CircInWater Euroclusters project is launching its Knowledge Lump Sum call, which is meant for an individual SME that is offering water-smart solutions, especially for the agrifood & energy-intensive industries. The Knowledge lump sum is willing to boost SMEs’ development or growth by facilitating access to external training or consultancy services on strategic issues based, at least, one of the following activities:

1. Market development & Business strategy
   • Access private finance
   • Market studies
   • Business model for innovative solutions
   • Development of green business models
   • Business process improvements
   • Technical, economic and environmental assessment (incl. Life Cycle Analysis)
   • Marketing
2. Concept creation & development
   • Green and digital transition
   • R&D/Prototype/demonstration
   • Resilience preparedness / business continuity plan
   • Feasibility study in the fields of CircInWater (Water-smart solutions in agrifood and energy intensive industry)
3. Internationalisation
   • Export funding
   • Compliance verification
   • Finding local/international partners
   • Market studies in target countries
   • Definition of an internationalisation strategy
4. Other
   • Intellectual property
   • ICT consultancy 
   • CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
   • Up / re-skilling and attracting talents for SME
   • Human resources
   • Cyber security

Eligible participants:

• be an SME according to the SME definition of the EU;
• be established in one of the eligible countries (see the Guide for Applicants available in the CircInWater submission platform);
• be a member of a cluster organisation registered on the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP);
• not request for more than €60 000 within CircInWater lump sum schemes (innovation, knowledge, internationalisation).

Call requirements and timeline

The applications must be submitted using the Application Form in the CircInWater submission platform. Before starting the submission process, applicants should read the Guide for Applicants available on this platform.

Applications will be evaluated continuously and selected on the basis of “first come first served”, i.e., applications will be evaluated in the order in which they are received. The call will remain open until the exhaustion of the budget and before 02 October 2024, 17:00 CET at the latest.

Only those proposals fulfilling all eligibility criteria and completing all mandatory fields in the application form will be considered eligible. However, the proposal must be considered eligible to continue and finalise the submission process in the platform.

 The timeline for the submission, evaluation, and implementation is as follows:

• 07 June 2023: Opening of the call
• 02 October 2024: Latest date for the closure of the call (in case of call budget is not already exhausted)
• 06 November 2024: Latest results communicated
• 04 December 2024: Latest date for financial agreement signature
• 04 June 2025: End of the training/consultancy service (the latest)
• 20 June 2025: Latest date for sending training/consultancy reporting

Eligible costs:

The applicants can apply for a grant between €2 000 and €4 000/application covering up to 100% of the eligible costs (ref. Guide for applicants) and can benefit from the Knowledge lump sum grant for a maximum of 2 distinct applications. The total budget reserved in CircInWater for the Knowledge lump sum is €160 000.

 The eligible costs for Knowledge Lump Sum are the fees related to:

• training activities
• or consultancy services.

 Only costs generated within the 6 months following the Financial Agreement signature will be eligible.

 SMEs can apply for the three different CircInWater lump sum schemes that will be launched in 2023 and 2024 (Innovation, Knowledge (current call), Internationalisation), up to a maximum of €60 000 in total.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated on a first come first served basis, i.e., applications will be evaluated in the order in which they are received. The evaluation of the applications will be done within a maximum period of 1 month after the submission. If selected, the beneficiary will have a maximum of 1 month to sign the Financial Agreement.

Further information

• Applicants can find complete information about the Knowledge lump sum in the Guide for Applicants available in the CircInWater submission platform.
• CircInWater contact: info [at] circinwater.eu ()
• CircInWater partnership is organising an InfoDay on 14 June 2023 from 9.00 to 9.30am (CET) to present the Knowledge lump sum call and answer the questions from attendees. Registration is free but mandatory: register here