North Aegean Region: Promotion of sales and mainly exports of small and medium enterprises

Strengthening the activities of the priority sectors of the regional Smart Specialization Strategy, as they are specialized for the North Aegean Region (prioritization of RIS3 of PBA), through the support existing, very small, small and medium companies of the North Aegean Region, for strengthening their extroversion.

The specific Action aims to:

  • The improvement of key indicators of competitiveness and extroversion of businesses
  • Improving the capabilities of businesses with the aim of joining international value chains.

The categories of actions that may be included in this type of actions refer to supporting existing SMEs with grants, in order to either increase their already realized sales, or to adjust their sales to foreign markets.

Each investment plan will be scored additionally if it is documented to be connected to at least one prioritization of the RIS3 of the North Aegean Region and the costs included in it serve it.

To whom is the Action of the North-Aegean Region

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ have been operating exclusively in one of the following forms: Société Anonyme, Limited Liability Company, Limited Partnership or Limited Partnership, IKE, sole proprietorship and Social Cooperative Enterprise of Law 4430/2016 as applicable, Marine Recreational Vessel Company (NEPA), Agricultural Cooperative.

Submission Period

From 16/9/2024 to 14/11/2024 (until 15:00)

The application for funding must be submittedonline through the Integrated Information System for State Aid Management (OPSKE) (https://app.opske.gr/) using the standard Application Form Funding (Indicative electronic submission form in Appendix I) and is accompanied by all the necessary justifications provided for in APPENDIX II “Submission/joining justifications”.

Type of reinforcement

Grant / Subsidy

Area of application, North Aegean Region

To be active or to be active in the Greek territory and to invest exclusively in the North Aegean Region.

Terms and Conditions

Existing means businesses that have at least 2 complete closed management years 2022-2023 before the date of electronic submission of the financing application.

Closed full management year, means the year for which the final financial result has been determined in accounting and the appropriate tax forms (e.g. forms E3 & N) have been submitted to the AADE and which has a duration of 12 months.

All the terms and conditions of participation are detailed in the Tender file (see Related files).

The subsidized budget of each investment project ranges from60,000 euros to 300,000 euros. 

The subsidized budget may not exceed three times the highest turnover achieved in one of the two full closed management years, before the date of submission of the funding application (2022-2023), with a maximum amount of 300,000 euros. 

Investment projects with a budget of less than 60,000 euros are considered ineligible from the beginning and cannot be submitted. 

In the event that the investment project has a budget greater than 300,000 euros, the excess amount is considered 100% private participation for the implementation of the project and although the excess costs are not subsidized, the object of evaluation and monitoring-control is the entire investment plan, including the excess costs. In any case, the final subsidized budget of the project cannot be less than the minimum limit of 60,000 euros. 

The public expenditure for all investment projects amounts to 50% of the subsidized budget, while the remaining amount is covered by private participation. To cover the private participation, the potential beneficiary can use own resources or even a loan.​​​​

What is funded

​Indicatively, the actions that will be supported by the North Aegean Region concern the following:

  • Elaboration of a business plan specifying the objectives of each SME
  • Looking for opportunities in new domestic and/or foreign markets through market research, participation in exhibitions, organization of trade/business missions
  • Strengthening their position in existing markets abroad, mainly through the expansion of their networks and partnerships, development of new products, with corresponding interventions in the equipment and production processes, primarily through the use of digital technology.
  • Upgrading the visibility of the products abroad through branding, establishing a quality mark of the products produced, participation in recognized international exhibitions, etc.

​​The eligible expenses are detailed in the file of the Tender (see Related files).

Budget of the Action of the North Aegean Region

4,000,000 euros

See the Call for Action here.