Interregional Innovation Investments Strand 2a (I3-2025-INV2a)

Objectives

Strand 2a of the I3 Instrument focuses on reinforcing the integration of innovation actors from less developed regions and transition regions in developing EU value chains while creating local opportunities for innovation and smart economic transformation in regions with shared (or complementary) smart specialisation areas.

The objective of the I3 Instrument Strand 2a call for proposals is to support interregional innovation investments by offering consortia of innovation actors from the quadruple helix ecosystems the necessary financial and advisory support to bring their innovations to a more mature level, ready for scale-up and commercialisation. The call specifically aims at reducing the innovation divide in Europe, with a strong cohesion policy focus on integrating less developed and transition regions into European value chains. 

Thereby, applications under this call seek to facilitate:

• the support of innovation actors with investment ideas that are ready to be developed into mature business cases;
• the identification of new regional technological domains and market opportunities with the EU priorities and bridging the gap between the supply and demand sides to help innovation ecosystems overcome market failures
• the creation of new value chains in less developed and transition regions and the integration into interregional and cross-border value chains with more developed regions;
• the application and the deployment of innovative technologies and solutions in less developed and transition regions;
• the interaction and collaboration of SMEs from less developed and transition regions in interregional/multi-national value chains and with innovation actors form more developed regions. 

The focus is on technology transfer and highly specialised advisory support for the implementation of experiments and demonstration cases in companies. Participation of innovation actors is based on shared or complementary innovation priorities, as defined in their regional and/or national smart specialisation strategies. Projects shall show a balanced participation of regions with varying levels of development and innovation performance.

I3 Instrument business investment cases start with a minimum TRL 6 and have the ambition to facilitate demonstration and to accelerate market uptake and commercialisation. The development of the business and investment cases is facilitated by the regional innovation ecosystems with companies in the lead.

The support to be provided shall be (a) financial support, through direct funding to consortium beneficiaries or through cascade funding/financial support to third parties (FSTP), and (b) non-financial support, such as coaching, mentoring, or matchmaking activities. See below sections.

At the end of the project implementation, all involved regions and partners should have a clear perspective on how to exploit and build on the I3 Instrument project results, including through the broad introduction of new products, services, or production processes.

Budget

The estimated total available call budget for 2025 is EUR 24 million.

Info session

An information session on the call targeted at eligible applicants will be held online on 11 June 2025.

Interested? Register here