INNOVA-FI – Financial Instruments for Innovation
In its assembly of March 2000, the European Council acknowledged the need of increasing the expenditure in innovation by implementing better policies and making a better use of public funds. To achieve this, the EC has put great emphasis on increasing the use of financial instruments (FIs) as a delivery tool for the Cohesion Policy. Besides the obvious advantages of recycling funds over the long term, financial instruments help to mobilise additional public or private co-investments to address market failures. Moreover, FIs (Guarantees, Business Angels, Venture Capital, Crowdfunding, Crowdlending) have also proved to be a useful tool in helping innovative SMEs overcome the ‘valleys of death’ and reach a sustainable growth phase to become ‘stock exchange listed’ companies.
Innova-FI goals
Financial Instruments for Innovation – Innova-FI partners are seeking to improve the design and implementation of Financial Instruments as a delivery mode of Structural Funds, so that they best meet and serve the financing needs of innovative and RTDI-driven businesses in all the stages of their start-up and growth. Innova-FI partners will do this by learning about the innovation landscape, and how it is being publicly financed, in partner regions. The consortium will examine together identified challenges, such as: designing FIs that are well adapted to the different phases of the business; moving away from a grants culture, very much established in the RTDI and innovation field; achieving a better alignment of FIs with other support measures; or creating cross-border instruments.
The expected results:
- 7 thematic workshops and 7 study visits
- 1 Joint peer learning
- 3 brochures for governments, compilation of case studies and recommendations
- 7 Action Plans
- 2 events in Brussels for the engagement of the regions outside the consortium
- 1 high-level conference in collaboration with the SERN (Start-Up Europe Regions Network)
- Participation in 12 external events for Innova-FI partners
The partnership is composed out of 8 partners. More specifically, those are:
- National Innovation Agency (Portugal)
- Regional Development Agency in Bielsko-Biała (Poland)
- IVACE, Valencia Institute for Business Competitiveness (Spain)
- Friuli Innovazione – Research and Technology Transfer Centre (Italy)
- Investment and Business Guarantees Ltd. (Lithuania)
- Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy (Slovenia)
- KEPA – Business and Cultural Development Centre (Greece),
- SERN – Startup Europe Regions Network (Βέλγιο)
More information is available at https://www.interregeurope.eu/innova-fi/
Project news: https://www.interregeurope.eu/innova-fi/news/