3rd call for small-scale projects
The 3rd call for small-scale projects made €100 million available for innovative small-scale clean tech projects. We received 72 applications, which are currently being evaluated against the five award criteria of the Innovation Fund: potential for greenhouse gases (GHG) emission avoidance, degree of innovation, project maturity, scalability, and cost efficiency.
| Event | Timing (expected) |
|---|---|
| Opening of the 3rd small-scale call | 30 March 2023 |
| Deadline to submit applications | 19 September 2023 – 17:00 CET |
| Publication of call results | 19 December 2023 |
| Grants award and Project Development Assistance (PDA) | Q2 2024 |
17 small-scale projects were selected for grant agreement preparation, covering a wide variety of sectors with a particular focus on ‘manufacturing of components for renewable energy’ and ‘glass, ceramics, and construction materials’. Projects in the areas of energy storage, solar energy, renewables, iron and steel, refineries, chemicals, cement and lime, and hydrogen are also included. The total grants requested amount to around EUR 65 million.
Rejected projects with the potential to improve their maturity will be invited for Project Development Assistance (PDA) by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Q2 2024.
2nd call for small-scale projects
The 2nd call for small-scale projects made €100 million available for innovative small-scale clean tech technology projects.
| Event | Timing (expected) |
|---|---|
| Opening of the 2nd small-scale call | 31 March 2022 |
| Deadline to submit applications | 31 August 2022 |
| Publication of call results and invitation for grant preparation | 12 December 2022 |
| Grants award and Project Development Assistance | Q2 2023 |
We received 66 applications. They were evaluated by external evaluators against the award criteria: potential for greenhouse gases (GHG) emission avoidance, degree of innovation, project maturity, scalability, and cost efficiency.
17 small-scale projects were selected for grant agreement preparation, covering a wide variety of sectors, from glass manufacturing to green hydrogen production and wind energy. The total grants allocated amounted to €62 million. In total, 16 projects successfully signed the grant agreements in the second quarter of 2023.
Rejected projects with the potential to improve their maturity will be invited for Project Development Assistance (PDA) by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The list of projects awarded project development assistance was announced in the second quarter of 2023.
1st call for small-scale projects
The 1st call for small-scale projects opened with a budget of €100 million for breakthrough technologies in renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage. The emphasis was on innovative projects ready for commercial deployment (for instance, delivering installations to a customer in a new market segment). Apart from the main sectors, three key activities were encouraged:
- products that substitute carbon-intensive ones
- net carbon removal innovations
- direct air capture.
| Event | Timing |
|---|---|
| Opening of the 1st small-scale call | 1 December 2020 |
| Deadline to submit applications | 10 March 2021 |
| Publication of call results and invitation for grant preparation | Mid July 2021 |
| PDA award decision | November 2021 |
| Grant award decisions | November-December 2021 |
The call received 232 applications for innovative clean tech projects in all sectors, from all EU countries, Iceland and Norway.
Of these, 32 applicants were invited to start the grant preparation process., and eventually, 30 projects signed their grant agreements.
10 rejected proposals which met the minimum requirements set in the call for proposals and were considered by the evaluators to have the potential to improve their maturity received PDA, provided by the EIB.
Following the 1st small-scale call for projects, we ran a survey among applicants to gather feedback on the application process and improve it.
Find out more
Following the 1st calls for large-scale and small-scale projects, we published best practices for applicants and calls key statistics.
For more information about awarded projects, have a look at our Innovation Fund projects factsheets.
To review the previous calls’ texts and documentation, you may visit the Funding and Tenders Portal. All award decisions are available on our Legal framework page.
More information is also available on our executive agency website, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).