European incentives for companies: the guide updated to April 2023

The European Union also provides start-ups and SMEs with incentives in the form of loans or incentives.

Let’s see the most important incentives:

1) Cultura Crea 2.0

Cultura Crea 2.0, a measure promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture, supports the birth and growth of companies – therefore also start-ups – and non-profit initiatives in the tourism – cultural sector, in Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Puglia and Sicily, with the following incentives:

1. “Creation of new businesses in the cultural industry“, which supports:
   1. micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) of the cultural industry established in the last 36 months, including cooperatives and teams of individuals who want to set up a business, presenting spending programs of up to € 400,000 for the creation or introduction of certain products or services;
   2. through a subsidized interest-free loan, up to 40% of the admitted expenditure and a non-repayable grant of up to 40% of the admitted expenditure.
2. “Development of cultural and tourism industry companies“, which supports:
   1. the development and consolidation of the MPMIs of the cultural, tourism, creative, entertainment and manufacturing sectors typical of the local area, which present spending programs of up to 500,000 euros for the creation or introduction of certain products or services;
   2. through:
      • a subsidized interest-free loan up to 60% of the admitted expenditure, which can be raised to 65% in the case of a female business, or a youth business or in possession of a legality rating
      • a non-repayable grant up to 20% of the admitted expenditure, which can be raised to 25% in the case of a female business, or a young business or in possession of a legality rating.
3. “Support for the third sector of the cultural industry“, which encourages:
   1. the development and consolidation of companies and other third sector subjects in activities related to the management of goods, services and cultural development activities, which present spending programs of up to 400,000 euros in certain areas of intervention;
   2. through a non-repayable grant of up to 80% of the permitted expenditure, which can be raised to 90% in the case of a female business, or a youth business or in possession of a legality rating.

• To submit your application immediately, click here.
• Deadline of the call: until resources are exhausted.

2) Calls financed by the Horizon Europe project:

Horizon Europe is the European Union framework program for research and innovation for the period 2021-2027. It is the successor of Horizon 2020, has a duration of seven years and a total budget of 95.5 billion euros, which will finance the research and innovation activities of all legal entities.

The three pillars

Horizon Europe is structured in three pillars, which respectively envisage specific research programs and themes:

1. Excellent science, which includes the following programs:
   1. ERC – European Research Council
   2. MSCA – Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
   3. Research Infrastructures
2. Global Challenges and european industrial competitiveness, which deals with the following topics:
   1. Clusters:
      1. Health
      2. Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society
      3. Civil Security for Society
      4. Digital, Industry and Space
      5. Climate, Energy and Mobility
      6. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
   2. Joint Research Centre
   3. Missions
3. Innovative Europe, whose calls are divided according to the body that publishes it:
   1. European Innovation Council
   2. European innovation ecosystems
   3. European Institute of Innovation and Technology

How to participate in the Horizon Europe calls

To participate in the Horizon Europe calls, click on the program or topic of interest and choose from the proposed calls.

By clicking on –> this page, you will find all the calls open to date, divided by program and topic of interest, with the description, the opening date and the expiry date of each individual call.

To participate in the selected call, each proposer must have a PIC (Participant Identification Code) and submit a proposal through the official Funding & Tender portal, according to the form and rules established by the European Commission.

Submitted proposals are then reviewed by expert evaluators appointed by the European Commission.

The calls Get it, DigiFed per Application Experiments, EIC Accelerator, ZERO, DIGITbrain, IMPACT EdTech e Living Lab, related to the program Horizon 2020, were closed in June and October 2021.

The next updates

Our “incentives for companies” page periodically updates you with all the most relevant measures for innovative start-ups (click here to open it).

The importance of legal and tax support

How to choose between all these calls?

Our advice is to rely on serious, qualified professionals with proven experience in business consultancy, who will guide you with confidence in choosing the tender and the safest financing methods for the development of your business and in line with the commercial strategy.

Our Firm, thanks to the expertise and experience in consulting and assistance to start-ups, both in the legal, commercial and corporate fields:

• provides all entrepreneurs interested in starting their own start-up or defining an optimal business strategy, advice and specific assistance in bureaucratic and commercial practices;
• assists its clients in the market analysis phase, in the preparation of the business plan and in the search for the economic resources necessary to finance the start-up / SME, starting from the choice of the call to participate;
• supports the company at every stage of development, recommending the best commercial and legal strategies to be implemented.

Contact us immediately at the number +39 3711453121, or write to us at info@studiolegalecoscia.it for specific advice.

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