The European Union has a new grants programme, Interregional Innovation Investment or I3, which will have two calls for proposals between 2021 and 2022. I3 will have a budget of 145 million euros.
I3 is a new Cohesion Policy tool that will focus on existing Interregional Partnerships around specific smart specialisation strategies.
Aimed at mature partnerships to help them accelerate the scaling up of innovative solutions in the priority areas of smart specialisation. It also seeks the market uptake of these solutions and the development of a pipeline of projects of interest.
In addition, partnerships need to be able to leverage existing assets, be they Commission-supported clusters, participation in Horizon 2020 and the Knowledge and Innovation Communities.
This focuses on increasing the capacity of regional innovation ecosystems in less developed regions to participate in global value chains. It will also consider the capacity to engage in partnerships with other regions.
This second strand also has a clear objective of cohesion, focusing on creating links between less developed regions with those where this innovative capacity is more advanced.
Yes, the calls are open. The application deadlines are:
2021 closing date: 1 February 2022, Strand 1 budget: EUR 39 795 300, Strand 2a budget: EUR 36 005 271.
2022 closing date: 18 October 2022, Strand 1 budget: EUR 36 763 277, Strand 2a budget: EUR 32 897 448
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