Are you a European SME dedicated to maritime and coastal tourism looking to renew yourself and increase your success through innovation and internationalisation?

The First Call of the EUROCLUSTER IKAT is launched to fund services such as business modelling, acceleration support activities, increasing open innovation in these types of activities, supporting the green and energy transition of companies, as well as the implementation of the SDGs, and the most inclusive technology, bringing the company closer to non-traditional financing and supporting its internationalisation, as well as strengthening its training. Funding for these services ranges from €3.000,00 to €10.000,00 depending on the service.

We are looking for SMEs in the maritime and coastal tourism industrial ecosystem that want to:

1) Activate diversification towards new products and services.

2) Accelerate and develop new ideas.

3) Apply open innovation to their business.

4) Boost the green and digital transition in their company, as well as improve transversal aspects such as gender, CSR, among others.

5) Improve your options for obtaining financing in investment rounds.

6) Improve the internationalisation of your company.

7) Improve your knowledge and training regarding the above challenges and improvements.

So… how can I apply for this opportunity? The companies that are the object of this funding will have to prepare a simple application form, which will allow IKAT partners to select the most viable, feasible, investable, coherent, and impactful proposals. You can find all the information on the IKAT website (https://www.ikatproject.com/ikatcall). In addition, if you need support, you can count on the support of the focal points of the partners. Greek SMEs shall provide insurance and tax awareness.

What is the deadline for submitting my application?

The 1st call for proposals will be open for two months, until 20 April at 17.00 CET.

The IKAT’s main objective is to contribute to achieve in the updated tourism strategy, proposed by the European Commission, following the conclusion reached by the Parliament and the Council pre-post pandemic for the ecosystem of the European tourism industry, a focus on tourism, maritime and coastal, in the Mediterranean Sea.

The IKAT project counts on European funding in the framework of the Call “SMP-COSME-2021-CLUSTER – Joint Cluster Initiatives (EUROCLUSTERS) for Europe’s recovery, which is part of the Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021, establishing the Single Market Programme.