FIERCE 1st Open Call for the Financial Support Program

Description

This Financial Support Program will support SMEs to advance their space-based green solutions — from early ideas all the way to market-ready products. Each selected beneficiary can receive up to 50,000 EUR to implement its project. There are three types of projects to account for the different technological maturity stages of the solutions: ● Ideation projects: up to 25,000 EUR ● Scale-Up projects: up to 50,000 EUR ● Commercialisation projects: up to 25,000 EUR The projects will be implemented with the support of External Service Providers and 100% of the financial support will be allocated to them (no extra costs are reimbursed). The eligible services and a list of External Service Providers (not exhaustive) can be found in the Guide for Applicants here https://1st-financing.project-fierce.eu/ Each beneficiary can receive as many services as needed, as long as they do not surpass the maximum amount they are allowed to spend on service providers i.e. 50,000 EUR. Each beneficiary will be assigned a Lead Mentor who will guide and support them through the program.

Beneficiary & submission

Program Scope This Program supports the contracting of External Service Providers to help beneficiaries design/upscale/commercialise space-enabled green solutions* or adopt commercially available ones, contributing to the transition towards more sustainable and circular business innovation practices, processes, and partnerships. This Open Call targets applicants who are interested in using downstream space data to create solutions that have a positive environmental impact, either: for the company itself (e.g., by improving current processes to minimize resources, waste, pollution, etc.) – Type A Transformation Project or for its users (e.g., by creating new or improving existing products for better resource management, environmental monitoring, etc.) – Type B Transformation Project Applicants should demonstrate their potential to leverage downstream space data, such as Earth Observation (EO), remote sensing, satellite navigation, etc. The program places a particular focus on supporting solutions in areas such as: Improvement of circularity in terms of improved use of resources and waste management Safe, resource-efficient, and environmentally friendly management of primary, secondary, and critical raw materials Improved environmental monitoring Max. Grant Amount Each selected beneficiary can receive up to 50,000 EUR to implement its project, based on the budget information indicated in the application form and paid out after successful completion and verification of results. How to apply Applications must be submitted via our online portal https://1st-financing.project-fierce.eu/ within the indicated deadline. Who can apply Single entities applying as: Self-employed individuals, Micro Enterprises, Small Enterprises, Medium-sized Enterprises, including start-ups and scale-ups. At the time of application, these single entities should be legally registered in any EU Member State and its Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Number of grants available We aim to support approximately 35 Projects in this Open call. The final number of awarded projects is determined by the total budget allocated to this Open call. Evaluation process We will evaluate only complete proposals that are submitted via our official application platform within the indicated deadline. The evaluation process consists of the following steps: Full proposal submission. Admissibility & eligibility check: Complete proposals submitted within the deadline will be screened against the admissibility & eligibility conditions based on the self-declarations in the proposal. Later on, during the evaluation process, the above conditions will be verified, and non-compliant applicants will be excluded. Expert Evaluation: Independent evaluators will assess proposals based on the established evaluation criteria. Consensus Meeting: The Selection Committee will prioritise proposals based on the Independent Evaluation results and FIERCE project objectives. Formal Check: Legal screening of the pre-selected entities before they are invited to sign the Sub-Grant Agreement.

Further information

Detailed information and all support documents can be found here: https://1st-financing.project-fierce.eu/ *A thorough reading of the Guide for Applicants is essential for the preparation and submission of a proposal. For help, please contact: helpdesk@project-fierce.eu More information about our Project can be found on https://project-fierce.eu/