ACCESS4SMEs is a 36-month coordination and support action aimed to empower the network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Small medium-sized enterprises and Access to risk finance (SMEs & ARF) under Horizon 2020 by enabling a systemic and open knowledge and an enhanced provision of services for SMEs, industry and ARF communities. Overall, the network addresses the needs of European SMEs, access to finance stakeholders and industry, notably newcomers established in Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC) with a view on stimulating, encouraging and facilitating a more effective participation of European companies into the several funding opportunities of Horizon 2020 and European Innovation Council - EIC Pilot. Project activities focus on actions such as the SME Instrument, Fast Track to Innovation, collaborative projects under the Leadership in Enabling Industrial Technologies – LEITs and Societal Challenges – SCs, and the financial facilities established at European, national and regional level, supported by H2020.
More in particular ACCESS4SMEs aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Improving NCP capacities to provide systemic knowledge (NCP Curriculum) to clients across different programmes and access to finance opportunities through networks collaboration;
2. Identifying key success factors for SME competitive proposals across different H2020 and EIC, improving the set of tools (e.g. annotated templates, close to market guidance), and consequently the efficacy of the assistance of NCPs;
3. Assessing the impact of SME Instrument on beneficiaries with a view on capturing patterns on SMEs’ growth strategy and value propositions;
4. Spreading knowledge on access to risk finance opportunities under Horizon 2020, notably InnovFin products and sharing information and practices on financial instruments for R&I;
5. Enhancing the outreach of the this Network through strategic communication and dissemination activities to maximize the impact of its activities, services and results to a wider audience of clients and stakeholders and avoid overlapping with further initiatives in those areas.
Access4SMEs consortium comprises 12 beneficiaries, with a good mix of well-experienced and less experienced NCPs. Besides beneficiaries, all officially appointed H2020 SME & ARF NCPs are involved as associated partners and get full access to the project services and achievements.
