EIT MANUFACTURING ACCELERATE PROGRAM GRANTS TO SUPPORT, SCALING AND ACCELERATING THE TRANSFORMATION OF INDUSTRIAL STARTUPS IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article explores the grant opportunities of the EIT Manufacturing Accelerate Program to support, scale and accelerate the transformation of industrial startups in Ukraine. It is demonstrated that the Program focuses on such thematic areas as digitalization and automation, zero-energy industry, renewable energy, and circular economy. The study outlines the priority technologies, products, and solutions for the Program: industrial artificial intelligence, robotics, additive manufacturing, advanced materials, critical components, electronics, semiconductors, photonics, quantum computing, renewable energy, energy storage, and carbon capture. It is emphasized that the Program provides support to those start-up companies that: are at or above the level of technological readiness; are seeking funding or are already in the current round of funding; develop new products, services or solutions for manufacturing customers and have a business-to-business business model; have an innovative product or service that contributes to at least one of the strategic goals, thematic areas or priority technologies, products or solutions of EIT in the field of manufacturing; have a team that is responsible for the implementation of the EIT's strategic goals, thematic areas or priority technologies, products or solutions in the field of manufacturing; have a team that is responsible for the implementation of the EIT's strategic goals, thematic areas or priority technologies, products or solutions in the field of manufacturing. It is demonstrated that grants from the permanent grant competition with a budget of EUR 8,000,000 are available for Ukrainian industrial startups that meet all the eligibility criteria of the Program. It is emphasized that the financial support for this grant competition starts from EUR 50,000 and can reach up to EUR 500,000 for one startup company. The grant can be spent on a wide range of expenses, such as personnel costs, procurement of goods, raw materials, works and services, travel, accommodation and per diem expenses, depreciation of equipment, other goods and services, financial support from third parties, and indirect costs of up to 25% of the grant. To summarize: EIT Manufacturing Accelerate grant opportunities accelerate the launch and scaling of Ukrainian startups that solve the most important problems in the Ukrainian manufacturing sector and contribute to the creation of a high-growth European industrial sector.