United Bulgarian Bank - Development of Innovative Start-up Enterprises

European programs

Phone numbers

Development of Innovative Start-up Enterprises

Development of innovative start-up enterprises through support for the introduction of innovative products, processes and services.

Managing Authority

Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism - European Funds for Competitiveness Directorate

Intermediate body and contracting institution

Bulgarian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency

Unique operation code

BG161PO003-1.1.03

Procedure

Initiated procedure for competitive selection of projects, covering certain quality requirements, without a fixed application deadline

Application start date

29.03.2010

Application end date

No fixed application deadline. Until depleting the funds under the procedure. Approval will be granted to projects that have received minimum 70% out of the maximum number of points.

Language

Bulgarian

Place and manner of submitting the documentation

In a sealed envelope, sent by registered mail, couriered or handed at the addresses of the territorial units of the Intermediate Body – Bulgarian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Agency in Blagoevgrad, Bourgas, Varna, Vratza, Pleven, Plovdiv, Rousse, Sofia, Stara Zagora and Veliko Tarnovo towns.

Project implementation place

Bulgaria

Budget under the scheme

BGN 19 558 300

Payments under the Program

Advance payment (optional) – up to 20% of the approved financial aid against presentation of a bank guarantee
Intermediate payments (optional) – based on cost-proving documents
Final payment

IMPORTANT: The sum of the advance and intermediate payments shall not exceed 80% of the approved gratuitous aid

Beneficiaries

Enterprises which are:

Legal entities or sole proprietors, registered pursuant to the Code on Commerce or the Cooperatives Act and
have a registered office in Bulgaria
have been registered not earlier than 3 years prior to the application date
are micro or SMEs according to the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Act
are directly responsible for the implementation of the activities under the project

Eligible activities

Investments– mandatory element under the project

Purchase of new equipment, necessary for launching into production of innovative products, processes or services
Purchase of complete units, units, parts and materials
Acquisition of specialized software, related to the launching of the innovative product, process or service;
Construction and assembly works – up to 30% of the total admissible expenses under the project.

Services

related to developing/ optimizing of technologies for production of the innovative product
related to the protection of intellectual property rights on the launched under the project innovative products/processes/services
Development of business and marketing strategies
of engineering- technical nature, related to the process of launching the innovative product, process or service
related to the certification of the innovative process or service
Project visualization – up to BGN 3 000.
Auditing – 1% of the total admissible expenses, but not more than BGN 10 000.

Minimum and maximum amount of the gratuitous aid

BGN 50 000 – BGN 1 000 000

IMPORTANT:

The maximum amount of the gratuitous aid for services in 1 project is BGN 391 166.
The gratuitous aid for investments, not realized within the first year of the project, shall be discounted.

Co- financing by the beneficiary

Enterprise category	% of the total admissible expenses for investments	% of the total admissible expenses for consultancy
Micro and small	30	30
Medium-sized	40	40

IMPORTANT:

For all enterprise categories, operating in the Transport sector, the co-financing of investments shall be 50% at the minimum

Projects duration

Not more than 24 months

E-mail and Fax number for queries

start_ups@sme.government.bg

Fax:(02) 80 75 308

Further information is available at

http://www.opcompetitiveness.bg/bg/projects/id_76.html

http://www.ibsme.org

European programs

Phone numbers

Development of Innovative Start-up Enterprises

More of Programmes Available for Application with UBB Financing