European Commission invests 73 m euro in 50 innovative SMEs

The European Commission has today selected 50 small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) from 14 countries for the latest round of grant funding from the SME instrument of Horizon 2020, the EU's framework programme for Research and Innovation.

Projects run by these companies will receive up to 2.5 million euro each to bring their newly designed products to the market, and projects related to health will receive up to 5 million euro. Among the projects receiving funding are a cost-effective system of solar panel roof tiles, a next-generation Push-to-Talk communication device for public security, a new model of banking to help population groups that find it difficult to open a traditional bank account, and even a revolutionary concept of affordable wind-generators without blades.

With this latest round of funding, the SME instrument has since its launch in January 2014 benefited a total of 406 SMEs seeking to bring their products to market. The SME instrument is financed by the Horizon 2020 programme.

Source:WAM