'Innovate to transform' support for SME's sustainability transition (CSA)
Closed
Status as published by the data source.
Expected Outcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
• Support objectives of the European Green Deal and of the EU SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe;
• Increased resilience of SMEs, by fostering technological and social innovation in SMEs to support their transition to more sustainable business models and more resource-efficient and circular processes and infrastructures;
• Increased competitive sustainability of SMEs through the uptake of advanced technologies;
• Stronger innovation support ecosystems supporting the green, social and economic transition of SMEs, by leveraging synergies between existing EU networks and SME support initiatives. Scope:
Achieving European Green Deal objectives, and notably a climate neutral and resource efficient economy, requires the full mobilisation of SMEs. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to companies redesigning their supply chains and facing a new industrial revolution, brought on by a new generation of advanced technologies, which are underpinning the potential for competitive sustainability of SMEs.
The action will build on and further connect existing EU specialised business support networks and centres – such as the Enterprise Europe Network, the European industry clusters registered under the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, Centres for Advanced Technologies for Industry. They will work in complementarity and close interaction with Open Innovation Test beds, European Digital Innovation Hubs, Start-up Europe etc., but also with academia, social partners and other social innovation actors.
This action will consist in:
A. Advisory services
Dedicated innovation and capacity building support will be provided to SMEs, to assess their ability to transform their business models and increase their resilience.
This will consist of an assessment of SMEs’ innovation and sustainability practices, elaboration of recommendations, notably in view of the uptake of advanced technologies and/or social innovations.
Based on these recommendations, SMEs could receive further advisory services according to their level of preparedness such as help and advice on proof of concept, investment readiness, intellectual property (in cooperation with EU funded IP support), technology transfer, adaptation to standards, adaptation to environmental rules, design management, skill development, partner search (including social partners). SMEs will receive targeted assistance for the uptake of advanced technologies.
Social innovation should be recommended when the solution is at the socio-technical interface and requires social change, new social practices, social ownership or market uptake.
This action will also include the set-up of a community, building on the SME Alliance projects, in which best practices should be exchanged and SMEs could benefit from dedicated peer-learning activities in order to learn from leaders (SMEs or larger corporates) of their own sector. Incentives for leaders to share their best practices with peers should be identified in the context of EU support to industrial ecosystems.
B. Financial support in the form of ‘Third party financing’
As a result of the advisory services and initial assessments, SMEs will receive financial support through calls for SMEs, to implement the elaborated recommendations.
This should support amongst other activities the financing of a feasibility study, prototyping, pilot testing, demonstrating, procurement of further specialised consultancy services and coaching services that cannot be provided directly by the project partners, adaptation of business processes, free access and support to use testing facilities, introduction of new IT solutions etc.
The Commission estimates that at least half of the budget should be allocated to financial support to SMEs in the form of third party financing.
In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.
Proposals can consider the involvement of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre as an associated partner providing its expertise in industrial innovation and dynamics.
- Status
- Closed
- Deadline
- (time not stated)
- Opens
- Published
- Total budget
- €10,000,000
- Grant range
- €5,000,000 – €5,000,000
- Country
- European Union (EU-wide)
- Programme
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Official page
- Open at the source portal
Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilience
- Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution grids
- Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in Energy
- Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
- Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage Technologies
- Demonstration of hydropower technologies for efficient and forward-looking refurbishment of existing hydropower plants
- Delivery of industrial CCUS clusters – Societal Readiness pilot
All calls under this programme
Similar opportunities
- Pilot access schemes to Technology Infrastructures for European startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs (CSA)
- Facilitate the engagement of European stakeholders in international digital standardisation (CSA)
- Accelerating uptake through open proposals for advanced SME innovation
- Supporting the clean energy transition of European industry and businesses
- New sustainable business and production models for farmers and rural communities
- Facilitate the engagement in global ICT standardisation development (CSA)
Where this came from
- Source document
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/data/topicDetails/horizon-cl4-2024-resilience-01-41.json
- Document fingerprint
3224a6822ce97490(SHA-256, first 16 hex characters)- Retrieved
- First recorded here
What has changed
- url first recorded as https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/horizon-cl4-2024-resilience-01-41 on
- currency first recorded as EUR on
- amount_max first recorded as 5000000.00 on
- amount_min first recorded as 5000000.00 on
- budget_total first recorded as 10000000.00 on
- deadline first recorded as 2024-02-07 on
- opens_on first recorded as 2023-09-19 on
- published_on first recorded as 2022-12-07 on
- status_basis first recorded as source_status on
- status first recorded as closed on
- title first recorded as 'Innovate to transform' support for SME's sustainability transition (CSA) on
Data source
© European Union, 2026. Source: EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU — CC BY 4.0.
Retrieved from the source on .
The source last updated this document on Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:49:48 GMT.
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