Summary of the Call’s Content
The Action is funded by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) and forms part of the “Competitiveness” Programme 2021–2027, under Priority 2 “Enhancing entrepreneurship and competitiveness”, within Policy Objective (PO) 1 “A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity” and contributes to the specific objective “1.iii: “Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and creating jobs in SMEs, including through productive investments“. Specifically, the initiative ”Extroversion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”aims to strengthen and support the export orientation of the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises and concerns support for investment projects aimed at the exploitation and development of modern technologies, the upgrading of the products manufactured and/or services provided, and their activities in general, with the aim of improving the competitiveness and international orientation of enterprises, their integration into international value chains, and the strengthening of the international presence of their products through their participation in trade fairs organised outside Greece, both within the EU and in third countries. The total public expenditure for this call amounts to two hundred million euros (€200,000,000) and is distributed as follows:
Budget: €200,000,000
• €44,000,000 for the Transition Regions: Attica and the South Aegean
• €156,000,000 for the less developed regions: North Aegean, Eastern Macedonia – Thrace, Central Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Western Greece, Crete, Western Macedonia, the Ionian Islands, Central Greece and the Peloponnese.
Beneficiaries of the Call
For the attention of: Existing small, very small and medium-sized enterprises, as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC
Sectors of Activity
They have an eligible activity KAD of Annex II to the Call.
Conditions of Participation
The total subsidised budget of the investment plan may not exceed twice the highest turnover achieved in one of the three complete (or fewer, if the enterprise has fewer than three) closed accounting periods of the year preceding the submission of the funding application, subject to a maximum aid limit of €200,000.
The support rates for funding applications are the same for all eligible costs of investment projects and range from 40% to 50% of the subsidised budget for each funding application, depending on the regional category in which it is implemented.
When submitting the funding application, it must be demonstrated that at least twenty-five per cent (25%) of the private sector’s contribution to the proposed budget is secured by equity.
It is mandatory to achieve an increase in the exports of the supported enterprise [(compared with the value of its exports in the base year (tax year 2024)] to an amount at least equal to 70% of the public funding, which must be achieved no later than three years from the completion of the operation.
Eligible Expenditure
For the preparation of the budget for the investment projects to be financed under the Action, the following basic categories of eligible expenditure are:
- Procurement of equipment necessary for the operation of the enterprise and the pursuit of its economic activity, as well as equipment for environmental protection and energy saving.
- Expenditure on the provision of services, such as certifications, the acquisition of know-how, packaging design, etc.
- Software Expenditure.
- Expenditure on promotion, marketing and networking through participation in trade fairs.
In addition, expenditure is funded for:
- salary costs for newly recruited staff,
- indirect costs.
Submission of proposals
The funding application is submitted electronically exclusively via the Integrated State Aid Management Information System (OPSKE).
Start of the application submission period: 17/07/2025
Application Deadline: 09/10/2025
Find out more about the call here. https://www.espa.gr/el/Pages/NewsFS.aspx?item=1931
Source: espa.gr