Pan-European network of startup associations to support the integration of Ukrainian tech innovators into European ecosystems and to enhance their operations in Ukraine

1. Admissibility conditions:

Proposals must be submitted before the call deadline.

Proposals must be submitted electronically directly via the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the call topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section); or indirectly via the EIC Community Platform where applicants will be redirected to the Portal. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be readable, accessible, printable and complete (contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents) and must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Electronic Submission System.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the Submission System and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).

The page limits and sections subject to limits will be clearly shown in the application templates and must be respected. Excess pages will be automatically made invisible, and will not be taken into consideration by the evaluators.

In no circumstances can the same costs be financed twice by the budget (article 191 of the Financial Regulation). Applicants will be asked at a later stage for further documents (for legal entity validation, financial capacity check, bank account validation, etc.).

2. Eligible countries:

In order to be eligible for funding, the applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries:

• Member States (including overseas countries and territories or OCTs
• Eligible non-EU countries
  - countries associated to Horizon Europe (please see the Horizon Europe Programme Guide for up-to-date information on the current list of and the position for Associated Countries)
  - Low- and middle-income countries (see the Horizon Europe Programme Guide for a complete list of these countries)

Legal entities established in Ukraine may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action.

Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding when provided for in the specific call conditions, or their participation is considered essential for implementing the action.

3. Other eligibility conditions:

Consortium comprising at least three independent legal entities established in different Member States or Associated Countries and at least one legal entity established in Ukraine can submit proposals for this call.

Participation in this call is limited to: European organisations, national, regional and/or local authorities, innovation agencies, cluster organisations, accelerators, innovation hubs, incubators, technology parks, and/or any other representatives that lead initiatives/networks supporting the development of innovative startups and deployment of innovation.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion:

Financial capacity

The financial capacity check will be done on the basis of the documents you will be requested to upload in the Participant Register during grant preparation (e.g. profit and loss account and balance sheet, business plan, audit report produced by an approved external auditor, certifying the accounts for the last closed financial year, etc.). The analysis will be based on neutral financial indicators, but will also take into account other aspects, such as dependency on EU funding and deficit and revenue in previous years.

The check will normally only be done for the coordinator and if the requested grant amount is more than EUR 500 000, except for:

• public bodies (entities established as public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations, and
• cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low-value grant).

For more information, see Rules on Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment.

Operational capacity

The assessment of the operational capacity will be carried out during the evaluation of the award criterion ‘quality and efficiency of the implementation’, on the basis of the competence and experience of the applicants and their project teams, including its operational resources (human, technical and other) or, exceptionally, the measures proposed to obtain it by the time of the implementation of the tasks.

If the evaluation of this award criterion leads a score above the applicable threshold, then the applicants are considered to have sufficient operational capacity.

Public bodies, Member State organisations and international organisations are exempted from the operational capacity check.

Exclusion

Applicants that are subject to EU administrative sanctions (i.e. exclusion) or are in one of the following exclusion situations banning them from receiving EU grants can NOT participate:

• bankruptcy, winding up, affairs administered by the courts, arrangement with creditors, suspended business activities or other similar procedures (including procedures for persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts),
• they are in breach of social security or tax obligations (including if done by persons with unlimited liability for the applicant’s debts),
• they are guilty of grave professional misconduct (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant),
• they are guilty of fraud, corruption, having links to a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes (including terrorism financing), child labour or human trafficking (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision-making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant),
• they have shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations under an EU procurement contract, grant agreement or grant decision (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant),
• they are guilty of irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2988/95 (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant), or
• they have created under a different jurisdiction an entity with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin or created another entity with this purpose (including if done by persons having powers of representation, decision making or control, beneficial owners or persons who are essential for the award/implementation of the grant).

Applicants will also be refused if it turns out that:

• during the award procedure they misrepresented information required as a condition for participating or failed to supply that information, or
• they were previously involved in the preparation of the call and this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise (conflict of interest).