Support of the startups registered under “Elevate Greece” for the confrontation of COVID 19
About this good practice
The Action (deployed in 2 cycles) supports the companies affected by COVID in the form of non-refundable aid (working capital), so that they remain viable, and jobs are not lost, taking into account the adverse conditions of the crisis COVID-19 and the prolonged outbreak of the disease.
The development of the initiative is being coordinated by the General Secretariat for Research & Innovation (GSRI), while its implementation is managed by the Managing Authority of the Operational Programme “Competitiveness – Entrepreneurship – Innovation”.
The beneficiaries of the Action are startup innovative SMEs, registered in the National Startup Registry “Elevate Greece”.
The public funding covers working capital up to 80% of the company's expenses for the reference year with a minimum grant amount of 5,000 euros and a maximum of 100,000 euros.
The application for funding is submitted electronically to the State Aids IT System.
The evaluation of submitted funding applications is done in order of priority (first in-first out). There is no grading of the applications but only verification of compliance with the participation conditions.
Resources needed
• 60 million euros (1st cycle) + 34 million euros (2nd cycle)
• Co-Funded by ERDF and React EU
• Implemented under the Operational Programme “Competitiveness – Entrepreneurship – Innovation” 2014-2020
Evidence of success
• 2 cycles of implementation
• 60 startups were approved for funding out of the 72 applied in total under the 1st call
• In programmes like this, funds are completely absorbed
• The Action reassures the viability and continuous operation of startups
Potential for learning or transfer
Start-up innovative SMEs are a dynamic and promising part of the Greek economy, being Innovation and/or Research – oriented, with a high positive impact on the economic development of the country as well as on its transition to a new production model. At the same time, they try to maintain existing jobs and to create new ones, for highly qualified personnel - if possible -, so as to contribute to countering the brain drain effect. The start-up innovative SMEs face lack of liquidity and significant losses are incurred due to the impact of the measures to limit the spread of the COVID‐19 disease.
The primary objective of this Action is to provide targeted public support, in order to ensure that there will be sufficient liquidity in the market to deal with the effects of the COVID‐19 disease.
This whole already tested and easy-to-manage model could be easily transferred to any other country.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.