New COSME call European Cluster Excellence Programme

The European Commission has opened a new call under the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME). The available budget for the call European Cluster Excellence Programme - COS-CLUSTER-2018-3-02 is € 3,600,000. Deadline of submissions is April 4, 2019. The Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) expects to finance twelve projects. Funding is up to € 360,000 per project.

The grant is limited to a maximum reimbursement rate of 75% of eligible costs, except for financial support to third parties. For financial support to third parties the maximum amount of 100% reimbursement rate can be applied.

The overall objective of this action is to strengthen cluster management excellence and facilitate exchanges and strategic partnering between clusters and specialised eco-systems across Europe, including through implementing a new “ClusterXchange” pilot scheme. As high quality cluster management and strategic connections between clusters are key elements of world-class clusters, the action aims to foster SME competitiveness and assist companies to successfully access global markets by exploiting the innovation and growth potential that clusters can offer.

The specific objective is to enhance the collaboration, networking and learning of cluster organisations and their members towards the professionalization of specialised and customised business support services provided or channelled to SMEs. This shall further contribute to strengthen ties between European ecosystems across regional and sectoral silos with the view to support a sustainable inter-regional partnering process and joint actions for strategic collaboration in various industrial specialisation areas linked to industrial modernisation and improving their business environment.

For more information and documents please click here.

The COSME programme aims to make it easier for SMEs to access finance in all phases of their lifecycle - creation, expansion, or business transfer.