STAGE Financial Grant Programme Call 4

OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL GRANT PROGRAMME

The Open Call is the competitive process by which SMEs apply to have access to the Financial Grant Program for Sustainability transition in the STAGE project. The Financial Grant Programme scheme is direct funding provided by the STAGE project to support SMEs in their sustainability transition.

The STAGE Financial Grant programme will provide up to 25 000 EUR funding per SME of diverse maturity levelsto develop capacity and support sustainability transition. During a competitive process, SMEs will start the programme with a goal to receive the funding of private investment to finance their sustainable transition. STAGE does not provide investment; STAGE provides a Financial Grant (henceforward: Grant) for preparation to investment leading to sustainable company.

Every call will be announced on the platform www.stagepartners.eu and various other communication channels such as the project’s LinkedIn page. Companies receiving STAGE Grants will be asked to provide information for the impact assessment of STAGE reporting purposes both during and after the after the Grant activities are implemented.

The Lithuanian Innovation Centre acts as STAGE Open Call Coordinator and Data Controller for data collected through the STAGE platform for STAGE Financial Grant programme.

FINANCED ACTIVITIES UNDER THE FINANCIAL GRANT PROGRAMME

Grants are granted to the company to prepare for private investment which facilitates the transition to the sustainable and agile performance of the company.

Financed activities are:

1.Preparation of an investment project plan (Minimal requirements for the investment plan are defined in the Appendix E);

2.Feasibility study;

3.Technology audit;

4.Due diligence analysis;

5.Data collection and analysis for carbon footprint assessment;

6.Adaptation of business processes;

7.Procurement of other specialised consultancy and coaching services related to investment plan preparation.

The Grant amount can be spent only for services of Sustainability Advisors registered in the platform. The SME is providing the letter of intent with a Sustainability Advisor from STAGE platform about the intent to provide services for preparation of the investment project plan.

If a specialised consultancy service is needed, the requested consultant needs to register as a Sustainability Advisor in the platform and get approved.

FUNDING STRUCTURE

The STAGE Financial Grant Programme will provide up to 25 000 EUR lump sum to eligible SMEs for the development of services needed for investment of sustainability transformation and/or additional services needed for the investment plan preparation. The grant is to be released when sustainability transition services are acquired and implemented no later than 3 months after signing the Financial Support for Third Parties contract.

The SME will be required to provide documents demonstrating received services, such as investment plan, technology audit report, feasibility study and etc., according to the chosen services described in Section 3.

THE PROCESS OF RECEIVING GRANT AND FUNDING CONDITIONS

The following process summarizes the actions from the application to the Grant to reporting on financial support.

• SME application for the STAGE Financial Grant Programme. SME fills in the application form on the STAGE platform (www.stagepartners.eu login page > www.gnd.one/stage > Application tab, submits the sustainability transition plan and other documents required by the Open Call.
• SME Eligibility evaluation, the call will have several evaluation cut-offs. The call is closed on the announced day of the application deadline. All the applications are checked if they meet the eligibility criteria according to criteria after each evaluation cut-off date.
• application evaluation according to evaluation criteria. Eligible applications are evaluated according to pre-defined evaluation criteria. Highest scoring SMEs according to the evaluation criteria are granted the financing. The final decision of approving the applications is taken in Evaluation Committee (Panel).
• Contracting the Grant. The grant will be paid as a lump-sum. The approved Companies undergoes contracting for Grant. A contract will have to be signed between the Lithuanian Innovation Centre (project STAGE partner responsible for Financial Grant Programme) and the Company.
• Reporting and payment. Company implements the actions indicated in the application form and reports within 3 months from signing the contract. Company fills in Annex D Reporting template and provides the result of the service received (feasibility study, investment project plan, technology audit and etc.).

FINANCIAL GRANT PROGRAMME TIMELINE

Timeline for Call 4 of applications are as follows:

• Application period opens 15 July 2024 08:00 (Central European Time). It is published in EC portal and STAGE web page https://stagepartners.eu/financial-grants.

• Application period closes: 31 December 2024 (Central European Time).

Foreseen evaluation cut-off dates:

a)30 September 2024

b)15 November 2024

c)31 December 2024

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

1. TYPE OF BENEFICIARY

The accepted applicants for the STAGE Open Call are SMEs acting in various domains, including manufacturing and services. The consortium eligibility criteria are defined as a result of priority on those companies that are closest to being investment ready for sustainable transition. These are the eligibility criteria for applicant companies:

1.An SME will be considered as such if complying with the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME qualification guide.

An SME performs European Commission Self-assessment questionnaire: SME Questionnaire (europa.eu) and provides the results before signing the contract.

2.In case an SME enters the STAGE Financial Grant Programme it will remain eligible even if, at a certain point during the Grant execution, it does not fulfil criteria (b) or (c) of the SME definition.

3.The SMEs must not have had convictions for fraudulent behaviour, other financial irregularities, and unethical or illegal business practices.

4.The participating companies must not have been declared bankrupt or have initiated bankruptcy procedures.

5.It is not under liquidation or is not an enterprise under difficulty according to the Commission Regulation No 651/2014, art. 2.18.

6.It is not excluded from the possibility of obtaining EU funding under the provisions of both national and EU law, or by a decision of either national or EU authority.

7.Please note that a signed version of the Honour Declaration will be requested during the contract preparation phase.

2 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE PROJECT IDEA

1.The submitted project plan idea has to aim for the investment of €100.000 or more. It means the company is preparing the investment plan, feasibility study or chooses any other service from Section 3 for the project of 100 000 EUR investment or more.

2.The investment plan idea foresees technological excellence related action (examples: advanced industrial technologies being adopted, innovativeness of the solution, increase of digital readiness level, implementation of management standards, value stream management, new sustainable business models being implemented, sustainable energy and energy efficiency solutions).

3.The investment plan idea foresees a positive economic impact (examples: revenue growth, profit growth, created jobs, reduced waste, reduced carbon footprint, increased energy efficiency, increased energy costs savings)

4.The applicant fills in Sustainability Transition Plan aiming towards a more sustainable enterprise and submits with the application. Only companies which filled in Sustainability Transition plan are eligible. Template for the Sustainability Transition Plan is in the STAGE platform, document is also provided together with application form in the STAGE platform Application tab.

3 ELIGIBLIE COUNTRIES

Applicants eligible to receive funding through the Open Call are any legal entity established and based in one of the EU Member States or third countries associated to Horizon Europe as defined in Horizon Europe rules for participation (link to the document):

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf[1].

UK entities applying as beneficiaries in this call are not eligible, see the footnote 1.

Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05 are NOT eligible to participate in any capacity (including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties, if any).

4 TECHNOLOGICAL AREAS

The STAGE project involves SMEs from all 14 European Industrial Ecosystems defined by the EC including Textiles; Electronics; Mobility-Transport-Automotive; Energy-Intensive Industries; Renewable Energy; Agri-Food; Health; Digital; Construction; Retail; Proximity & Social Economy; Tourism; Creative & Cultural Industries; and Aerospace & Defence. Companies operating in these technological areas are eligible to be funded by the STAGE Financial Grant Programme.

STAGE will not finance any activity, production, use, distribution, business or trade involving:

1.Forced labour[2] or child labour[3]

2.Activities or materials deemed illegal under host country laws or regulations or international conventions and agreements, or subject to international phase-outs or bans, such as:

a)Ozone depleting substances, PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) and other specific, hazardous pharmaceuticals, pesticides/herbicides or chemicals;

b)Wildlife or products regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); or

c)Unsustainable fishing methods (e.g. blast fishing and drift net fishing in the marine environment using nets in excess of 2.5 km in length).

3.Cross-border trade in waste and waste products, unless compliant with the Basel Convention and the underlying regulations.

4.Destruction[4] of High Conservation Value areas[5]

5.Radioactive materials[6] and unbounded asbestos fibres

6.Pornography and/or prostitution

7.Racist and/or anti-democratic media

8.If any of the following products form a substantial part of a project’s primary financed business activities[7]:

a)Alcoholic Beverages (except beer and wine);

b)Tobacco;

c)Weapons and munitions; or

d)Gambling, casinos and equivalent enterprises.

9.Coal prospection, exploration, mining or processing

10.Oil exploration or production

11.Standalone fossil gas exploration and/or production[8]

12.Transport and related infrastructure primarily[9] used for coal for power generation

13.Crude Oil Pipelines

14.Oil Refineries

15.Construction of new or refurbishment of any existing coal-fired power plant (including dual)

16.Construction of new or refurbishment of any existing HFO-only or diesel-only power plant[10] producing energy for the public grid and leading to an increase of absolute CO2 emissions[11]

17.Any business with planned expansion of captive coal used for power and/or heat generation[12]

EVALUATION CRITERIA AND PROCESS

Eligibility evaluation will be performed by a dedicated team of the Lithuanian Innovation Centre. According to the eligibility criteria the evaluation check list will be created and every applicant will be evaluated (yes/no):

-Companies will be asked to provide self-assessment results from SME Questionnaire (europa.eu).

-The application will be evaluated if the project plan idea aims for the investment of €100.000 or more. It means the company is preparing the investment plan, feasibility study or chooses any other service from Section 3 for the project of 100 000 EUR investment or more.

-The application will be evaluated if the project idea and outcome have technological excellence.

-The application will be evaluated if the project idea and outcome have positive economic impact.

-The SME Sustainable transition plan is included. Submitted project idea for Grant is a part of sustainable transition plan implementation in the company.

-The idea is not falling under any activity, production, use, distribution, business or trade involving areas indicated in chapter 8.4.1 – 8.4.17. Project idea is planned to be implemented in one or more of 14 European Industrial Ecosystems defined by the EC (chapter 8.4).

-The SME will be asked to provide the letter of Intent about services of Sustainability Advisor from STAGE platform before signing the Grant contract.

If there is some missing information the SME is asked to submit the missing piece of information within a fixed deadline.

Eligible companies will be evaluated according to application evaluation criteria and the weight of the criteria:

1. Private investment amount foreseen in the project idea, EUR; – 40 %

2. Cost effectiveness of the action, 0- 10 score; - 15 %

3. Headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) in the company; - 15 %

4. The company turnover in last financial statement before the application is submitted.; - 15 %

5. The amount of balance sheet total.; - 15 %

Each criterion is multiplied by the weight percentage and added together. According to this calculated value of all criteria the company list is ranked. Highest scoring companies are financed. When the eligibility check and evaluation is finalized the list of companies and projects is made for the financing of Grants.

When the eligibility check and evaluation is finalized the list of companies and projects is made for the financing of Grants.

Eligibility checking process and application evaluation is planned for 4 weeks.

The final list of companies receiving the Grants is confirmed by Evaluation Panel within 14 days after the evaluation.

APPLICATION AND CONTRACTING PROCESS

A Guide for applicants can be downloaded from the following link https://stagepartners.eu/financial-grants.

The STAGE project platform www.stagepartners.eu is used for submitting the applications; once logged on, Company can apply on the platform in the Applications tab.

To apply to the STAGE Financial Grant Programme, it is mandatory to complete an Initial Assessment and submit the Sustainability Transition plan. Completing the Performance Assessment is not mandatory, however, completing this assessment will help to prepare the Sustainability Transition Plan, therefore it is strongly recommended.

The steps for applying to STAGE Financial Grant Programme:

-Registration. A representative of an SME should register to participate in the STAGE programme by filling out the registration inquiry form on www.stagepartners.eu. Initial registration only requires the most basic information including industry type, company name, and country of operation In the registration process company fills in Initial Assessment.

-Preparation of the Sustainability Transition Plan. A Sustainability Transition Plan template is available on the STAGE platform in the Academy Template section and in the Application tab next to other Call documents. Company downloads the template, fills it in and submits together with application.

-Engaging with Sustainability Advisors (SA). Once the Company has access to the platform, they will be provided with profiles of Sustainability Advisors, SAs who have registered with STAGE and are familiar with the STAGE Programme. SAs may also bring SMEs to the STAGE platform, in which case it is expected they continue to work together throughout the STAGE programme. A company may ask the consultant they are working with to register to the platform and be a Sustainability Advisor in the STAGE platform for that company.

SAs may support the SME in developing a Transition Plan, applying for STAGE Financial Grant Programme, or any other consultancy service company needs. The SME and SA shall develop a bilateral agreement on services provided, applying process is not reimbursed by STAGE Grant programme.

-Submit the STAGE Financial Grant Programme application. The Grant application is submitted on the platform www.stagepartners.eu (www.gnd.one/stage), Applications tab. Together with the application the. following documents need to be submitted:

-Application form;

-Sustainability Transition Plan

-Declaration of Honor for STAGE Financial Grant Programme.

If the applicant discovers an error in the proposal, and provided the call deadline has not passed, the applicant may correct the application and re-submit the proposal. If a proposal resubmitted the time stamp considered is the one of the final submissions.

The application and supporting documents (Sustainability Transition Plan and Declaration of Honor) has to be submitted before the deadline indicated in the chapter 6. Only proposals submitted within the Open Call duration will be accepted. It is recommended to submit the proposal at the earliest time possible. Failure of the proposal to arrive in time for any reason, including network communications delays or working from multiple browsers or multiple browser windows, is not acceptable as an extenuating circumstance. Late submissions are not permitted. The time of receipt of the application as recorded by the submission system will be definitive.

The application reception will close on the date and time mentioned in Section 6. There will not be any deadline extensions unless there is a Force Majeure situation (e.g., a major problem caused by the STAGE platform and not by the applicants, which makes the system unavailable for a long period).

Applications sent by post or email will not be accepted.

Expenses incurred in the preparation of the applications and contracting will not be reimbursed.

PARTICIPATION OF SUSTAINABILITY ADVISORS IN THE FINANCIAL GRANT PROGRAMME

Sustainability Advisors participate in the STAGE Financial Grant Programme as service providers, preparing project investment plans or providing service needed in the process of investment plan preparation and/or other services indicated in the chapter 3.

The Grant can be spent only on services of the Sustainability Advisor registered in the platform STAGE, login page can be accessed from website www.stagepartners.eu.

Sustainability Advisors register to the platform providing general information as well as acquired qualification. After providing the information Sustainability Advisors will be confirmed by the consortium and they will have the possibility to provide services to the SMEs participating in the Financial Grant Programme.

[1] UK entities applying as beneficiaries in this call are not eligible. UK companies for Horizon Europe calls for proposals which implement budgetary commitments for 2021, 2022 and 2023 will not be able to receive EU funding, even if the signature of the grant agreement takes place in 2024 or later.

[2] Forced labor means all work or service, not voluntarily performed, that is extracted from an individual under threat of force or penalty as defined by ILO conventions.

[3] Persons may only be employed if they are at least 14 years old, as defined in the ILO Fundamental Human Rights

[4] Destruction means the (1) elimination or severe diminution of the integrity of an area caused by a major, long-term change in land or water use or (2) modification of a habitat in such a way that the area’s ability to maintain its role is lost.

[5] High Conservation Value (HCV) areas are defined as natural habitats where these values are considered to be of outstanding significance or critical importance (See http://www.hcvnetwork.org).

[6] This does not apply to the purchase of medical equipment, quality control (measurement) equipment or any other equipment where the radioactive source is understood to be trivial and/or adequately shielded.

[7] For companies, “substantial” means more than 10 % of their consolidated balance sheets or earnings. For financial institutions and investment funds, “substantial” means more than 10% of their underlying portfolio volumes.

[8] Gas extraction from limnically active lakes is excepted from this exclusion

[9] “Primarily” means more than 50% of the infrastructure’s handled tonnage

[10] For indirect equity through investment funds, investments (up to a maximum of 20% of the fund) in new or existing HFO-only or diesel-only power plants are allowed in countries that face challenges in terms of access to energy and under the condition that there is no economically and technically viable gas or renewable energy alternative.

[11] I.e. where energy efficiency measures do not compensate any capacity or load factor increase

[12] This does not apply to coal used to initiate chemical reactions (e.g. metallurgical coal mixed with iron ore to produce iron and steel) or as an ingredient mixed with other materials, given the lack of feasible and commercially viable alternatives

link to the Call 4 documentation STAGE Financial Grant Programme | STAGE (stagepartners.eu)