Two NSRF programmes for the digital transformation of SMEs, totalling €100 million. Euros are expected to be announced by the Ministry of Economy and Development later this week.

The programs concern the support of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises of all sectors both for their first digital steps and for their digital upgrade with a more likely date for their launch on May 25th.

According to Deputy Minister of Economy Alexis Charitsis, these actions are included in a series of targeted interventions that respond to the urgent need for digital transformation of Greek businesses. The calls that are expected to be issued within the week concern the actions "Digital Step" and "Digital Leap".

Digital Step

Digital Step for SMEs is a budget action 50 million euros, and the beneficiaries will be micro, small and medium-sized enterprises of all sectors.

The amount of the subsidy will be 50%. The evaluation process will be based on objective criteria and with the classification of businesses in four digital tiers.

The subsidized budget of each investment project ranges from € 7,000 to € 50,000.

A prerequisite for the participation of the potential beneficiary in the action will be to submit an investment plan that will lead him or her to at least one higher digital tier than that of the initial ranking, unless he or she has already been classified in the highest tier.

The eligible costs shall be the costs relating to the supply, transport, installation and operation of new machinery and other information and communication technology equipment necessary for the operation of the undertaking and the provision of services.

The equipment procured should be new, unmanageable and the property of the business. Costs relating to duties, taxes and charges shall not be eligible. Also, costs related to the supply of tablets, mobile phones and televisions are not considered eligible.

Also eligible will be any form of actions and costs related to the procurement of software and its configuration, under the following conditions:

• The supplied software must be new and the company must be the legal owner of its license
• The provision of support services is eligible up to one year from the time of supply
• The cost of configuring Software / Applications and training in their use is eligible up to 20% of the cost of purchasing the software / application. Please note that training costs are only eligible when included in the equipment supplier's invoice
• Expenditure on software development services made by the beneficiary's own means (software self-production) is not eligible.
• Software supply/use Services under "Software as a Service", "cloud computing" or the like are eligible

Where available on a subscription basis, the eligible expenditure shall cover only the period of time for the implementation of the investment project. In the case of purchasing application software aimed at a customer audience, care should be taken to accommodate access for persons with disabilities in accordance with applicable international standards.

In case the beneficiary chooses to implement an online store, this, in addition to being in at least two languages, must be mobile responsive and accompanied by the following software: ordering, warehouse and electronic payments. It should also be accessible to people with disabilities. Also eligible are any form of services provided by third parties relating to:

• Hosting (hosting, collocation, etc.)
• Internet connection
• Digital marketing services (google ads, facebook ads)
• Presence on Social media
• Development services of digital advertising material
• Translation services of the content of the online store
• Development and certification of digital security policy
• Data registration, data transformation or software customization services

Finally, the costs related to the preparation and monitoring of the investment project will also be eligible.

Digital Leap for SMEs

Regarding the Digital Jump for SMEs action, this will also have a budget of €50 million. The beneficiaries will be micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in all sectors. The subsidy will be 50% and the subsidized budget of each investment project will range from € 55,000 to € 400,000.

The potential beneficiary-enterprise should have been digitally upgraded by at least two tiers. Therefore, there should be a substantial change in its digital characteristics.

Excluded from the above obligation are businesses that are classified during the electronic submission of their application in the upper digital tier B, which will have to be digitally upgraded by one tier, as well as businesses that are classified in the highest digital tier. Eligible costs will include equipment, software, services, drafting and monitoring of the investment plan as in the Digital Step action.