After the summer holidays, on 3 October KISMC organised a seminar on the SME Instrument and HORIZON 2020 showcasing the opportunities SMEs have for financing of their innovations after introducing the new EU programme period 2014 - 2020.

The seminar's objective was to look at H2020, introduce case studies of the SME Instrument, practical advises and instructions on the applications forms. The topics were covered by representatives of KISMC, Innovation Management Academy, HIRON Management Consulting, Energy2Go and by the special guest of the event - Xavier Aubry, ZAZ Ventures, who has got an extensive portfolio of helping SMEs secure funding and has offices in Brussels, London and Zurich.

On 29 April 2014 KISMC organised a seminar in collaboration with the Electric Vehicle Industrial Cluster (EVIC) on "The SME Instrument - Practical Aspects" with speaker Dimitar Hristov – the Chairman of the Steering Committee of KISMC.

Twenty business representatives - members of the cluster as well as managers and owners of Bulgarian enterprises - took part in the seminar. They were familiarised with the integrated approach of the European Commission for supporting SMEs and the concept for financing innovative projects with the help of the SME Instrument. The seminar was focused on the already open calls, procedures, requirements and conditions for successful applications under the SME Instrument. As most of you know,  the SME Instrument is the prime instrument of Horizon 2020 for supporting innovations in SMEs in the current programming period of the EU Financial Framework (2014-2020).

The members of the Enterprise Europe Network will have the principal commitment for initially helping businesses with the realisation of their projects under this Financial Framework. However, consultancies and/or experts in the EU projects’ management will play a major role for the successful preparation of the project proposals of innovative SMEs.