Innovation Fund approves EUR 11.3 million for 55 innovative projects in Serbia

The Innovation Fund has announced that, in the second phase of the IPA project "Increased innovation capacity and growth of SMEs", it has approved financial support amounting to EUR 11.3 million for 55 projects of innovative companies.

It is added that, this way, the Innovation Fund, with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation, Ministry of Finance and the European Union, continues to play a key role in strengthening innovation capacities and enhancing the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia.

It is specified that the evaluation of 333 received applications resulted in support for 40 projects under the Mini Grants Program, 7 under the Matching Grant Program, and 8 under the Collaborative Grant Scheme Program. The innovative projects are supported with grant funding, and the Fund will also provide expert support to businesses to help them realize their full potential.

The EU Project, with a total value of EUR 20.6 million, has provided funding for 96 innovative projects through two public calls for proposals. It is added that significant results and successful commercialization of new products, services, and technologies are anticipated in the coming period.

Based on established statistics, the second public call for proposals has seen a dominance of innovations across various sectors from major cities in Serbia, focusing specifically on the IT sector.