Horizon 2020 – The SME Instrument
Startups and SMEs, receive grants of between €50,000 and €2,5 million from the EU.

How?

First, a bit about You – Your Startup is launched. Your StartUp is an innovative ICT based concept, product or service which has the potential to ultimately disrupt existing markets. You are looking for swift financial support of between €50.000 and €2,5 million in 2014/2015. You already have a working prototype/demo and you want to continue developing the new product or service.

Does that sound like you, your StartUp or SME?

The European Union has, for the first time in its 60 year history, launched programs to directly fund entrepreneurs, StartUps and SMEs. This is the so-called “HORIZON 2020” programme with €80 billion in grant funding available, of which €2.8 billion is purely for entrepreneurs, StartUps and SMEs.

This means that you can get direct financial investment for your Startup or SME without giving up equity or having to pay back later.

Depending on the stage of your Startup or Company you can apply to two different type of grants:

“SME Instrument Phase 1” grants 50,000 euros and facilitates seed-funding to explore and assess the technical and commercial feasibility of a breakthrough innovation that your StartUp wants to achieve. You can for instance, fund risk assessment activities, design or market studies and intellectual property exploration. The ultimate goal of this funding is to put a new product, service or process in the market, possibly through an innovative application of existing technologies, methods or business processes.

There are 4 deadlines for Phase 1 Funding in 2018:

  • 14th February
  • 2nd May
  • 5th September
  • 7th November

There are 4 deadlines for Phase 1 Funding in 2019:

  • 13th February
  • 7th May
  • 5th September
  • 6th November

“SME Instrument Phase 2” grants offer funding from €500,000 up to € 2.5 million for innovation projects underpinned by a sound and strategic business plan. You can finance activities such as prototyping, miniaturisation, scaling-up, design, performance verification, testing, demonstration, development of pilot lines, validation for market replication, including other activities aimed at accelerating and scaling-up StartUps and SMEs to help them succeed.

There are 4 deadlines for Phase 2 Funding in 2018:

  • 10th January
  • 14th March
  • 23rd May
  • 10th October

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Industry Processes

The petroleum industry include the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline (petrol).

Processing and refining operations turn crude oil and gas into marketable products. In the case of crude oil, these products include heating oil, gasoline for use in vehicles, jet fuel, and diesel oil. Oil refining processes include distillation, vacuum distillation, catalytic reforming, catalytic cracking, alkylation, isomerization and hydrotreating.

Oil and gas are transported to processing facilities, and from there to end users, by pipeline, tanker/barge, truck, and rail. Pipelines are the most economical transportation method and are most suited to movement across longer distances, for example, across continents.

Midstream service providers apply technological solutions to improve efficiency during midstream processes. Technology can be used during compression of fuels to ease flow through pipelines; to better detect leaks in pipelines; and to automate communications for better pipeline and equipment monitoring.