The action concerns the strengthening of new and existing Cooperative Formations (CUs) active in the 9 priority areas of the ERANEK

• agri-food/food industry,
• energy,
• environment,
• information and communication technologies (ICT),
• Logistics,
• health,
• materials-construction,
• cultural industries,
• tourism

CONDITIONS FOR THE ELIGIBILITY OF A COOPERATIVE GROUPING (CC)

 1) The members of the SA are:

a) domestic and foreign SMEs with manufacturing, trading and service codes, not excluding large enterprises

(b) innovation support bodies (universities, research centres)

(c) business support organisations (incubators, technology parks, business park management bodies, etc.)

(d) financial institutions

(e) other economic operators, provided that the added value of their participation in the SA is documented.

2) It requires the creation by the members of the SC of a distinct legal entity that will undertake the management of the Cooperative Formation and will operate as a "Mobilization Body" (MC).

3) The FC is an SME of any legal form, in the share capital of which all legal entities-members of the SA can potentially participate.

4) All the partners/shareholders of the SA are independent of each other and participate equally in the corporate/share capital, with a share of less than 20%.

5) SA member companies are linked to each other through partnerships within value chains (customer-supplier relationship) and/or joint activities.

6) The geographical concentration of the SA's businesses is not necessary.

7) A minimum of 5 SMEs participate as members. These enterprises must meet one or more of the following conditions:

(a) participate in the share capital/partnership capital of the SA

(b) are linked to other members of the pool by subcontracts vertically along the value chain

ELIGIBILITY OF PROJECTS

Eligible for funding are projects which include actions for:

1. The creation and development of the FC of the SA, including (but not limited to)

            a. the creation or improvement of the infrastructure of the FC (buildings, equipment, ICT, etc.)

b.the financing of actions (preparation of studies, organisation of workshops and training activities, participation in exhibitions, implementation of the FC website and other actions to promote the AC, etc.) with the aim of defining the AC, understanding and managing the external environment of the AC - customers, suppliers, targeting, process management and evaluation of the action of the AC, increasing the number of enterprises participating in the AC, improving communication between the members of the AC, creating a climate of trust between the members of the AC, increasing the number of enterprises participating in the AC, improving communication between the members of the AC, creating a climate of trust between the members of the AC, etc.

2. The development of SA SMEs, such as (but not limited to)

a. the creation of common infrastructure - building and equipment for production, standardization, RTD, logistics, incubator by the FC, etc.

b. the development and operation of common services such as procurement, marketing, sales, supply chain management, management of co-financed programmes by the FC, etc.

c. the support of human resources empowerment actions for the development of the FS by the FC (training actions, etc.)

d. the support of actions to expand the markets and extroversion of the members of the SC by the FC (participation in exhibitions, etc.)

e. the joint development of new common or complementary products, processing methods, innovative or not, along the value chain in the framework of collaborative projects between the members of the GAC or members of the GAC and the FB.

Action plans submitted for funding will include mandatory type ii projects and optional type i projects.

BUDGET

The total budget of an action project may not be less than EUR 100 000 and may not exceed EUR 2 500 000.

The rate of funding shall be 50 %.

The action shall be financed by the ERDF using the flexibility clause for the financing of ESF-type interventions.

A 'potential' grant budget equal to three times the approved budget of the 'collaborative projects', as defined above, of the initially submitted action plan shall be approved in the CAs. In any case, the total eligible budget, including the 'potential' budget, may not exceed the maximum eligible budget (EUR 2 500 000) for the investment projects under the action. These SAs will be invited to submit new actions at predetermined intervals to use the 'potential' approved budget.