Entrepreneurs from Bucharest and Ilfov can access funding of 200,000 euros from a regional grant program – Blog

• The Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency published on Friday, April 28, the draft Applicant’s Guide for a financing scheme with European funds within the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Program (PR BI) 2021-2027. The program is also supplemented with funds from the state budget. Funding can reach up to a maximum of 200,000 euros, if the de minimis aid rule is respected, which cannot exceed 300,000 over any 3-year period.

The non-reimbursable allocation related to this call for projects is 37.6 million euros, of which the European Union’s contribution is 15 million euros, as established in the Applicant’s Guide put up for debate on Friday, April 27, by the Bucharest Regional Development Agency- Ilfov.

“This document, together with the appendices attached to it, represents a set of rules for the preparation of projects and the correct completion of funding applications by potential applicants of Priority 1 A competitive region through innovation, digitalization and dynamic enterprises within the Bucharest Regional Program -Ilfov (PR BI) 2021-2027”, the guide states.

Who can apply for funding

In this call for projects, the target group is represented by the categories of entities that will benefit from the results of the project, respectively:

direct beneficiaries: the supported micro-enterprises and their employees;

indirect beneficiaries: customers, partners, suppliers of the supported micro-enterprises, the community and local budgets, etc.

The applicant will mention in the Target Group section of the Funding Application the main beneficiaries of the project results.

The Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Development Agency is the management authority for the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Program 2021-2027.

“The general objective of the Bucharest-Ilfov Regional Program 2021-2027 (PR BI) is to contribute to the strategic vision of the Bucharest-Ilfov Region (RBI) by supporting an intelligent, sustainable and inclusive economic development in order to improve living standards and growth resilience to societal challenges”, the Applicant’s Guide also states.

The calendar for submitting funding applications

The maximum deadline for submitting funding applications – 1 month from the date of the opening of the call for projects in MySMIS2021/SMIS2021+;

The project preparation period is 60 days from the date of publication of the Applicant’s Guide.

In the framework of this call for projects, funding applications and related documents will be submitted exclusively through the MySMIS2021/SMIS2021+ electronic application, only in the interval mentioned in section 4.3 above and according to the provisions of section 7.

The date of submission of the funding application is considered the date of submission of the application through the MySMIS2021/SMIS2021+ electronic system.

Scoring

Projects that do not meet a minimum threshold of 70 points in the technical and financial evaluation stage will be rejected.

Funding: maximum 200,000 euros

The contribution of the program, respectively the amount of non-refundable financing requested must represent a maximum of 200,000 euros, representing a maximum of 90% of the eligible value of the investment, within the limit of the de minimis ceiling that a sole enterprise can benefit from, according to the legal provisions in the field.

However, financing is granted in compliance with the de minimis aid scheme. In this way, companies can request financing only if in the last three years they have not exceeded state or European financing of more than 300,000 euros through other programs.

“Within this call for projects, the form of support is of the grant type (non-reimbursable financial aid) in compliance with the provisions of PR BI 2021-2027 and is subject to the rules of EU Commission Regulation 2831/2023 on the application of articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the operation of aid de minimis”, it is stated in the Applicant’s Guide

“In accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) NO. 2831/2023 of the EC of December 13, 2023, regarding the application of articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the amount of de minimis aid is a maximum of EUR 300,000 for the last 3 years”, the applicant’s Guide states.

The total amount of de minimis aid granted per Member State to a single undertaking must not exceed EUR 300,000 in any 3-year period.

The 3-year period to be taken into account for the purposes of the de minimis regulation should be continuously assessed. For each new de minimis aid granted, the total amount of de minimis aid granted in the last 3 years must be taken into account

Applicant’s contribution

The contribution of the program to the financing of the investment, respectively the amount of non-refundable financing requested is a maximum of 90% of the eligible value of the investment, within the limit of the de minimis ceiling.

The applicant’s contribution to the financing of the investment must be at least 10% of the eligible value of the investment. This is ensured from own sources, which exclude state aid or de minimis aid.

“The eligible value of the investment represents the sum of the eligible expenses included in the project,” states the draft applicant’s guide.

What funding is offered for

The action supported in this call for projects aims at sustainable and technological modernization, by improving technical and/or industrial capacities, in order to more efficiently manage the development of products and services, through the following main types of investments:

• construction/expansion of production/service provision spaces;
• the purchase of equipment, technologies (including green technologies), machines, work installations, as well as endowments included in the category of fixed assets: furniture, computer equipment, office equipment;
• computer programs, patents, licenses, trademarks, other rights and similar assets;
• result

The expected results ensure the fulfillment of the specific indicators and objectives of the project, being established in accordance with them. In the funding request, the applicant will list the expected results as a result of the implementation of the project and in correlation with the activities proposed for funding.

The expected results will be determined in correlation with the activities proposed within the project and will target, for example:

• equipment (including green technologies)/equipment purchased (no.);
• purchased services (no.);
• new/extended constructions (no.);
• participation in national / international fairs and events (no.);

The deadline for the achievement of these results is the date of completion of the project, and the progress in achieving these results will be monitored during the implementation of the project.