Business Partnerships of the Ionian Islands Region with Research and Knowledge Dissemination Organizations

Beneficiaries of the action are Businesses and Research Organizations, as well as Other bodies treated as Research Organizations, participating in research projects.

A. Businesses

• To operate in Greek territory
• To operate at the time of submission of the funding application in the Ionian Islands Region (to have an establishment), and to incur the corresponding expenses in the Ionian Islands Region
• To have an activity code (KAD) that is relevant to their contribution / scope of work in the research proposal (most relevant)
• To operate exclusively in one of the following forms: Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership (O.E.), Limited Partnership (E.E.), Limited Partnership by Shares (E.E. κατά μετοχές), Limited Liability Company (E.P.E.), Single-Member Limited Liability Company (M.E.P.E.), Special Type Transport Company LLC (I.M.E. E.P.E.), Société Anonyme (A.E.), Single-Member Société Anonyme (M.A.E), Other Private Law Legal Entity for Profit (N.P.I.D.), Urban Cooperative for Profit, Social Cooperative Enterprise of Law 4430/2016 as applicable (KOIN.SEP), Agricultural Cooperative, Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (E.A.S.), Central Cooperative Union (KE.S.E.), Consortium of Agricultural Cooperative Organizations, Recreational Vessel Shipping Company (N.E.P.A.), Private Company (I.K.E.), Single-Member Private Company (M.I.K.E.), Energy Communities, Social Cooperative of Limited Liability (KOI.S.P.E.), Non-Profit Urban Cooperative, Urban For-Profit Company, Civil Law Partnership for Profit, Non-Profit Civil Company (A.M.K.E.).
• To be existing businesses (micro/small, medium, large)
• To participate in a maximum of one (1) proposal
• To contribute to the core activities of the research project and not to the provision of ancillary/consulting services, provided that the necessity of each participant's involvement is justified
• To have at least one (1) completed full (annual) fiscal year at the time of submission of the funding application
• To keep single-entry or double-entry accounting books (formerly Category B' or C' books) of the Tax Procedure Code (K.F.A.S.).
• Not to be under bankruptcy, liquidation, or compulsory administration
• Not to be problematic enterprises according to the provisions of "ANNEX V: DEFINITION OF A PROBLEM ENTERPRISE"
• Not to have an outstanding recovery order against them following a previous decision by the European Commission, declaring aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market
• Body (such as universities or research centers-institutes, technology transfer organizations, innovation intermediaries, research collaborating bodies with physical and/or virtual presence)
• Not to have received rescue or restructuring aid, or if rescue aid has been received, to have repaid the loan and terminated the guarantee agreement, or if restructuring aid has been received, for it to have been completed
• To commit, through the Business's Solemn Declaration upon submission of the funding application, that they operate legally under the declared KADs as investment KADs and possess the appropriate licensing document, in accordance with current legislation for their supported activity (e.g., operating license, declaration of commencement of operation, operating license exemption, notification of commencement of operation, etc.) and that they will provide the relevant licensing document by the completion of the action.
• To comply with legislation on employee health and safety and the prevention of occupational risk.
• Not to have grounds for exclusion under Articles 39, paragraphs 1-4 and 40 of Law 4488/2017 (A'137), according to which an enterprise is excluded from inclusion in a program or submission to aid schemes funded by Union or national resources, if penalties have been imposed

against it, within a period of two (2) years before the application submission deadline, and have acquired final and binding force for violations of labor law, and specifically for a) violations of "high" or "very high" severity (3 fines/3 inspections) or undeclared work (2 fines/2 inspections).

B. Research Organization / Research and Knowledge Dissemination Organization

• An entity (such as universities or research centers-institutes, technology transfer organizations, innovation intermediaries, research collaborating bodies with physical and/or virtual presence) regardless of its legal status (public or private law) or its funding method, whose primary purpose is to conduct independent basic research, industrial research, or experimental development, or to widely disseminate the results of these activities through teaching, publication, or knowledge transfer.
• In the event that this entity also carries out economic activities, the funding, expenses, and revenues from these economic activities must be declared separately.
• Research Organizations must operate legally in Greece. • Each research organization participates as a single entity, i.e., at the VAT number level, and is represented by the Special Account for Research Funds (ELKE), for those entities that have an ELKE.
• In the event that different Departments of a School of the same Higher Education Institution (Universities) or different Institutes of the same Research Center or different Sectors of the same Higher Education Institution or different Laboratories of the same Higher Education Institution or Institute participate in a project, the corresponding University or Research Center will be declared in OPSKE as the research organization-partner with a unified budget, calculated at the level of the research organization (VAT number of ELKE or of the entity in the case of a private legal entity) and with a single implementation location.
• No previous recovery decision by the European Commission for illegal or incompatible state aid is pending execution.
• The conditions of the Commission communication (2022/C 7388) "Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation" are not fully met.
• No indirect state aid is granted to businesses participating in a collaborative scheme due to favorable terms of cooperation.

C. Other bodies treated as research organizations, specifically the following (checked under the same criteria as research organizations):

• Public Services, belonging to the Central Administration within the meaning of par. 1f of Article 14 of Law 4270/2014 (A' 143)
• Public Law Legal Entities
• Private Law Legal Entities, established by Law or Presidential Decree and subsidized by the State
• Public Benefit Foundations governed by Law 4182/2013

The total Public Expenditure of this call amounts to €4,000,000.

Within the framework of the Call, research projects with a subsidized budget ranging from €50,000 up to €400,000 are supported. An essential formal prerequisite for the action is that the total subsidized budget of the businesses must be greater than or equal to 40% of the total subsidized budget of the project. The condition is checked collectively (cumulatively) for all businesses in the collaborative project.

The same percentage applies both during evaluation and inclusion and during completion and final payment.

The requested budget of a business - potential beneficiary in a funding application, cannot exceed three-fifths (60%) of the highest turnover achieved in one of the three (or fewer if the business does not have three) fiscal periods, of the year preceding the submission of the funding application.

The budget for support applications can range from 50,000.00€ to 400,000.00€, with an aid intensity of up to 80% of the subsidized budget for businesses and Other Bodies treated as businesses, and 100% for Research Organizations/Research and Knowledge Dissemination Organizations and Other Bodies treated as research organizations.

The implementation period for submitted research project proposals must not exceed twenty-four (24) months from the date of electronic notification of the final approval of the funding application (evaluation result or objection evaluation result), with a possibility of a six (6) month extension, following a reasoned justification from the beneficiaries and its approval by the Managing Authority/Intermediate Body.

The start date of eligibility for expenses is defined as the date of electronic submission of the funding application. The implementation period for submitted research project proposals must not exceed twenty-four (24) months from the date of electronic notification of the final approval of the funding application (evaluation result or objection evaluation result).

1. Direct personnel costs: Researchers and technicians to the extent that they are directly employed in the project and specifically:
2. Regular staff (full-time or part-time indefinite-term employment contract, fixed-term employment contract)
3. Regular public sector staff, employed in the Action by decision of the Beneficiary's competent body

iii. Temporary staff employed in the action in new positions created as a direct consequence of the project, either with a fixed-term full-time or part-time employment contract

1. Scholarship holders according to the conditions of paragraph 4 of Article 15 of the YAEKED
2. Natural persons with a work contract

The direct eligible expenses for projects funded under this call are calculated on a real cost basis, meaning they have been incurred by the Beneficiaries, are justified by the terms and objectives of the approved actions, are provided for in the funding decision, and are substantiated by paid invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value or payroll statements of the Entity and arise from the detailed analytical time sheets per member of the implementation team.

2. Flat Rate for Calculating Eligible Project Costs (40%) on eligible direct personnel costs
3. Depreciation costs of instruments and equipment to the extent and for the period they are used for the project
4. Depreciation costs for buildings and land to the extent and for the period they are used for the project

iii. Costs for contractual research, knowledge, and patents purchased or licensed from external sources in compliance with the arm's length principle, as well as costs for consulting and equivalent services used exclusively for the project.

1. Additional overheads and other operating costs directly resulting from the project. Indicatively (publicity costs, consumables, costs related to the remuneration of a chartered accountant/auditor, adaptation costs for people with disabilities, other operating costs, indirect operating costs).

The start date for electronic submission of funding applications to the Integrated State Aid Information System (OPSKE) is 2026-05-22 at 13:00, and the deadline is 2026-09-04 at 15:00.