“Innovation Norway” programe

Norway allocates EUR 2 million in grant funding for Bulgarian startups

Each project can receive 85% of the value for free

If you are an innovative start-up and develop “green” products or services or offer solutions related to improving the quality of life of elderly or disabled people, you can get grant funding for your ideas from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021. The specific call is for “Support for start-ups”.

The first condition for applicants is that they are a micro- or small enterprise with up to 49 employees, which was registered as a legal entity in Bulgaria in the period November 18, 2017 – May 18, 2021. There are also several other conditions:

• the company is not listed on the stock exchange
• to have distributed profit
• the company is not formed through a merger
• the company was economically active in 2020.

The total budget of the procedure is 2 million euros, and the project can be worth between 6 thousand and 94 thousand euros, 85% of which can be provided free of charge by the program.

The call supports projects in two priority areas:

• Innovations for the green industry – a budget of 1.5 million euros – for the development, implementation and investment in innovative “green” technologies, goods, services or production processes.
• Technologies of well-being – a budget of 500 thousand euros – to develop, implement and invest in innovative technologies helping the elderly and people with disabilities to become more independent and self-reliant; developing products, services and solutions to meet the social and health challenges of an ageing society; developing, implementing and investing in technological solutions to support staff who provide or perform social services.

The developments supported by the call must start from a minimum of technological readiness level 5 (TRL 5 – Technology validated in a relevant environment) and at the end of the project reach level 8 (Completed and certified system).

The partnership for the implementation of the projects is not mandatory but can be with any private or public legal entity from Bulgaria or Norway, commercial or not. A partnership with an organisation from Norway that contributes to the project’s goals brings extra points to the evaluation.

This is a business programme, therefore the projects are required to lead to an increase in the applicant’s competitiveness/economic growth and to an increase in revenue and profit, for which estimated calculations are provided.

Expenditures are eligible for:

• Purchase of new or used equipment
• Salary expenses – research activities and project management
• Staff travel and per diem expenses
• Consumables
• Intangible assets (copyrights, software, etc.)
• Consulting services (legal services; training costs aimed at certification, etc.)
• Overheads

This procedure stands out for its efficiency – the expected period for evaluating the received project proposals is only 2-3 months, and the activities on the approved projects are planned to start in March 2022 and be completed by the end of 2023.