VInnovate

How to Apply

Timeline

8th May 2024 (17:00 CET): Opening of the Call

15th May 2024 (10:00 - 11.30 CET): Infoday register here

16th September 2024 (23:59 CET): Closing of the submission of project fit form (1 form per consortium)

30th October 2024 (23:59 CET): Closing of the submission of proposals to regional agencies

18th December 2024: Communication results to applicants

December 2024/February 2025: Signing of consortium agreement and funding negotiations, according to the respective regional/national rules, if necessary.

Early 2025: Projects selected for funding are expected to start their activities no later than 3 months after the funding decision was communicated to them.

Step 1 - Generating project ideas

Potential applicants (especially SMEs) can receive support towards elaborating possible proposals in the form of activities organised by VI Pilots. All potential applicants are invited to contact one of the VI pilot leads listed on the relevant pilot webpages in order to be informed about possible activities established by the pilots:

Potential applicants looking for partners can express interest in the VInnovate Call 2024 on the VI Gateway. Please note that potential applicants will have to create an organisation profile before being able to describe their ideas/needs or to contact possible partners.

Step 2 – Submission of project fit form (between 08.05.2024 and 16.09.2024)

The 'Project Fit Form' template is available here. This short form must be filled-out (1 form per consortium), signed by the consortium partners, and sent as an attachment to the following email address [email protected], by the interregional project coordinator.

Project Fit Forms must be submitted before 16.09.2024 (23:59 CET). We encourage applicants to submit their 'Project Fit Form' as soon as possible: this will give them more time to prepare the 'proposals' (see step 4).

This is a compulsory step aimed at facilitating the generation of potentially eligible project ideas. In particular, the form will guide applicants in fulfilling the VInnovate Call 2024 eligibility criteria (through 'self-declaration statements') and in establishing the international consortium (and their corresponding regional instruments).

Step 3 – Assessment Project Fit Form, in no more than 10 working days

During the period 08.05.2024-16.09.2024, any submitted Project Fit Form will be assessed by the VInnovate secretariat, in no more than 10 working days. This assessment will focus on the VInnovate eligibility criteria and on ensuring that there is no major inadequacy identified between the partners, their activities and the targeted regional funding instruments. Such assessment does not encompass a quality evaluation of the proposed project, not a proper or binding regional eligibility check, which will be performed in step 4.

Step 4 - Submission of proposals, at regional level

Once the ‘project fit form’ was positively assessed, applicants can proceed with the submission of proposals to the respective regional agencies (i.e. 'regional proposals').

Each applicant will provide the information requested by the corresponding instrument, following the requests and procedures at regional/national level (which must be consulted here). This implies that the various ‘regional proposals’ (submitted by partners of a VInnovate candidate project) will be based on a similar/shared "interregional' content: e.g. the description of the project’s scope and main activities, the set of partners, the overall impacts, etc. In addition to this, partners might be requested to provide (to their funding agency) additional specific information, taking into account possible specific regional requirements.

Regional proposals will have to be submitted by 30.10.2024 (23:59 CET) at the latest.

Each applicant must attach to the 'regional' proposal, a draft consortium agreement (unsigned). A template of consortium agreement is available here and must be adapted.

Step 5 – Evaluation, Decision and Communication

Following evaluation processes in place, a project is selected for funding when all regions involved in the project had selected the project for funding.