The SME Instrument is launching a call for investment experts

15/05/2017 | by the SME Instrument team

The SME Instrument is launching a call for investment experts!

SME Instrument is a successful programme within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 framework, established in 2014. It is a simple and accessible funding and business support scheme that encourages innovative, scalable and ambitious SME’s to put forward their most interesting ideas. It works in three phases, according to the stages of the innovation cycle and for the assessment of the funding proposals, the SME Instrument operates with a team of independent evaluators specialised in business, finance and innovation along other areas of expertise (ICT, health, Biotech, etc.).

In three years we already committed €882 million in grants, coaching and business support. From 31k received applications, we selected 2457 SME’s from the EU and the Horizon 2020 Associated Countries, which makes it the very best 6% of successful candidates. They did not only receive our funding support, benefited from the SME Instrument community and networks, but also leveraged €480.7 million in private investment*. In Luxembourg, 4 Open Disruptive Innovation projects benefited from our support. Digicash Payments, for instance, developed a mobile payment app based on a disruptive credit transfer approach in SEPA. ThemarketsTrust-Advisory came up with a New System for Credit Rating on Hybrid Securities. Polaris – a project developed by MyScienceWork – brought the first turnkey solution for an easy open access dissemination for research institutions.

Now we are looking for experienced investment professionals (business angels, venture capital, private equity investors) willing to collaborate with us in finding the “golden nuggets in a pile of sand”. As we understand that our experts’ time is valuable, they work with a flexible schedule and workload, in Brussels and remotely, to best fit their availability. If you feel that this profile describes you and you are interested in becoming an expert evaluator, please check our investors’ page or contact us at Easme-EIC-Investors@ec.europa.eu .

The SME Instrument team

*For more information, check the highlights or the full report.

“In Luxembourg, 4 Open Disruptive Innovation projects benefited from our support. Digicash Payments, for instance, developed a mobile payment app based on a disruptive credit transfer approach in SEPA”