Impact Funding Resources
IraSME enables consortia of SMEs and RTOs (not mandatory) from at least two participating countries to work together in transnational R&D projects. As a growing network of several national/regional funding authorities, IraSME issues calls for proposals for transnational cooperative research projects between SMEs and RTOs twice a year. The objective is to develop innovative products, processes or technical services which exceed the existing state of the art. The calls follow a bottom-up approach, i.e. research topics are not pre-defined but chosen by the applicants themselves. Funding is made available through national and regional programmes.
Start Date02 Jun 2025 End Date24 Sep 2025 Funding AmountUpto EUR 160k Funding Resource TypeGrant
Funding ProviderIraSME
Grant
IraSME
Projects need to fulfil the rules of the corresponding national/regional funding programmes
https://www.ira-sme.net/countries-regions/
All project partners submit one jointly prepared IraSME proposal application form together. The proposal describes the whole transnational project, which is made up of two or more national sub-projects. At the same time every partner files their national/regional application according to the corresponding national/regional funding programmes. The proposals are evaluated seperately in a synchronised procedure by the funding agencies involved. If a project is approved for funding by all, each partner receives a grant from their national/regional funding agency.
Eligibility criteria vary between the IraSME member countries/regions. Some members fund SMEs according to the EU definition, some members fund only smaller companies or include larger companies as well. Research organisations (RTOs) are generally only eligible if cooperating with at least one eligible company from the same country/region. In many cases, RTOs may join IraSME consortia as subcontractors only, in other countries RTOs may act as project partners and file their own application. Please consult the programme information and contact details of the relevant funding agencies in the Countries/Regions section.
Generally, IraSME projects have to be research and development activities with significant technical risks to realise new or notably improve existing products, processes or technical services. The clearly describable project outcome has to show real market opportunities.
Consortia of IraSME projects are as small as possible and as large as necessary. They consist of at least two SMEs from two different participating countries/regions with complementary technical expertise needed to realise the project aim. In addition, RTOs are welcome to participate in those projects, either as subcontractors or as equal partners, depending on each country’s funding rules. Partners from non-participating countries or partners that are not eligible for funding in the national/regional programmes (e.g. large companies) may also join the project consortium, if they are able to finance their part on their own or manage to get funded in another way.
Every partner in the consortium has to have a distinct part in the development (no redundancies!) according to their technical expertise.
