Horizon 2020 SME instrument impact report

The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME) has published its Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Impact Report entitled “Innovation Kitchen”. The report offers insights into growth trends and profiles of the companies funded under the SME Instrument. The report presents cumulative data from 2014 to the end of 2017.

Since its start in 2014 47,000 project applications have been submitted, 3200 SMEs from 37 countries were funded with a total investment of € 1.3bn and 750 of international business coaches were employed. Almost half of the funding has been earmarked for companies operating on the market for less than 5 years, so called start-ups.

When comparing to the other parts of the H2020, the main difference is the ongoing open call with four cut-off dates per year. Each euro investment through the SME Instrument generated of € 1.6 of private investment and by 2020 the European Commission expects the increase of the leverage effect to € 4.8. The main problem of the tool is its oversubscription and the resulting low success rates - 8localhost Phase 1 and 4.8localhost Phase 2.

Since 2018, the SME instrument has become a part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot.

The report is available here.