STAGE Financial Grant Programme

Closed

Beneficiary & submission

Aplication process Guide for applicants can be downloaded from the following link link https://stagepartners.eu/financial-grants. STAGE project platform www.stagepartners.eu is used for submitting the applications, SME can apply in the platform in the Applications tab. To apply for STAGE Financial Grant Programme it is mandatory to complete Initial Assessment and submit the Sustainability Transition plan. Completing Performance Assessment is not mandatory, however completing this assessment will help to prepare Sustainability Transition Plan, therefore it is 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 inquiry form on www.stagepartners.eu. Initial registration only requires the most basic information including the industry type, company name, and country of operation. - Initial Assessment. Once registered on the STAGE platform the SME will be required to fill out the Phase 1 Assessment. The assessment evaluates how the SME performs in a range of social, innovation, governance, environment, and economic issues. The answers to the questionnaire will be scored and the SME will be supplied with a report card describing areas where they can focus improvement. - Preparation of Sustainability Transition Plan. Sustainability Transition Plan template is available in STAGE platform. Completing Performance Assessment is not mandatory, however completing this assessment will help to prepare Sustainability Transition Plan. The second assessment asks the SME further questions categorised under the headings; product engineering, industry 4.0, production sustainability, and business strategy. The answers to the questionnaire will be scored and this will provide the SME with a Sustainable Roadmap which contains areas to focus improvement visualised in a spider graph and recommended training modules that will help the SME enact their sustainable transition. Based on the answers to these questions Sustainable Transition Plan will be developed. This document will be submitted with an application. - Engaging with Sustainability advisor (SA). Once the SME 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 proposal, applying for STAGE Financial Grant Programme, or any other consultancy service. The SME and SA shall develop a bilateral agreement on services provided. Submit STAGE Financial Grant Programme application. Financial Grant application is submitted in the www.stagepartners.eu, Applications tab. Together with the application are submitted these documents: - Sustainable transition plan; - Sustainability advisor confirmation letter; - 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. All the applications have to be submitted before the deadline indicated in the chapter 7.1. Only proposals submitted within the Open Call duration will be accepted. It is recommended not to wait until the last minute to submit the proposal. 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 7.1. 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 and dispatch of the applications will not be reimbursed. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 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. Here are eligibility criteria for the company: An SME will be considered as such if complying with the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME qualification guide. As a summary, the criteria which define an SME are: a) Independent (not linked or owned by another enterprise), in accordance with Recommendation 2003/361/EC. b) Headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) 5 - 250. c) Annual turnover less or equal to €50 million OR annual balance sheet total less or equal to €43 million. 2. In case an SME enters the STAGE Financial Grant Programme it will remain eligible even if, at a certain point during the sub-project 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. Eligibility criteria for the project idea 1. The submitted investment plan idea has to aim for the investment of €5 million or more. The investment project plan meets minimal requirements provided in the platform. 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 positive economic impact (examples: revenue growth, profit growth, created jobs, reduced waste, reduced carbon footprint, increased energy efficiency, increased energy costs savings) 4. The SME coming to STAGE Financial Grant Programme should be already recruited through the Project STAGE SME Engagement and Recruitment Programme (figure 1) in STAGE platform and has to finish initial steps of STAGE Initial Assessment and prepare Sustainability Transition Plan. Only companies which went through these steps are eligible. SME has to submit Sustainability Transition Plan aiming towards more sustainable enterprise. Guidelines for the Sustainability Transition Plan content is in the STAGE platform www.stagepartners.eu. 5. The SME provides the letter of confirmation with Sustainability Advisor from STAGE platform about intent to provide services preparing investment plan. Any Sustainability Advisor meeting minimal criteria can register in the platform. Eligible 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]. 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, PCB's (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 fibers 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 financial information to evaluate the information in the SME Application. - Companies will be asked to provide financial information to evaluate minimal requirements for Headcount in Annual Work Unit and turnover or capital. - The application will be evaluated if the project investment plan prepared as a result of using the Financial Grant is €5 million or more and the investment project plan meets minimal requirements. - 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 Financial Grant is a part of sustainable transition plan implementation in the company. - The SME provides the letter of confirmation about services of Sustainability Advisor from STAGE platform. - 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). If there is some missing information the SME is asked to submit the missing piece of information within a fixed deadline. If the whole document is missing or application is so low quality that more than 50 % of information needs to be specified, then application is dismissed and SME is offered to prepare the application in better quality and apply to the next call. 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 of investment plan, EUR - criteria weight is 40 % of total score; 2. Potential carbon reduction (CO2 eq), tonnes - criteria weight is 30 % of total score; 3. Headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) in the company - criteria weight is 10 % of total score; 4. The company turnover in last financial statement before the application is submitted - criteria weight is 10 % of total score; 5. The amount of balance sheet total - criteria weight is 10 % of total score; Each criterion is multiplied by the weight percentage and added together. According this calculated value of all criteria the company list is ranked. Highest scoring companies are financed. Every call is planned to finance 20 companies, the number may vary according to the implementation of Financial Grant Programme. 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 3 weeks. The final list of companies receiving Financial Grants is confirmed by Evaluation Panel within 5 days after the evaluation. [1] As UK is not associated to Horizon Europe for the time being, UK companies are not eligible for the STAGE Financial Grant Programme. [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

Further information

link to the call documentation: https://stagepartners.eu/financial-grants