Smart Entrepreneurship in the Region of Thessaly

Beneficiaries of the action are New and under establishment, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises that intend to implement an investment plan in the Region of Thessaly, which must relate to at least one eligible NACE code for investment.

Under establishment refers to businesses that will be established after the electronic submission of the funding application for this action.

New businesses within the framework of this call refer to businesses that have commenced operations with the competent Tax Office (DOY) from January 1, 2023, onwards.

The basic conditions that must be met are the following:

• To operate or commence operations in Greek territory and to make an investment exclusively within the Region of Thessaly.

• Has not commenced operations with the competent Tax Office (DOY) before the final submission of the funding application (under establishment business).
• Has commenced operations with the competent Tax Office (DOY) from 01/01/2023 onwards (new business).
• The same investment entity (partner/shareholder/business) must not participate in more than one (1) investment plan concerning a business under establishment.
• The proposed investment plan must relate to at least one of the eligible NACE codes of the program, in which the beneficiaries must have been active at the latest by the submission of the first payment request for the grant (including the advance payment).
• The amount of the subsidized budget of the investment plan must be greater than or equal to 50,000 euros.
• To submit proof of capital availability, from which it will be documented that it is possible to cover at least 25% of the total expenses of the investment plan.
• To meet all the conditions for the application of the De Minimis Regulation on which this Action is based.
• To operate or commence legal operation by possessing the appropriate licensing document, in accordance with current legislation. For new businesses, the submission of a relevant licensing document or a relevant application for issuance is required with the funding application for all their activities. In cases where the license has not been issued or has expired, at the stage of submission, the presentation of the relevant application for issuance/renewal or any document proving the initiation of the licensing process (e.g., questionnaire submitted to OPS-AADE or notification – installation approval or environmental terms approval decision (AEPO)) is required.
• To submit a land use certificate for the declared installation site(s) of the investment, from which it will be evident that the installation of the investment activity is possible.
• If the investment plan includes building construction/expansion costs, to submit proof of availability of the investment installation site.
• During the implementation of the project and until its completion, at least 51% of the initially approved shareholding/corporate structure of the investment entity (ownership status) must remain stable and unchanged, meaning that the transferred shares/corporate units cannot exceed 49% compared to the initially approved (during evaluation) corporate/shareholding structure of the investment entity.
• Potential beneficiaries of this call who submit a funding application as 'under establishment', before carrying out any action related to the implementation of the physical and financial object of their investment, must be established, in any case, after the final submission of their funding application for this action, i.e., commence operations with the competent Tax Office (DOY), maintaining the data based on which they were approved unchanged.
• It must be demonstrably proven in the evaluation criterion: 'Relevance of Investment Plan Expenses to the Regional Specialization of the S3 for the Region of Thessaly' that all eligible expenses are relevant to sector 04-PBKO: Environment – Circular Economy / Intervention Area EL61_04.12. / Priority EL61_04.12.11 Circular Economy. If the relevance of the eligible expenses or part thereof, as defined above, is not substantiated, the relevant expenses or part thereof (as appropriate) will be deemed ineligible and will be reduced.
• A prerequisite for the support of the Action's beneficiaries is the organization of the activity in an independent professional space. Therefore, their business plan must be implemented in a space different from their residence (primary or secondary). An independent professional space is defined as a space that constitutes separate property, has its own utility connections (e.g., electricity), and is not used in any way as a residence (primary or secondary).
• Co-location of businesses in the same, non-distinct space, in such a way that allows the use of the fixed assets of the subsidized investment by another business, is not permitted. In the event that such co-location is identified, the integration decision will be revoked.
• The funding application must achieve a minimum total score of 50 in the graded evaluation criteria.
• It is noted that businesses that are part of an already organized uniform network for product distribution or service provision, and which exploit intellectual property rights licenses (usually trademarks or distinctive titles and know-how for the use and distribution of goods or services) under relevant contracts (e.g., franchising, Shop in shop, agency network, etc.), are not eligible to participate.

The above conditions, in combination with the other conditions of the call, must be met in their entirety.

The subsidized budget for each investment proposal of a potential beneficiary can range from €50,000 up to €425,000.

The grant rate in the form of subsidy is set at 70%.

The aid follows the framework of EU Regulation 2831/2023 (De Minimis).

Expenses that can be included as eligible, provided they meet the conditions set out in the detailed call for the action, are the following:

The eligibility start date for expenses is August 7, 2025 (date of approval of the action's specialization). Expenses incurred (or contracted) before the eligibility start date for expenses (even if the contract has not been invoiced) are not eligible.

The maximum duration for the completion of the investment plan cannot exceed twenty-four (24) months from the date of electronic notification of the final approval of the funding application (evaluation result or appeal evaluation result).

The start date for electronic submission of funding applications is 2025-11-27 and the end date is 2026-03-03.

The methodology to be applied for the evaluation of the action is Comparative Evaluation, and the minimum required score that each investment plan must achieve to be eligible is 50 points.