RIF announces upcoming calls worth €16.2m - targeting both existing and startup businesses

The Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) has announced that it will soon launch new calls for proposals under three funding programmes, targeting both existing and start-up enterprises, with a combined budget of €16.2 million.

The aim, it said, is to support the rapid development of competitive products and services, as well as the creation of facilities and production lines for the manufacturing of new innovative products and services.

The upcoming calls relate to the INNOVATE and SEED programmes, with a combined budget of €6.2m, as well as the “Creation of Facilities and Production Lines for the Production of New Innovative Products/Services – STEP” Programme, which has a budget of €10m.

The first two programmes, INNOVATE and SEED, are designed to support the creation or transformation of innovative ideas into products and services aimed at the international market, thereby strengthening the outward orientation of local businesses.

The INNOVATE and SEED programmes

INNOVATE specifically seeks to support companies already active in the market or those with innovative products or services in the testing or pilot implementation stage. Funding is primarily intended for the development and optimisation of a product or service, the initiation of commercial production, promotion, and support for its entry into the international market, as well as the mobilisation of private investment capital. The call has a budget of €3.2m, and each project may receive up to €1m in funding.

The SEED programme is intended to support the rapid growth of dynamic and innovative start-ups that aim to develop internationally competitive products or services. It also seeks to attract private investment capital for this purpose. The total budget of the call amounts to €3m, with a maximum funding of €500,000 per project.

It should be noted that for the INNOVATE Call, submission of the following documents will be required, and the Foundation urges all interested parties to begin preparing their proposals and gathering the necessary supporting documents:

(a) Audited Financial Statements of the Legal Entity for the previous financial year (N-1) or the year before that (N-2), where "N" is the year the proposal is submitted; and

(b) Statement of Earnings and Contributions from the Social Insurance Services for the last three months prior to the month of proposal submission, for which the employer is required to pay social insurance contributions.

The STEP Programme

RIF has already said it will be opening a funding round for the creation of facilities and production lines for the development and manufacturing of new innovative products and services – the STEP Programme. This programme aims to support enterprises in Cyprus in establishing facilities and production lines for innovative products and services, in line with the EU’s Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) regulation, focusing on the following areas: Advanced and digital technologies, Clean and efficient technologies, and Biotechnologies. Interested parties are encouraged to begin the preparation of their proposals and collect the necessary documentation in order to ensure timely and complete submission once the call is officially announced.

These calls are co-funded by the Republic of Cyprus and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the Cohesion Policy Programme "THALEIA 2021–2027".

For more information, interested parties may contact the RIF Partner Support Centre at tel.: +357 22205000 or via email at support@research.org.cy.