The program
Upgrading micro & small businesses to develop their capabilities in new markets - 1st CYCLE - The program
The aim of the program "Upgrading micro and small enterprises to develop their capabilities in new markets" is to strengthen existing micro and small enterprises operating in 8 strategic priority areas of OP Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, Innovation (EPANEK), in order to upgrade their competitive position by investing in the modernization or remodeling of their services.
The strategic priority areas of (EPANEK) are the following:
- Agri-food / Food Industry
- Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI)
- Materials / Constructions
- Supply chain
- Energy
- Environment
- ICT Information and Communication Technologies
- Health
Businesses will be strengthened in order to upgrade through increasing investments for their technological and commercial modernization, adopting the use of ICT, increasing the degree of standardization and certification of products, developing qualitatively integrated services, improving the quality of products offered and services. At the same time, with the transfer of technology and know-how, it is expected to strengthen the capacities of the production potential and to achieve an increase in the competitiveness of SMEs.
Who does it concern?
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries of the Action "Upgrading very small & small enterprises for the development of their capabilities in new markets" are existing and new very small and small enterprises, which operate exclusively in one of the following forms: enterprises of a corporate/commercial nature (Society Anonyme, Limited Liability Company, Limited Partnership and I.K.E., Sole Proprietorship, Cooperatives, Social Cooperative Enterprise of Law 4019/2011-KOINSEP).
Eligible are:
- Existing businesses that are active in the 8 priority strategic sectors and keep B and C category books, which until 12/31/2015 have closed two or more management years or
- New businesses that are active in the 8 priority strategic sectors and do not fall into the above category of existing ones and have been incorporated until 31/12/2015
- They have until 31/12/2015 activity in at least one eligible NACE code and
- At the time of approval of the investment plan, they have the CAO that pertains to the investment plan, as long as this is different from the CAO(s), in which the company is already active.
Etymological interpretation for the SME category
A small business is defined as one that employs fewer than 50 workers and whose annual turnover or total annual balance sheet does not exceed 10 million Euros.
A very small business is defined as one that employs fewer than 10 workers and whose annual turnover or total annual balance sheet does not exceed 2 million Euros.
Program budget
Program budget
The budget amounts to the total amount of 130 million euros (Public Expenditure) and will be implemented through two (2) rounds of tendering:
1st cycle 2016: 60%
The budget of the present Action of the 1st cycle amounts to 78 million euros and is distributed among the Regions of the country as follows:
- North Macedonia & Thrace, Central Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, West Greece €48,840,000
- West Macedonia, Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, North Aegean, Crete 7,200,000
- Attica 16,800,000
- Central Greece 3,000,000
- South Aegean 2,160,000
2nd cycle 2nd semester 2016: 40%
Subsidy amount
Subsidy amount
For the program to upgrade very small, small businesses to develop their capabilities in new markets, the subsidy ranges from €15,000 to €200,000.
Funding covers 40% of eligible costs and is increased by 10%, reaching 50% in the case of hiring new staff.
The subsidized budget of each investment proposal of a potential aid beneficiary cannot exceed the turnover of the year 2015
Subsidized expenses
Subsidized expenses
When formulating the proposed subsidized equipment by the company, it is mandatory to link the requested expenses with the following categories of eligible expenses:
Buildings, facilities and surroundings up to 40%
- building works, electromechanical, and special installations in the areas of production, storage, disposal and business administration.
- Interventions to improve, upgrade and configure the environment.
Machinery – Equipment up to 90%
- Supply - transport installation of new modern machines and automation systems
- Business relocation expenses
- Purchase-repurchase-installation of equipment and systems for the protection of the environment
- Technological infrastructure upgrade - installation of new IT machines
- Cost of software licenses or service contract for up to one year from the time of supply
- Cost of adopting cloud computing services
- Costs for installation and any software configuration as well as software training costs.
Intangible Expenses up to 100% (up to 100,000 euros)
- Study and writing of manuals for the development and certification of management systems in the administrative, financial and production activities of companies by accredited bodies
- Certification and standardization of final products and services according to recognized standards
- New product label and packaging design
- Certification of building electromechanical installations - performance measurements and verification.
- Salary cost of existing staff
- Salary cost of newly hired staff
Important dates
Important dates
- Application period for the Action "Upgrading micro & small enterprises to develop their capabilities in new markets" from 7/4/2016 to 20/5/2016
- Start of expenditure eligibility: 11/02/2016
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Duration of Investment Plan Implementation
The deadline for completing the financed investments cannot exceed forty-two (42) months and one hundred and thirty-two (132) days in total from the date of issuance of the Incorporation Decision. In the event that the deadline defined above expires on a non-working day, it is extended until the first working day.
Exceptionally, especially and only for those investment projects whose date of issuance of the decision to join the Action is later than 11-06-2020, their completion deadline cannot exceed forty-two (42) months from the date of issuance of the Decision Integration.
When, based on the above defined durations of implementation of the investment projects, the predicted completion dates of the physical and financial object are later than 12-31-2023, then 12-31-2023 is defined as the final completion date.
Necessary supporting documents
Necessary supporting documents for submission
To see the necessary supporting documents for Existing Businesses click here
To see the necessary supporting documents for New Businesses click here
Useful files
Useful files
13/06/2019
Definitive List of Business Plans
11/12/2018
5th Amendment of the Decision on the Incorporation of State Aid Acts
10/12/2018
2nd Decision Rejecting State Aid Acts
05/12/2018
1st Decision Rejecting State Aid Acts
20/11/2018
4th Amendment of the Decision on the Incorporation of State Aid Acts
26/10/2018
3rd Amendment of the Decision on the Incorporation of State Aid Acts
22/03/2018
2nd Amendment of the Decision on the Incorporation of State Aid Acts
14/03/2018
1st Amendment of the Decision on the Incorporation of State Aid Acts
06/06/2016
4th Amendment of the Call for business plan funding applications
20/05/2016
3rd Amendment of the Call for business plan funding applications
13/05/2016
2nd Amendment to the Call for business plan funding applications
11/4/2016
1st Amendment of the Call for business plan funding applications.
11/2/2016
Call for Applications & Appendices