Povzetek razpisa: SGG kot koordinator in partner projekta ICBUILD skupaj s partnerji projekta organizira poslovno delegacijo v Dubai, ZAR, z udeležbo na sejmu BIG5 . Delegacija bo potekala od 6-8 decembra. Članom grozda in z grozdom povezanim organizacijam je na voljo vavčer za povračilo stroškov do 1.500 EUR na udeleženo organizacijo. Vavčer lahko v skladu s pravili EU izplačamo malim in srednjim podjetjem (vključujoč mikro podjetja), v skladu z evropsko definicijo MSP . Razpisno dokumentacijo vam pošljemo preko e-pošte. Pišite nam na vladimir.gumilar@sgg.si . Razpis je predstavljen v nadaljevanju.
1st open call for
Travel vouchers under the ICBUILD ESCP4i project
- GENERAL DESCRIPTION ICBUILD TRAVEL VOUCHER FOR DUBAI MISSION
1.1 Purpose of Travel Voucher call
By providing SMEs with travel vouchers for extra-EU traveling up to a maximum amount of €1,500 per voucher, financial barriers that hinder exploratory business visits to the extra-EU target markets are reduced, internationalisation actions are stimulated and market-related know-how upgraded.
The ICBUILD Travel Vouchers will be funded on a real cost-reimbursable basis, up to the maximum threshold applied for the travel voucher.
Travel Vouchers (TVs) shall be used by SMEs for participating in the ICBUILD fact-finding Mission in Dubai, UEA organized by the project consortium on 6-7-8.12.2022 beside the Big5 Trade Fair.
2.2 Who can apply?
Only legal entities being European SMEs – members or associated with the ICBUILD project partner clusters – and operating in the circular, green, and sustainable building and construction sectors represented by the ICBUILD project are eligible for FSTP funding.
The ICBUILD targeted industrial sectors:
- Construction: construction materials and products manufacturing, architectural design and engineering, contracting works, building operation/maintenance, retrofitting, CDW management
- Building systems and utilities: HVAC, energy, lighting, Energy Efficient Smart Devices & Systems
- Lighting: indoor and outdoor, commercial, public and residential lighting products and services
- ICT: supporting digitalization (BIM, IOT), building automation, smart home automation systems and products, smart building and smart city, Home & Building Energy Management, Energy Flexibility Ready Building, Digital Twins
- Bio sectors: wood sector, production of bio materials and products for construction
- Eco-innovation: waste recycling, by product/waste management from other industries for use in building materials and products and also looking at buildings as materials bank for reuse.
SME Definition
This means that only SMEs that fulfil the criteria of the general SME definition stated in article 2 of the annex to Recommendation 2003/361 EC are allowed to apply for the Travel Vouchers.
These criteria can be summarized as follows:
“To count as an SME, your organisation must be engaged in economic activity and must have:
- fewer than 250 employees and
- an annual turnover of no more than €50 million
- and/or a balance sheet of no more than €43 million
These ceilings apply to the figures for individual firms only. A firm that is part of a larger group may need to include staff headcount/turnover/balance sheet data from that group too.
The applicants who are not sure if respect the “SME definition” are invited to perform an SME check by going through the SME self-assessment questionnaire provided by the European Commission.
In case of a doubt, ICBUILD partners shall ask the potential applicant SME to provide the results of the executed SME self-assessment questionnaire (in a pdf format) before awarding the travel voucher.
à Please note that the number of travel vouchers that can be obtained is limited to one voucher per entity (SME) per call.
2.3. Validity of travel vouchers awarded
The travel vouchers provided to eligible applicants may be used only for participating in the internationalisation and networking activities organised in the framework of the ICBUILD Dubai mission to be held on 6-7-8.12.2022 in Dubai, UAE (besides the Big5 International Building and Construction Show), and until the maximum amount of the voucher has been reached.
2.4 Gender balance
All beneficiaries receiving financial support must take all reasonable measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women in the implementation of the action. They must aim, to the extent possible, for a gender balance at all levels of personnel assigned to the action, including at supervisory and managerial level.
2.5 Conflict of interest
ICBUILD project partners cannot receive any financial support from the FSTP calls provided under the current ESCP4i action.
THE APPLICATION PROCESS
3.1 ICBUILD Travel Voucher Selection procedures
ICBUID Project Partners – SGG, ELCA, SIPH-Innowator, Archenerg, Dundjer and ECODOMUS – are individually responsible for the selection of the eligible SMEs from their clusters and networks and can provide the application form and template for agreement and reporting by email.
For applicants from Slovenia, the request for call documents (application, rules, contract) can be sent to vladimir.gumilar@sgg.si
Each ICBUILD Partner may manage promotion and selection procedure in its own language. The information about the ICBUILD Travel Vouchers selection process must be published on the Partners’ institutional website (freely accessible space), and other promotional channels (social media, newsletters, etc.);
Following the first come first served principle all submitted applications shall be reviewed considering two main aspects:
- The date and time of the submission of the application.
- SME eligibility for travel vouchers
To be eligible for funding under the 1st ICBUILD travel voucher selection the following minimum requirements must be respected:
- The applicant should be a legal entity being an SME from EU / COSME-associated country
- The applicant must be a SME company according to the EU definition, coming from the construction and other connected sectors represented by the ICBUILD project partners;
- The applicant SME must have an interest in the internationalization activities in the target country (Dubai, UAE) and shall provide a motivation in writing to apply for the ICBUILD travel voucher;
- The applicant SME shall be a member or associated to the one of ICBUILD partner clusters, and/or coming from the Partner’s networking ecosystem;
- The application must be submitted in written following the modalities defined by the respective ICBUILD partner cluster and within the set deadlines;
- There must not be any conflicts of interests.
Moreover, ICBUILD Partners must ensure the following common provisions:
- the maximum amount of the travel voucher shall not be higher than 1.500,00 EUR per SME;
- the travel voucher shall be awarded on a reimbursable and real costs basis, upon previous collection of the reporting documentation from the SME;
- selection of SMEs shall be based on the “first come first serve” rule with respect to the ICBUILD Grant Agreement provisions on the Financial Support To Third Parties, transparency and without conflict of interest
- a company is only allowed to submit one application per travel voucher in this ICBUILD Dubai call – the travel voucher is awarded per company, not per person. In case more than one application is submitted by one entity, only one of the proposals sent will be taken into consideration for awarding.
- other selection criteria may be included in the Partners selection procedure if necessary
- For example, the priority will be given to SMEs who completed the ICBUILD Self-Assessment Internationalisation Tool
3.2 Collection of applications from SMEs
Each project partner shall define clearly the modalities and timing (deadline) for submitting the travel voucher application from companies.
The collection of the application forms, duly filled in and signed by the applicant, may be executed:
- via direct email to the Partner cluster manager or other person indicated in the Call information;
- via the online portal / partner website if such system is available
- the final deadline for the collection of the applications shall be no later than 10.11.2022 and the consequent evaluation and awarding of the travel vouchers by the 15.11.2022 at the latest to enable SMEs to manage their traveling and accommodation
- all the applicants shall be informed in written about the reception of the application forma and the evaluation’s results (in case of the first arrived first served rule – applicants must be informed if and when the number of the available vouchers have been reached and the related Call closed)
- all the applications shall be stored by Partners in the project-related digital archive.
- 4. Eligible costs and general payment terms
Reimbursable payment will be made on the basis of receipts of eligible travel costs (according to ICBUILD Grant Agreement guidelines) in connection with the activities qualifying for financial support in the form of travel vouchers as described in the previous sections.
All applicable travel & accommodation supporting documents (hotel invoices, flight tickets receipts, meals receipts, local transportation etc.) will have to be submitted by SMEs to the respective project partner in the pdf. Format via email. Eligible travel costs can be reimbursed up to a maximum amount of the travel voucher defined by partner per entity.
- Reporting
All awarded SMEs will be asked to complete a short mission report after the execution of the mission.
This will include three parts:
A: Short summary of visit, describing potential opportunities to be supported in future within ICBUILD and by clusters
B: Report on B2B meetings. For each B2B meeting, the SMEs should provide information on:
- Name of partner in third country, business field
- Scope of the B2B meeting outcome (choose what applies):
- Meeting, presentation, identification of common development and business opportunities
- Signature or initiation of elaboration of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or similar statement on interest
- Identification of potential field of business or development cooperation with prospect to sign Business agreement.
- Partner/cluster to be assisting awarded SME in future internationalization path
- Third country intermediate/support organisation (optionally) to assist awarded SME in fuwill also help them, for example ambassadors if applicable.
C: Report and handing in all receipts concerning the travelling activities that have been undertaken with the awarded travel voucher,
The report should be sent to project partner (cluster) providing the voucher and signing the contract.
This information is required to initiate the path towards business agreements (business to business, business to R&D), and merging more of them (MOUs) to ICIP agreement with more of them being involved in cooperation in the future.
- Possibility for participation in the different ICBUILD Travel vouchers open calls
SMEs have the possibility to participate in different ICBUILD open calls for travel vouchers related to the project fact-finding missions in the targeted extra-EU countries during the course of the ICBUILD internationalisation action. However, the maximum possible financial support for any SME is limited to EUR 6.600,00 (as specified in the ICBUILD Grant Agreement, art. 11a.1 Rules for providing financial support to third parties)
