INNOVA-FI - Financial Instruments for Innovation

Innova-FI – Financial Instruments for Innovation is a project funded by the Interreg Europe programme, aims at strengthening the use of financial instruments as delivery mode of EU structural funds.

The project has the twofold objective of improving the effective use of public funds and of facilitating the access to finance for innovative SMEs. The use of financial instruments can contribute to overcome the culture of grants, which is often the most used type of intervention, with the obvious advantage of recycling funds over long term. Additionally, the use of financial instruments may help the innovative SMEs to overcome the “valley of death” and reach a phase of sustainable growth. Financial instruments (Guarantees, Business Angels, Venture Capital, Crowdfunding, Crowdlending) can help to mobilize additional public or private co-investment increasing the available capital and ensure greater commitment by project promoters to the quality and credibility of the investment plan by sharing the risk involved.

Project activities are aimed at designing financial instruments adapted to the different phases of the business (from early stage to a sustainable growth phase), at achieving a better integration of financial instruments with other support measures and at creating-cross border instruments to achieve synergies between funds.
 

Partners

• National Innovation Agency, Portugal (lead partner)
• IVACE Valencia Institute for Business Competitiveness, Spain
• Startup Europe Regions Network (SERN), Belgium
• Friuli Innovazione Research and Technology Transfer Centre, Italy
• Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Slovenia
• Regional Development Agency in Bielsko-Biała, Poland
• Business and Cultural Development Centre, Greece
• Investment and Business Guarantees Ltd, Lithuania

Activities

• Mapping of the financial instruments used in the partner regions
• Organization of thematic workshops hosted by each partner (Exchange of Experience)
• Involvement of regional stakeholders (ESIF managing authorities, fund managers, private co-investors) in the interregional activities and in the local meetings
• Implementation of 7 regional action plans with mobilization of the relevant stakeholders
• Drafting of 3 policy booklets for governments presenting the results of the thematic workshops and recommendations