The Mini Grants Program is aimed at private young enterprises which are engaged in the development of technological innovations with a clear market need. This Program is designed to support the survival of companies during the critical phase of research and development and to allow the Serbian entrepreneurs to grow an effective business capacities through which they will launch their innovations on the market.
The amount of financing that IF awards under the Mini Grants Program cover a maximum of 85% and up to EUR 80,000 of the total approved project budget.
The Matching Grants Program is designed for enterprises looking for significant financial resources for the commercialization of research and development. The Program has the goal to stimulate further knowledge-based development of innovative enterprises, encourage the establishment of partnerships with international partners and to increase the number of technology-based companies.
The amount of financing that IF awards under the Matching Grants Program cover a maximum of 70% of the total approved project budget for micro and small enterprises and a maximum of 60% of total approved project budget for medium-sized enterprises, but the IF financing cannot exceed more than EUR 300,000 per project.
The overall objective and impact of the Programes are to increase the completeness of Serbian SMEs. The specific objective and outcome are to increase innovation in the Serbian SMEs . The primary aim of the Action is to provide financial support to the development of the innovation.
The rationale for this Project is to capitalize on the success of the IF’s previously piloted Innovation Serbia Project (ISP) (2011-2016). The ISP was rated as very successful in establishing and executing two grant programs (Mini Grants and Matching Grants) designed to provide financial support for boosting commercial R&D in Serbian SMEs. Within this project, the IF managed to develop and maintain a transparent and efficient international evaluation and decision-making process headed by a professional and independent Investment Committee (Evaluation Committee) comprised of the international experts.