Source of Funding: Funds and Programmes Division (FPD), Office of the Prime Minster, European Funds, Equality, Reforms and Social Dialogue (OPM – EES)

The Innovation Fund is the EU’s flagship climate policy initiative that focuses on supporting energy and industrial projects that contribute to Europe’s transition to climate neutrality. It aims to bring to the market solutions to decarbonise European industry and support its transition to climate neutrality while fostering its competitiveness.

The Innovation Fund focuses on highly innovative* technologies and flagship projects within Europe that can bring about significant emission reductions. The projects need to be sufficiently mature in terms of planning, business model and financial and legal structure.

The Innovation Fund is open to public and private legal entities. In general projects must be located in EU Member States or EEA countries (i.e. Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein).

*The Innovation Fund aims to support projects that go beyond incremental innovation. There are varying degrees of innovation ranging from breakthrough (such as completely new technologies, processes, business models, products or services which are likely to lead to significant change that transforms entire markets or industries or creates new ones) to intermediate (such as new or considerably changed technologies or processes or business models for the production or delivery of existing or new products or services).

Further details about what constitutes ‘innovation’ under this Fund can be found in Annex 1 of the call text: "Innovation Fund call 2024 Net Zero Technologies"

Calls for Proposals
On December 3, 2024, the European Commission launched two funding calls under the Innovation Fund:

• IF24 Call: €2.4 billion allocated for Net-Zero technologies.
• IF24 Battery: €1 billion allocated for electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing.
• Eligible categories:
  1. Energy intensive industries
  2. Carbon capture and utilisation
  3. Carbon capture and storage
  4. Renewable energy and battery storage

Eligible entities: Public and private legal entities

Geographical Location: EU Member State or EEA countries

The deadline for submission of Innovation Fund applications is April 24, 2025.

Orientation Dialogues for Applicants
To support potential applicants, the European Commission’s DG CLIMA and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) are offering one-to-one and high-level orientation dialogue sessions in the first half of February 2025.

The orientation dialogues will be 25-minute sessions offering high-level guidance on the Innovation Fund. These sessions will focus on helping applicants understand the framework of the fund, discuss potential project outlines, and address general queries related to the call for proposals.

Project specific questions must be avoided and will not be answered during the orientation dialogue. Such questions can only be answered via the official helpdesk. This is important to ensure equal treatment of all applicants.

Please note that the orientation dialogues cannot pre-judge the outcome of the official evaluation procedure.

The Funds and Programmes Division (FPD), Office of the Prime Minster, European Funds, Equality, Reforms and Social Dialogue (OPM – EES), is inviting expressions of interest from organisations wishing to participate in the orientation dialogues.

Interested applicants are required to complete and submit a detailed questionnaire outlining their project. Access the questionnaire, and submissions must be made by February 5, 2025.

Interest in participation in orientation dialogues is assessed according to eligibility and level of maturity of project proposals. While only eligible and sufficiently advanced projects will be considered for participation in the orientation dialogues, early-stage projects are still encouraged to apply. These projects will receive tailored guidance from the FPD or SEM on alternative funding opportunities.

Interested applicants will be notified of the result by COB February 7, 2025.

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Source of Funding: Xjenza Malta

The Go To Market Accelerator Programme is designed to support the final stages of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) advancements, helping innovators deploy their product or service into operational environments. This grant facilitates optimization, verification, and validation activities, ensuring that prototype-stage innovations are ready for real-world applications.

Programme Overview

• Target TRL: From TRL 5-6 to TRL 7-8
• Funding: Up to €150,000
• Project Duration: 24 months

The programme supports projects that build on previous development efforts to complete the innovation’s development cycle.

Eligibility & Requirements

Applicants must first complete a Feasibility Study under the Commercialisation Voucher Programme (CVP). This includes:

1. Intellectual Property Check: Identifying novel elements of the technology.
2. Commercial Viability Test: Assessing market research and economic impact.

Feasibility Study Details:

• Value: €14,000 (excluding VAT)
• Duration: 16 weeks
• Support: Conducted with Xjenza Malta’s pre-approved service providers.

Important Dates

• Online Information Session:
  Monday, 3rd February 2025 at 10:00 CET
  Register here
• Submission Deadline:
  Friday, 14th March 2025, by 23:59 CET

Visit the below link to download application form and guidelines.

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Source of Funding: Xjenza Malta

Xjenza Malta is receiving proposals under the Horizon Internationalisation Partnership Award Scheme (HIPAS). The Scheme will support Maltese eligible entities intending to submit a Horizon Europe proposal (including Partnerships indicated in the Scheme Rules), as a Coordinator entity to engage a service provider (local or foreign) who will be supporting the applicant entity through proposal writing and submission. The support is limited to € 8,000. More details can be seen the rules.

Interested Applicants are to submit their application form electronically to horizon.malta@gov.mt keeping Lili Kankaya lili.vasileva@gov.mt in copy with “HIPAS – Application 2025” as a subject heading. The call will be open throughout the year (until 7th November 2025) with the following cut offs:

• 15 April 2025
• 27 June 2025
• 7 November 2025 (final deadline)

Visit the below link to download application forms and guidelines.

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Source of Funding: Cascade Funding Hub

Visit the below link to view the 21 funding opportunities on Cascade Funding portal, an instrument by the European Commission. 

Please note that these calls have different deadlines within the month of January 2025.

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The applications for our much-anticipated Cohort 4.0 are now open in Malta! This is your chance to accelerate your journey with an equity-free program designed to elevate your project within the EdTech sector.

Why Malta?
Malta offers a thriving ecosystem backed by strong EU funding opportunities and an innovative community that supports growth and development.

Join Our Strong EdTech Ecosystem
Become a part of a vibrant network that fosters collaboration and innovation.

EU Backed Funding Opportunities
Access to exclusive funding opportunities supported by EU initiatives to help fuel your growth.

Team Expansion Grants
Receive grants aimed at helping you scale your team and expand your operations efficiently.

R&D Packages
Take advantage of tailored R&D packages designed to boost your product development and research capabilities.

The application process takes approximately 30 minutes.

You can either:

1. Start the application now
*You can complete it within 7 days using the same browser

2. Filling in the short form to register your interest link

Application Deadline: 09th December, 2024
Interviews: Ongoing
Programme Start: April, 2025

SuperCharger's application is a competitive process. If you are not selected, you will also hear from us on how our ecosystem can help you.

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Source of Funding: Xjenza Malta

The Technology Extension Support Programme (TESP) is a funding programme targeted at the private sector to provide financial support for incremental product or process improvement through the collaboration with higher education institutions (HEIs).

The aims of this programme are to:

• Foster private entity-higher education institutes partnerships in a low-risk environment.
• Expose private companies to R&I related activities and bridge the gap towards more intensive initiatives.
• Involve more the Higher Education Institutes in the industry, leading to novel ideas which could be developed.
• Increase economic output by supporting industrial activities.
• Bridge the gap between academia and industry.

Local Maltese entities are eligible for funding up to a maximum grant amount of €100,000. It is to be noted that since an aim of this programme is collaboration, the HEI in collaboration with the private entity will receive a minimum of 40% and maximum of 50% of the grant amount.

An online information session with more details on the TESP will be held on Tuesday 26th November 2024. To register for this info session kindly follow this link.

All projects are evaluated by a selection panel set up by Xjenza Malta on the basis of evaluation criteria outlined in the Call text. Interested Applicants are to submit the below documentation electronically rtdi.xjenzamalta@gov.mt by the 27th January 2025 at 23:59 CET keeping in copy Ms Giulia Aquilina at giulia.aquilina@gov.mt. All received applications shall be acknowledged by email. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

For further information please contact:

Ms Giulia Aquilina at giulia.aquilina@gov.mt (+356) 2360 2197  and/or Mr Stephen Borg at stephen.i.borg@gov.mt (+356) 2360 2208.

Visit the below link to download guidelines and application forms.

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Source of Funding: Xjenza Malta

Xjenza Malta is receiving proposals under the Research Networking Scheme (RNS). The Scheme consists of two components, the Networking Scheme and the Open Access Journal Support. Applicants are to fill in the appropriate sections of the form; they may select one of the components or both:

Networking Scheme: opportunities for collaborative initiatives (i.e., conferences, strategic academic visits, etc.) between Maltese entities and at least one foreign entity of proven track record of excellence. Proposals should describe the nature of the joint activities that would be funded through the Award. Applicants are to demonstrate how the proposed activities contribute towards and align with achieving the goals of the National R&I Strategy, and to describe the potential of any activities to become self-sustaining or generate longer-term outcomes. The amount of the Award under the Networking Scheme is up to €8000

Open Access Journal Support: this opportunity will support researchers who have already benefited from Xjenza Malta research grants to publish their research on a peer reviewed open access journal. The amount of the Award under the Open Access Journal Support is up to €4000

All projects are evaluated by a selection panel set up by Xjenza Malta on the basis of evaluation criteria outlined in the Call text. Interested Applicants are to submit their application form electronically to networking.xjenzamalta@gov.mt keeping in copy Dr. Alessandra Loria at alessandra.loria@gov.mt with “RNS – Application 2024 Call 2” as subject heading. The deadline for submission is Friday 8th November 2024 at 11.30pm. The application must be dated and signed by the applicant and the legal representative. All received applications shall be acknowledged by email. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

An online information session with more details on the RNS call 2 will be held on Wednesday, 9th October 2024 at 10.00am. To register for this info session kindly press HERE. Additional information can be found in the documents attached to this call. Alternatively, interested parties may contact Dr. Alessandra Loria on 23602111.

Call Deadline: 8 November 2024

Download application forms and guidelines from the below link.

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Source of Funding: Women TechEU

Women TechEU is a 2-year EU-funded project supporting women leading deep tech startup companies from Europe.

Our mission is to create a more gender-balanced entrepreneurship ecosystem. We believe that diversity drives innovation, and we are here to provide women in deep tech with more opportunities, resources, and support to thrive.

The project consortium is launching 4 calls for applications over the span of 2 years which, following a rigorous evaluation process, will result in a total of 160 beneficiaries. Each beneficiary will receive €75k grants (non-dilutive finance) as well as a personalised business development programme which includes mentoring, coaching and targeted training among other options.

Visit the below link to read further.

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Source of Funding: InvestGozo

Scheme provides for a partial salary reimbursement of up to €8,000 per annum for a period of 3 years (for a total grant of up to a maximum of €24,000) and for a partial reimbursement of training costs of up to €1,500 per annum for a period of 3 years for each employee working within specific knowledge-intensive economic sectors based in Gozo.

Description

The Supporting Knowledge-Based Sectors in Gozo scheme will target the knowledge-intensive economic sectors. Aid provided under this scheme is in the form of partial reimbursement of salaries for full-time employment on an indefinite basis:

1. either of newly employed staff based in Gozo; or
2. staff already employed with the same undertaking uninterruptedly as from 1st January 2018 onwards. Eligibility is restricted to employees for which their employer has already benefitted from the full 3-year cycle under the Gozo Employment Refund Scheme or Gozo Back-Office Employment Refund Scheme. 

This scheme focuses on assisting and sustaining the transition into a more knowledge-based economy, by seeking to develop and attract higher value-adding sectors that will enhance Gozo’s sustainability and investment diversification.

As opposed to traditional economy sectors where the production of goods and services is the primary objective, the knowledge economy has as its main aim the creation and dissemination of knowledge and information – mostly through research, analysis, and development. These in turn often become the primary resources for innovation in products and services. In the knowledge economy human capital i.e., the skills, knowledge, and experience of an organisation’s workforce, is an essential asset. Enterprises operating in the knowledge-based industries must constantly strive to identify and recruit employees with the necessary skills and abilities, provide ongoing training and development opportunities, and create an overall positive work culture that attracts and retains the best talent to remain competitive and stay ahead in these rapidly evolving sectors.

Beneficiaries

The Supporting Knowledge-Based Sectors in Gozo scheme targets knowledge-intensive economic sectors falling under the NACE code categories listed below:

• J58.2 – Software Publishing
• J62 – Computer Programming, consultancy, and related activities
• J63.1 – Data processing, hosting, and related activities
• K – Financial and insurance activities
• M69 – Legal and accounting activities
• M70 – Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
• M71 – Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis
• M72 – Scientific research and development
• M74.1 – Specialized design activities
• R92 – Gambling and betting activities

 The beneficiaries of this scheme will be the Employer, having a registered address from where operations are carried out, subject to compliance with the terms and conditions of the scheme as stated in the Guidance Notes.

Visit the below link to read further.

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Source of Funding: CORTEX2

CORTEX2 are looking for XR innovators, from companies (tech startups/SMEs) to research institutions (universities, NGOs, foundations, associations), to co-develop our CORTEX2 platform.

Our goal? To deliver an inclusive XR teleconference platform while involving organisations in the ‘Lab-To-Market’ stage that will bring new modules and features, enhancing the functionalities and opportunities CORTEX2 can provide.

In total, we will invest €1M in our Open Call #2 to fund and support 10 teams that will be part of our journey.

The call is open from 13 July 2024 to 15 August 2024 at 17:00 CET. All applications will be evaluated by external experts.

Applicants must be based in an EU or Horizon Europe-associated country, and their applications must be submitted in English through the F6S platform.

Visit the below link to read further.

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