EEA & Norway grants statistics – Competition results Business Innovation Greece 2019

At, Winnovart, it is part of our mission to bring transparency in the grants-based market space. We do this in the funding areas and for the funding mechanisms we are working with. This is why we are introducing a very comprehensive analysis of the EEA & Norway grants statistics available so far (the business programmes operated by Innovation Norway). We believe this might be the most comprehensive analysis so far on the market and we trust this will enable you to make better decisions when applying for funding under this mechanism. 

Based on the competition results and other official statistics published by the Fund Operator, we are reviewing: the real level of budget allocation vs the initial budget announced for the competition; real budget allocation across the programme focus areas and funding streams; average funding intensities; projects distribution between focus areas and funding streams. The analysis presents data and conclusions that might be different to what the competition call and guidelines were presenting upon the programme launch. 

This is our analysis of the Business Innovation programme in Greece, 2019 competition, based on the final results published by the Fund Operator during 2020. 

1. Initial programme budget at the opening of this competition (2019)

The initial total budget for the programme call was 19 million euros. Out of this, only 31% (5.9 million euros) were awarded as grants to selected beneficiaries. A remaining 69% or 13 million euros of the total budget have not been awarded. 

2. Breakdown of approved and initial budget allocation by focus area

The budget for the Green Industry Innovation focus area was initially 8 million euros. 34% of this budget have been allocated/ awarded as grants to the selected beneficiaries. There are remaining 25.2 million euros (66% of the budget) that have not been awarded. 

The budget for the ICT focus area was initially 3 million euros. 43% of this budget have been allocated/ awarded as grants to the selected beneficiaries. There are remaining 1.7 million euros, or 57% of the total budget, that have not been awarded. 

The budget for the Blue Growth focus area was initially 8 million euros. 24% of this budget has been allocated/ awarded as grants to the selected beneficiaries. There are remaining 6 million euros, or 76% of the total budget, that have not been awarded. 

3. Breakdown of initial and approved budget allocation by focus area

Upon programme launch and opening of the call the total budget announced by the Fund Operator was approx. 19 million euros. The budget breakdown across the 3 programme focus areas (Green Industry Innovation, ICT, Blue Growth) was the following: 42% of the budget was allocated to Green Industry Innovation (8 million euros); 16% to ICT (3 million euros), 42% to Blue Growth (8 million euros).  

Budget spending across focus areas. 46% or 2.7 million euros, of the total approved budgets was allocated to Green Industry Innovation, while 22% or 1.3 million euros, of the total budget was allocated to ICT and 32% or 1.9 million euros of the total budget to Blue Growth. 

4. Breakdown of initial and approved budget allocation by funding stream

The programme allocated funding through 2 funding streams: the large grants scheme offering grants up to 2 million euros/ project, and the small grants scheme offering grants up to 200k euros/ project. The budget spending across these 2 funding streams: 96% or 6 million euros of the total budget approved were allocated to the large grants scheme; 4% or 0.3 million euros of the total approved budget were allocated to the small grants scheme. 

Initial budget allocation between the Small Grants Scheme (SGS) and the Large Grants Scheme (Individual Project Scheme – IPS): 81% of the budget (15.4 million euros) allocated to the IPS, 19% of the budget allocated to the SGS (3.6 million euros). 

5. Project count/distribution by focus area

16 projects in total were approved for this call. The Green Industry Innovation focus area had 4 projects approved, while the ICT focus area had 5 projects and Blue Growth had 7 projects approved. 

6. Project count/ distribution by funding stream

Of the 16 projects approved, 3 were part of the Small Grants Scheme while 13 of those were part of the Individual Project Scheme. 

7. Funding intensity analysis

The average funding intensity for the competition, by comparing the total value of approved grants vs. the total value of approved projects. This means that of the total approved grant value of the entire competition is 47% of the project value of the projects. The remaining 53% will be co-financed by the beneficiary companies, from own resources/ bank financing. 

Average funding intensity for Green Industry Innovation: 45% (total grants approved = 2.7 million vs. total value of selected projects = 6 million).

Average funding ICT: 49% (total grants approved = 1.3 million vs. total value of selected projects = 2.6 million).

Average funding intensity for Blue Growth: 47% (total grants approved = 1.9 million vs. total value of selected projects = 4.1 million).

Average funding intensity for the Individual Project Scheme: 47% (total grants approved = 5.7 million vs. total value of selected projects = 12.1 million).

Average funding intensity for the Small Grants Scheme: 37% (total grants approved = 0.2 million vs. total value of selected projects = 0.6 million).

8. Total application submissions vs approvals

Below is a chart detailing the total submissions by funding stream vs their approvals. The total number of submissions was 35 while only 16 were approved. 

Competition timeline, consistency and transparency profile 

For more details on the first call for proposals under the Business Innovation programme in Greece in 2019, read here.