 1.000.000 Euro | |
| Publication Date | 29 May 2025 | |
| Deadline |
9 September 2025, time 13.00 |
|
The English version of the Call, even though an official translation endorsed by the Research and Innovation Foundation, is provided for information purposes only. Only the Greek version of the Call is legally binding and shall prevail in case of any divergence in interpretation.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the «Development and Promotion of Internationally Competitive Innovative Products and Services by Existing Enterprises (INNOVATE)» Programme is to support existing enterprises from all activity sectors, that will invest in research and innovation, for the development of competitive innovative products or services with quick global market penetration prospects. Moreover, the Programme facilitates the mobility of private investment funds for the support of rapid development innovative enterprises.
DESCRIPTION
The Programme aims to support existing enterprises already active in commercial activities, or have innovative products / services at a test or pilot phase. Funding is mainly aimed to support the development or optimization of the product / service, the launch of the commercial production, the promotion / marketing, and ultimately the global market penetration of the product.
Specifically, in the frame of funded projects, experimental development activities may be carried out, which may include prototyping, demonstration, pilot operation, testing and validation of new or improved innovative products / services. New products or services may belong to a family of innovative commercial products of the company. In addition, new products or services may have entered the market in limited quantities or in a specific geographic area for trial purposes in the two previous years prior to the year of the application and need redesign, which requires experimental development, prototype development, testing and other production preparations in order to penetrate the market successfully.
The Programme also covers innovation activities, which may include the protection of intellectual property rights, secondment of highly qualified personnel from a research organisation to the beneficiary, and the acquisition of advisory services and innovation support services aimed at developing a scientifically and technically sound, innovative business idea, in a ready-to-sell product or service.
Through the Programme, beneficiaries are also given the opportunity to update their strategic business plan for the innovative business idea.
Finally, the Programme covers promotion / marketing activities for the products / services in order to support global market penetration with significant prospects, activities to enhance the investment readiness of the company, and activities aiming to attracting private equity.
In the cases where the new product or service is based on new technology, it is expected that the technology falls within a high technological readiness level, having already been validated in laboratory and relevant environment and is at least being demonstrate at relevant environment. This will also apply to non-technological innovations, accordingly.
BENEFICIARIES
Enterprises, Research Organisations, Other Private Sector Organisations
PROJECT DURATION
18 - 24 Months
MAXIMUM FUNDING PER PROJECT
Up to € 1.000.000
The maximum total funding may not exceed the double of the turnover of the Host Organisation according to its latest audited financial statements in the financial year (N-1) or the year preceding (N-2), where "N" is the year of submission of the Proposal. Turnover does not include passive income from royalties, interest, dividends, financial leases, rental income, subsidies/grants/financing, etc. The verification of the above criterion will be carried out at the preliminary check stage. If this criterion is not met, the proposal will not proceed to scientific evaluation.
Each category of activities and depending on the size of the beneficiary, has a different aid intensity, based on the State Aid Regulation. In any case, the final aid intensity for each organisation of the Consortium will not exceed 65%.
The aid intensity for the Host Organisation for Experimental Development and Feasibility Study activities is determined in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3.2 of RESTART 2016-2020 Programmes for the period May2022-June 2025. For Innovation Activities and Participation in Trade Fairs for SMEs it is 50%, and for activities to be funded under the De Minimis Regulation it is 100%. In addition, the aid intensity for Large Enterprises, as Host Organisations, for Innovation and Trade Fair Participation activities funded under the De Minimis Regulation will be 50%.
The final aid intensity for Host Organisation is determined taking into account all its individual activities and cannot exceed 65%.
RESTART 2016-2020 WORK PROGRAMME
All general rules and procedures for the participation of organisations and individuals, the eligible activities and costs, as well as the specific information regarding the Programme «Development and Promotion of Internationally Competitive Innovative Products and Services by Existing Enterprises (INNOVATE)», as well as the other RESTART 2016-2020 Programmes, are included in the RESTART 2016-2020 Work Programme, which is the main reference document and an important information source for interested parties and can be found on the Research and Innovation Foundation’s IRIS (Innovation Research Information System) Portal (https://iris.research.org.cy/#/documentlibrary).
SPECIFIC CONDITIONS for this call are detailed in the attached Call for Proposals document.
SUBMISSION
Proposals are submitted through the Research and Innovation Foundation’s IRIS Portal (https://iris.research.org.cy).
The Project Coordinator and all local participating organisations in the Project Consortium, should register in advance on the IRIS Portal.
Potential applicants are advised to use the «Guide for Applicants», which contains guidelines and clarifications regarding the Submission procedure and the «IRIS Portal User Manual» which can be found on the IRIS Portal (https://iris.research.org.cy/#/documentlibrary).
The Research and Innovation Foundation encourages in all its Calls for Proposals:
- the participation of women as Project Coordinators, and
- the gender-balanced formation of projects.
The Project Proposal consists of the following parts:
- Part A – General Information & Budget (electronic form (fields) to be completed online through the IRIS Portal).
- Part B – Technical Annex (document to be uploaded as an Annex on the IRIS Portal in PDF format).
- ANNEX I – Curricula Vitae – Mandatory Submission at least the Coordinator’s CV (document to be uploaded as an Annex on the IRIS Portal in PDF format). It is recommended that, CVs of all project team members are created according to the EUROPASS format and do not exceed 5 pages per person.
- ΑΝΝΕΧ III – Mandatory Submission Call Specific Information not to be Disclosed by the Evaluators (documents, correctly completed and signed, which are uploaded as an Annex on the IRIS Portal in PDF format):
(a) The audited Financial Statements of the HO for the previous financial year (N-1) or the year preceding (N-2), where "N" is the year of submission of the Proposal; and
(b) Earnings and Contributions Statement from the Social Insurance Services for the last 3 months prior to the month of proposal submission, for which the employer is required to have paid social security contributions. For example, if the proposal is submitted in September 2025, the Earnings and Contributions Statement for May, June and July 2025 should be submitted.
It is clarified that newly established enterprises that take over part of the activities (corporate spinoffs) of an existing enterprise may submit the data of the existing enterprise.
Please note that if the requested documents are not submitted at the proposal submission stage, the proposal will not be submitted for scientific evaluation.
SELECTION
Evaluation Procedure
Proposals are evaluated in two stages:
For the Stage Α of the Evaluation, a Preliminary Check and a Remote Evaluation procedure by two (2) experts, which: (a) are specialists in the proposal topic, and/or (b) have good knowledge of the business environment in the proposal field, will be followed, as specified in the RESTART 2016-2020 Work Programme for the period May 2022-December 2024. It is clarified that, in case where all requested documents are not duly submitted at the Proposal submission, then the Proposal will not be forwarded for scientific evaluation.
Prior to the evaluation of each Proposal, and the score assignment according to the evaluation criteria, evaluators will examine the compatibility:
a) of the Proposal with the Programme and Call Objectives,
b) of the proposed activities with the activities allowed by the Programme/Call, and
c) of the Proposal with the «Do No Significant Harm» principle.
In case where the Proposal is not compatible with the above, the evaluator rejects the Proposal and does not proceed with the examination of the evaluation criteria.
Proposals which secure an Evaluation Score of at least 12.00/15.00 are eligible to qualify to Stage B of the Evaluation.
Specifically, proposals with the highest scores (in descending order) will proceed Stage B, until the total funding requested for the proposals equals twice the available budget of the Call, and provided that they have been found eligible for funding.
The number of proposals that qualify to Stage B of the Evaluation may be increased in the following occasions: (i) Eligible proposals with the same score which are ranked at the bottom of the ranking list. In this case the proposals will proceed to Stage B, and (ii) Re-evaluation of proposals, for which a redress was submitted and approved regarding the result of the
Evaluation in Stage B. In this case, re-evaluated proposals that receive the same or higher score than the last proposal on the ranking list, will qualify to Stage B.
The evaluation of Proposals in Stage B is carried out by an Independent Evaluation Committee, consisted by experts with business background selected from RIF’s Evaluators Database. In the frame of Stage B of the Evaluation, a member/members of the project Team present the Project, in person, to the members of the Committee, who will have the opportunity to ask for clarifications and discuss the content of the Proposal between them and with the representatives of the project Team during the meeting. The participation of representatives from the Partner Organizations in the meetings with the Committee is allowed if deemed necessary by the applicants.
The final decision regarding the selection of a proposal for funding by the RIF, is at the discretion of the Committee. After the completion of the procedure, the relevant Evaluation Report will be communicated to the Project Coordinator, stating the rationale behind the Committee’s decision. The Committee’s decision is final and cannot be appealed against.
Evaluation Criteria/Weighting
1. Excellence - Weight 30%
2. Added Value and Benefit - Weight 35%
3. Implementation - Weight 35%
Selection
Proposals that are selected for funding are those that have been deemed, following evaluation, eligible for funding (separately for Categories A and B) as follows:
- until the total available budget for each Category is exhausted, and
- until the total available budget of the Call is exhausted regardless of the category.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
GUIDE FOR EVALUATORS
RESTART-2016-2020-WORK-PROGRAMME-V17
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS