129 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 25 countries have been selected for funding in the latest round of the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument.

The funding is provided under Phase 1 of the instrument, which means that each project will receive ¤50,000 to finance a feasibility study for innovative products that can disrupt the market. Companies applying also receive business support services and up to three days of free business coaching.

The European Commission received 2 165 proposals by the cut-off date of 3 May. The 129 SMEs selected for funding proposed 128 projects in total (multiple SMEs can be involved in one project).

Most of the projects funded were in the area of ICT (30), followed by transport (24) and low-carbon and efficient energy systems (15).

Italian SMEs were particularly successful with 23 beneficiaries accepted for funding, followed by firms from Spain (19) and France (10). Since the launch of the programme on 1 January 2014, 2331 SMEs have been selected under Phase 1 of the SME Instrument.

The next cut-off for Phase 1 is 6 September 2017.

More information

• List of selected projects
• Map of projects