The theme of this session is the question “What makes a call for proposals in a funding programme an SME friendly one?”. After years of engagement of the 3As to get SMEs involved into calls, it is now time  to check the status.

As new funding instruments are taking off this year, EFECS 2021 is the right moment to recalibrate expectations and fine tune call parameters to make the upcoming calls for the next years as “friendly” as possible for SMEs with the goal to increase their participation, project impact and business success as essential ingredient to the future success of the European economy and society.

Members of the three Industry Associations AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS are invited to share their views on this question based on their experiences in different European projects. The SME Survey executed in 2018 showed that SMEs are not a homogenous group, but have different needs and expectations. Therefore, SMEs from different parts of the ECS value chains are invited to share their views and discuss their thoughts.

The session will start with the views from the invited SME representatives on the theme based on their experience from participation in projects, including their views on TRL levels, the optimal size of a project, the key success factors and the impacts projects had on developing their business.

A panel session with the speakers and additional guests will follow, to exchange views and ideas and summarize the answers on the question of the theme.