SUAVE #1st call for proposals

1ST CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR EUROPEAN SMES

OPENING DATE: 28th March 2023 - 14:00 h CET

CALL DEADLINE: 30th May de 2023 - 15.00 h CET

CALL BUDGET: 715.000 €

EXPECTED PROJECT DURATION: 8 months

SUBMISSION AND EVALUATION PROCESS

Guide for applicants can be downloaded from the following link: GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS. Please note that it will also be available in each consortium partner website and in SUAVE's social medias page (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook).

Applicants must submit their applications through the Good Grants at the following link https://suave.grantplatform.com and fill in the online application form as per open call.

Submitted applications will be assessed by the Application Review Panel consisting of 2 reviewers per application representing two SUAVE partners not located in the country of the applicant. In addition to the SUAVE partners, the consortium might request the review from external reviewers. If the evaluation varies significantly from an evaluator to another, an additional evaluation will be requested. The assessment period shall take a maximum of 60 days starting from the closing date of the call. The applicants will receive an email about the outcome of the assessment directly after the assessment is finalised along with instructions for the next steps in case the applicant is awarded. Top ranked proposals will be granted until the budget for the respective support type is exhausted. The successful applicants will be requested to sign a sub-grant agreement with the SUAVE consortium within 60 days after the announcement of the result.

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the EXCELLENCE, IMPACT and IMPLEMENTATION of each proposal that successfully passed the admissibility and eligibility criteria. The maximum score in each section is 10. he minimum total evaluation score for a project to be funded is 18

FURTHER INFORMATION

The general objective of SUAVE is to financially support European Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the field of European Urban Agriculture so that they have the opportunity to benefit from different types of support services.

Thanks to project activities, European SMEs will be able to:

• build network to improve their resilience and business models
• innovate via grants to develop new solutions and practices for sustainable and resilient urban food systems
• accelerate twin transition towards green and digital economy
• increase competences by trainings for upskilling, networking and learning activities
• expand globally, access to third markets and generate growth from international activities by participating in international missions to targeted markets: Canada, USA and Mexico

SUAVE will assist European SMEs to answer to the following challenges identified for the Urban Agriculture SMEs activities in Europe:

1.  Diversification of products/service/contents based on digital technologies in the European urban farming sector;
2. Supporting the green transition of the European urban farming value chain; 
3. Bridging the skill-gaps in the European urban farming workforce and supporting a bigger participation of women; 
4. Increasing business opportunities through internationalisation and synergies along and across value-chains.

APPLICANTS MUST:

A) Be an European  SME (employing less than 250 persons with an annual turnover of up to EUR 50 million, or a balance sheet total of no more than EUR 43 million) as per the definition of the European Union in line with the EU recommendation 2003/361.

AND

B) provide services, products, supplies, and technologies for the European Urban Agriculture food system

AND

C) be directly or indirectly linked to at least one of the following types of urban agriculture:

1. Allotment garden
2. Aquaponics
3. Backyard garden
4. Community garden
5. Cultural heritage farm
6. Educational farm/garden
7. Environmental farm
8. Experimental farm
9. Family garden
10. Forest garden
11. Greenhouse garden
12. Greenwalls
13. Hydroponics
14. Indoor farming
15. Intercultural garden
16. Leisure farm
17. Local food farm
18. Rooftop garden
19. Rooftop greenhouse
20. Social farm
21. Squatter garden
22. Therapeutic farm/garden
23. Urban beekeeping
24. Vertical farm/garden

Applicants must also fall under the territorial scope of SUAVE: 

• All EU countries, and non-EU countries which are associated with the COSME part of the Single Market Programme are eligible and EU acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates (Iceland,Norway, Liechtenstein, Ukraine) 
• Are also invited to apply, SMEs from Outermost Regions of Europe and from less developed and transition regions as indicated in the EU 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy (GDP per capita < 75% EU-27 average: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/RCI/#?vis=nuts2.economy&lang=en

Applications and supporting documentation must be written in English and must not exceed the maximum number of characters stated in each text box of the template.

SUAVE first calls covers 3 types of Lump Sum:

• Innovation (awarding 25 SMEs with a max. Financial contribution of 20 000 euros per SME): Deployment of a new-to firm products and/or technology. implementation of projects for the development and deployment of prototypes having a minimum of level 4 of CRL 
• Travel (awarding 25 SMEs with a max. financial contribution of 1000 euros per SME): Participation in European Urban Agriculture relevant business mission in Europe
• Diagnosis (awarding 30 SMEs with a maximum of 5000 euros per SME): Analysis carried out to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the SME and keys of improvement in terms of digitalization and/or green transition

Per cada activitat, a la PIME se li requerirà la presentació de lliurables tècnics, tal i com es descriu en la GUIA PER ALS SOL·LICITANTS

SUAVE first calls will also grant prizes for 3 European SMEs. The prizes will reward services and products showing advances and improvements for the European Urban Agriculture food system.

The maximum amount to be granted per SME shall not exceed €60 000. Each interested SME can apply to one or several types of support in accordance with its goal,

Follow @SUAVE | UrbanAgriculture and register for the info sessions, which will be availablein April in English, French, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Spanish and Polish!

#SUAVEeuroclusters #SUAVEurbanagriculture #SUAVEgreenanddigital #sustainable #resilient #circular #urbangreenspaces #innovation #internalisation #upskilling #training #networking #EISMA #DGGROW #ECCP #SMEs #Entrepreneurship #urbanagriculture #greentransition #digital #innovation #project #urbanfarming #european