INNOVOUCHER Pilot Call

Deadline: Jun 15, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

CALENDAR (all deadlines will be at 17.00 Brussels Time)

• Announcement (to be uploaded to H2020 Participant Portal): 15th Jan 2018 – 14th Feb 2018

• Call opens: 15th March 2018

• Call closes: 15th June 2018

• Application review, evaluation and notification deadline: 31st July 2018

• Sub-Grant Agreements signature: Until 30th September 2018

• Development of granted projects & payment to providers (by beneficiaries): Until 28th February 2019

• Request for payment (by beneficiaries): Until 15th March 2019

• Review of Requests for payment & Sending Certificate for payment to coordinator: Until 1st April 2019

• Payment Order to beneficiaries / to beneficiary’s managing authority: Until 15th April 2019 (Bank transfers will be ordered in a maximum of 14-calendar day term after receiving a valid Certificate for Proceeding to Payment).

 

FOREWORDs in the Call

Project INNOVOUCHER is funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 671295.

In consonance with the EU Single Market (COM2014-14), it is a priority for the European Commission to establish a single market for innovation, to “ensure territorial and social cohesion throughout Europe” and “pool resources in research and innovation” as the Innovation Union initiative stands.

Innovation Voucher Programmes are schemes at the basement of the innovation promotion that align with this initiative, but nowadays most of these programmes’ scope is geographically limited and do no enhance cross-borders collaborations.

In this context, INNOVOUCHER initiative address also Riga Declaration that states as follows:

“[...] The European level is encouraged to develop with national and regional entities a voluntary collaboration and brokerage framework for innovation voucher programmes that aims at making excellent knowledge, skills and innovation support services from both public and private service providers across Europe more effectively accessible for SMEs.”

Thus, INNOVOUCHER project has worked to develop a new model of innovation voucher programme supporting the transnational exchange of innovation services in Europe. The project aims to help European regions and national governments to face their innovation challenges and achieve their goals in their innovation support to companies by putting into place a collaborative framework across Europe. This way, regions and enterprises can take advantage of the globalization benefits and Europe can promote competitiveness and cooperation in an effective and cross-national way.

With a view to spread the future adoption of the improved model based on the empirical findings of the project, this Call is aimed to test the model in the five partner regions (“target regions”). Besides the dissemination of the results and impacts of this pilot project will encourage other regions to adopt the model. Such a pilot action foresees the provision of financial support to enterprises and their associations, as a mean to achieve its objectives.

An announcement of the Call has been published on Horizon 2020 Participants Portal in February 2018. The current full Call, Innovoucher Grant Agreement and other documents are published on this Innovoucher call web site (www.innovoucher.eu/call).

 

 

Objective of the call:

The objective of the Call is to enable small and medium sized enterprises and their associations to acquire knowledge, technology and innovation services supplied by accredited providers located in other EU Member States.

The action will provide a total grant of 600.000 EUR to a maximum of 25 beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries must be located in any of the following “target regions” (Innovoucher Consortium partner regions): Flanders (Belgium), Romania, Region of Marche (Italy), Poland and Region of Murcia (Spain). Managing Authorities of this Call in Target Regions are as follows:  

 

 

 

VLAIO - Vlaams Gewest

Koning Albert II Laan, 20, 1000 Brussel
(BELGIUM)

 

UEFISCDI - Unitatea Executiva pentru finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii 

Mendeleev Street 21-25, Bucharest 
(ROMANIA)

 

SVIM - Sviluppo Marche Srl Società Unipersonale 

Via Gentile Da Fabriano, 9, 60125 Ancona
(ITALY)

 

PARP - Polska Agencja Rozwoju Przedsiebiorczosci

Ul. Panska 81/83 00-834, Warszawa
(POLAND)

 

INFO - Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia 

Avenida de la Fama, 3, 30003 Murcia
(SPAIN) 

 

Beneficiaries must fulfill the criteria defined by the EC (according to the definition in Annex I of Commission regulation (EU) no 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty). Beneficiaries cannot be entities which are in financial difficulty within the meaning of EU State aid rules, in particular Commission regulation (EU) no 651/2014.

Entities without independent legal status, such as a consortium, will be excluded.

In consequence, applicants shall provide a financial undertaking to evidence their financial and economic capacity in compliance with the selection criteria for this Call, according to declaration in Annex 1 – Application Form.

A description of target regions’ RIS3 priorities can be found at Innovoucher Call web site (www.innovoucher.eu/call).

 

3. International innovation Services to be granted

This article states a closed list of the different types of activities that qualify for financial support.

a. Services including Research & Development, Technology Transfer or other innovation activities comprised in the following list (according to Commission regulation (EU) no 651/2014 of 17 June 2014):

1. 'industrial research' means the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It comprises the creation of components parts of complex systems, and may include the construction of prototypes in a laboratory environment or in an environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems as well as of pilot lines, when necessary for the industrial research and notably for generic technology validation;

2. 'experimental development' means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and  skills with the aim of developing new or improved products, processes or services. This may also include, for example, activities aiming at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services;

3. Experimental development may comprise prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real life operating conditions where the primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set. This may include the development of a commercially usable prototype or pilot which is necessarily the final commercial product and which is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes.

4. Experimental development does not include routine or periodic changes made to existing products, production lines, manufacturing processes, services and other operations in progress, even if those changes may represent improvements;

5. 'feasibility study' means the evaluation and analysis of the potential of a project, which aims at supporting the process of decision-making by objectively and rationally uncovering its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as identifying the resources required to carry it through and ultimately its prospects for success;

6. 'innovation advisory services' means consultancy, assistance and training in the fields of knowledge transfer, acquisition, protection and exploitation of intangible assets, use of standards and regulations embedding them;

7. 'process innovation' means the implementation of a new or significantly improved production or delivery method (including significant changes in techniques, equipment or software), excluding minor changes or improvements, increases in production or service capabilities through the addition of manufacturing or logistical systems which are very similar to those already in use, ceasing to use a process, simple capital replacement or extension, changes resulting purely from changes in factor prices, customisation, localisation, regular, seasonal and other cyclical changes and trading of new or significantly improved products;

8. Market readiness activities  targeting radically new, breakthrough products, services, processes or business models that open up new markets (from TRL 6 to TRL8).

b. Services or activities excluded

According to the decision on the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, this Call explicitly excludes three fields of research from Community funding:

1. research activities aiming at human cloning for reproductive purposes;

2. research activities intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable;

3. research activities intended to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research or for the purpose of stem cell1 procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Therefore, no activity will be funded that is forbidden in all Member States. No activity will be funded in a Member State where such activity is forbidden.

c. Only transnational Services will be considered as eligible. Thus, Beneficiaries and service providers must be located in different EU member states. By doing so, a European dimension is assured.
Services having started before submission date of the application will not be granted.

d. In any case, Open Access of Services which imply scientific publications or to research data resulting from publicly funded research under Horizon 2020 shall be ensured by the Beneficiaries and it shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013.

e. All the Services shall comply with ethical principles and relevant national, Union and international legislation, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights and its Supplementary Protocols. Particular attention shall be paid to the principle of proportionality, the right to privacy, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to the physical and mental integrity of a person, the right to non-discrimination and the need to ensure high levels of human health protection.

 

4. International service providers

Services to be granted in the Call must be supplied by accredited providers included in a List of Accredited Providers that can be accessed through www.innovoucher.eu/call.

Other providers willing to offer their services to beneficiaries located in one or several of the Target Regions of this Call must previously apply for accreditation to their Regional Authority with a view to be entitled to supply those services. Providers must be located in one of the Target Regions or in a Trusted Partner EU Region (see below). A List of Regions (and their Regional Authorities) will be available on the Innovoucher call web site, including links to their regional provider accreditation procedures.

Once a service provider is accredited will be added to a List of Accredited Providers that can be found on www.innovoucher.eu/call.

Other EU regions not included in the former List of Regions can participate in this pilot project by contributing with their local accredited providers willing to supply eligible services to this Call’s beneficiaries from Target Regions. The Regional Authorities willing to participate in the pilot must fulfill some compulsory requirements and sign a Statement (see Annex 2-Trusted Partner EU Region Statement), as described in instructions published on Innovoucher call web 

site. Once this Statement is signed, the EU region will be entitled to be a Trusted Partner EU Region and will be included in the List of Regions.

A mutual recognition mechanism of accredited providers is applicable among the territories included in the List of Regions (Target & Trusted Partner EU Regions). Thus, any service provider accredited by one of the regions is automatically recognized and entitled to supply services to beneficiaries located in Target Regions of this Call.

 

5. Obligations of Beneficiaries

By applying to this Call, applicants formally accept the following conditions in case of being awarded:

• Beneficiaries accept their responsibility on accuracy and veracity of data and documents submitted for proving the fulfilment of the eligibility criteria when submitting their applications.

• Beneficiaries will provide the documentary evidences proving the provision of services.

• Beneficiaries, upon request, will fully support their respective Target region’s managing authority, the Innovoucher Coordinator, the EC and other Audit Entities, by providing information and documentation aimed to verify legality of funded operations.

• Beneficiaries are obliged to store the documents for external audit purposes until 30th April 2024, either on paper or electronic version. The Beneficiaries have to inform the Target Region’s Managing Authority about changes of their location.
  Beneficiaries are in general bound to art. 35 (Conflict of interest), art. 36 (Confidentiality and Data Protection), art. 38 (Visibility of EC funding) and art. 46 (Liability) of the Annotated Model Grant Agreement - AGA of the H2020 Programme, without prejudice to the provisions set out in this Call and in the Sub-Grant Agreement.

• Beneficiaries must ensure that the recipients of the financial support allow the EC, the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) and the Court of Auditors to exercise their powers of control, audit and monitoring on documents, information, even stored on electronic media, or on the final recipient's premises, and shall comply with the Regulation for the Protection of the financial interests of the Union.

• Beneficiaries will make references to public funding from EU, including suitable logos, and EU flag. Beneficiaries will include references to INNOVOUCHER PROJECT and specifically show that funding is 100% under European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme - Grant Agreement No. 671295.

• Beneficiaries shall implement the Services in compliance with all the conditions and obligations set out in Regulation (EU) 1290/2013, the Call and the Sub-Grant Agreement.

• Beneficiaries shall make no commitments which are incompatible with the Regulation or the Sub-Grant Agreement.

• Beneficiaries shall implement the Services and shall take all necessary and reasonable measures to that end. They shall have the appropriate resources as and when needed for carrying out the Services.

 

6. Eligible expenditures

Contractual costs of Services (as described in Article 3) supplied by accredited transnational providers to the Beneficiary. VAT is not considered as eligible cost.

Applications must include services whose minimum budget is 16.000 euros (VAT excluded).

 

7. Maximum amount to be granted to each beneficiary SME

The maximum amount of grants allocated to this Call is 600.000 €. There is an initial appointed assignment of 120.000 € for each one of the Target Regions. In the event that one or more target Regions are not in the position to award grants for such amount, transfers among Target Regions will be possible as described in the Article 9 Procedure for Review and evaluation of applications of this call.

The maximum grant is 70% of eligible costs with a maximum amount of 24.000 € per beneficiary.

Grants are fully funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme - grant agreement No. 671295. It is not possible to accumulate this grant with any other public aid.

 

8. Submission Procedure for grant applications

a. Applicants are obliged to use the application form & templates available on the Innovoucher call web site (according to the Annex 1- Application Form, or its adaptation to online tools). Applications must be fulfilled in English. The Applicant is obliged to provide an e-mail address to ensure effective communication between the corresponding Managing Authority and the applicant during the whole procedure defined in this Call.

Any additional requests or question regarding this Call can be sent to the Call Manager only via dedicated e-mail address: info@innovoucher.eu

The submitted application must be in accordance with the documents described on the Innovoucher call web site, including a formal declaration of acceptance of Obligations.

The application must indicate the name of the accredited service provider accessible through the Innovoucher call web site. In case of selecting a service provider not included in list, the provider would previously follow the instructions in Article 4 - International service providers. In the situation where a suitable service provider is not available on the list, the applicant can request the corresponding Managing Authority for the specialized assistance in finding the international provider in order to be potentially accredited.

2. Applications signed by legal representative of the applicant organization will be scanned and electronically submitted to the Call Manager as described in the Innovoucher Call Web site (by using specific online tools).

3. Applications can be submitted not later than 15th June 2018, 17.00 Brussels time.

4. An acknowledgment of receipt will be sent to the Applicant, including a time stamp (day & time) of the submission (according to the Annex 3 - Acknowledgement of receipt).

5. In case of two or more applications submitted by the same Applicant, only the first one will be taken into consideration.

6. Late submissions will not be possible. Applicant will receive a "Call Closed" notification.

7. Amendments or changes in a submitted application will not be admitted.

8. Applications shall include a draft plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the Results.

9. Any Applications for research on human embryonic stem cells shall include, as appropriate, details of licensing and control measures that will be taken by the competent authorities of the Member States concerned as well as details of the ethical approvals that will be provided. As regards the derivation of human embryonic stem cells, institutions, organizations and researchers shall be subject to strict licensing and control in accordance with the legal framework of the Member States concerned.

10. Applications which contravenes ethical principles or any applicable legislation, or which does not fulfil the conditions set out in Decision No 2013/743/EU, in the work programme, in the Call may be excluded from the evaluation, selection and award procedures at any time.

11. Beneficiaries shall include in the Applications the activities to disseminate information and carry out communication activities. These activities shall be an integral part of all actions. Information and communication concerning, shall be made available and accessible in digital form.

 

9. Procedure for review and evaluation of applications

The submitted applications will be automatically redirected to the appropriate Target Regions’ Managing Authorities (according to the Applicant’s location) for the evaluation.

Each Managing Authority will nominate an internal Jury composed of 2 - 3 members (one evaluator, at least) with accordance to their corporate procedures and Horizon 2020 rules. Both a chairperson and a secretary of the Jury will be nominated.

For the evaluation of applications purposes, if needed the Managing Authorities may be assisted by external independent experts. The external experts must act in conformity with the Target Region’s evaluation procedures.

All members of the Jury, including chairperson and secretary, will have to sign a confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration prior to joining the Jury (according to the Annex 4 – Confidentiality & conflict of interest declaration).

After reviewing the application (according to the Annex 5 – Application Eligibility Checklist), in case of formal and direct request for any complementary information (or correcting obvious mistakes) for project application, applicants may dispose on 7-calendar day term to correct or 

provide documents to complete their initial application (to be fulfilled in English language). Late submissions will not be accepted.

Complementary information (including correcting an obvious mistake) may concern:

1) lack of information in the application about the applicant, an accredited service provider or budget, the incompatibility of signatures with the legal representation, the illegibility of the application, including the illegibility of signatures;
2) lack of conformity of the information of the application with the company documentation;

3) ambiguity of the information included in the application on activities planned to be done, results planned to be achieved;
4) inconsistencies of the information in the application which are obvious error.

Complementary documentation signed by legal representative of the applicant will be scanned and electronically submitted only via applications@innovoucher.eu (according to the Annex 6 - Request for further information or documents). The email must refer to the number of the application (in the subject field) provided in the Acknowledgement of receipt (according to the Annex 3 - Acknowledgement of receipt). The invitation may be sent at any stage of the Call.

Submitted information or documents will become part of the Applicant's application.

The accuracy of the statements and data included in the application must be verified during the review and evaluation process by the Jury.

The Applicant has the right of access to the documents relating to the assessment of his application, while maintaining the anonymity of the evaluator(s).

Those applications not fulfilling all obligatory requirements will be rejected by the corresponding Target Region’s Managing Authority. Notification of rejections will be issued accordingly to Article 11 Notification of awarding or rejection of the application.

After that, applications will be evaluated on a “competitive basis of award”, accordingly to Article 10 Criteria for ranking applications. An Evaluation form (according to the Annex 7 - Evaluation form) signed by the evaluator will be used for that purpose.

The evaluation will be done according to three criteria: Excellence, Impact and Implementation. The maximum score for each criterion is 5. The threshold for each individual criterion is 3. Evaluators are allowed to give fractions of 0.50 points. The overall threshold, calculated as a sum of the three individual scores is 9. The applications above the threshold will be ranked accordingly to the obtained score.

If the Jury acknowledge some cost in the application as ineligible, recommends a change of these costs and may invite the applicant to introduce adequate changes in the application via applicant’s e-mail within 3-calendar day term. In case this invitation is issued, in the absence of the agreement or lack of response to the proposed change within the indicated deadline, the application is rejected.

Each Target Region’s Jury will prepare a ranking list of applications to be proposed for funding within the initial appointed assignment of 120.000 euros per Target Region.

 

An application is included in the Ranking List if:

1) meet the criteria for selection of projects and score the required number of points above the threshold; and
2) budget available in the call allows to choose an application for funding.

In case of a tie score after the review of Applications, the following approach will be applied successively for every group of ex aequo Applications requiring prioritization, starting with the highest scored group, and continuing in descending order: 1. Impact, 2. Excellence, 3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation.

In the case of having in the Target Region more proposals above the threshold than available budget, those proposals will be put on a Reserve List to be considered for funding if there are any saving in the overall pilot budget.

Each Jury will prepare a Territorial Evaluation Report, including a ranking list, a reserve ranking list and a rejected applications list, together with the reasons of rejection (according to the Annex 8 – Evaluation report). Chairman of each Jury will sign the territorial evaluation report.

After review and evaluation, the Managing Authority in each Target Region will individually notify (according to the Article 11 Notification of awarding or rejection of the application) any applicant about the result of the evaluation and a fact of being awarded or rejected from being awarded the grant.

 

10. Criteria for ranking applications

In conformity with EU practices, the Call rules rest on a number of well-established criteria:

1. Excellence (max. 5.0 points)

1.1 Clarity and pertinence of the objectives (max. 1.0 point)

1.2 Credibility of the proposed approach and soundness of the concept (max. 1.0 point)

1.3 Extent that proposed work is ambitious, has innovation potential, and is beyond the state of the art (e.g. ground-breaking objectives, novel concepts and approaches) (max. 2.0 points)

1.4 The effectiveness of the project cost in the context of the project objective(s), the scope of the service and the results to be achieved (max. 1.0 point)

 

2. Impact (max. 5.0 points)

2.1 Contribution to the specific requirements applicable to each target region in conformity with Article 2 Beneficiaries (max. 1.0 point)

2.2 Enhancing the innovation capacity and the integration of new knowledge; Strengthening the competitiveness and the growth of companies; and, if applicable, the implementation of such innovations to the market; Any other environmental and socially important impacts (not already covered above); (max. 2.5 points)

2.3 Effectiveness of eventual implementation plan of the project’s results (including explanation of Intellectual Property Rights management, if applicable) (max. 1.5 points)

 

3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation (max. 5.0 points)

3.1 Appropriateness of the provider’s field of expertise within the scope of the project (max. 1.0 points)

3.2 Justification of the need of the required service (max. 2.0 points) 3.3 Clarity and Completeness of the Project (max. 2.0 points)

 

 

11. Notification of awarding or rejection of the application

Each Managing Authority will individually notify reasons for administrative rejection (according to the Annex 9 – Notification form of Rejection) to each rejected Applicant.

Claiming against this notification of rejection can be submitted via applications@innovoucher.eu within 7-calendar days from the date of sending the notification by the Managing Authority. Claims must be prepared in English language. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Claims will be internally forwarded to Target Regions’ Managing Authorities to be processed. The claims shall be submitted in writing and shall contain:

1) an identification of the Applicant and application number;
2) an indication of the evaluation criteria with the applicant's disagreement, including justification;
3) an indication of procedural violations to the evaluation process carried out in the opinion of the applicant, including justification;
4) signature of legal representative.

Received claims will be processed by corresponding Managing Authorities, that will evaluate claims by verifying the correctness of the application's evaluation, criteria and objections of the applicant within 14-calendar days.

If needed, the Managing Authorities will prepare an updated territorial evaluation report, and send it to Innovoucher Coordinator.

 

In case of unused budget in any target region after this updated territorial evaluation report, it may be reallocated to applications retained in the reserve ranked lists of other target regions on a proportional basis to each Target Region’s number of applications in its reserve ranked list.

As a result of the former processes, a consolidated evaluation report will be produced by Innovoucher Coordinator in which the awarded applications - from highest to lowest score - will be granted at 70% (or at the lower requested level, if applicable) with the maximum amount of 24.000 € per beneficiary; last awarded application will be granted at up to 70%, in accordance to the remaining budget in the Target Region.

Awarded applicants will be notified by each Target Regions’ Managing Authority about their results and an explanation of next steps to be done (according to the Annex 10 – Notification form of awarding).

Likewise, non-awarded applicants will be individually notified by each Target Region’s Managing Authority. Claiming against decisions in the consolidated evaluation report will not be processed.

The review, evaluation and notification procedures will be undertaken by 31st July 2018, at the latest.

 

12. Sub-Grant Agreement contracting procedure

A Sub-Grant Agreement will be signed between the Coordinator, the Managing Authority and the Beneficiary (according to the Annex 11 A (three partiers)– Sub-Grant Agreement), settling the specific conditions, rights and obligations for the concession by the Innovoucher Consortium of a grant to the Beneficiary for the implementation of the awarded project.

Only and with respect to the Applications received in certain territories, a bank guarantee will be required prior to granting the fund, which must be valid for 6 years since the notification of the resolution of approval of the grant and must include the total amount of the grant received plus the applicable interest from the moment of receipt of the Notification of Awarding, in accordance with the provisions of the beneficiary’s national law applicable at this time and published by the corresponding Public Institution of the country of each Applicant (e.g. National Bank). Conditions for implementation related to the bank guarantee requirements will be published on Innovoucher Call Web site (www.innovoucher.eu/call). In this case, the sub-grant agreement between the Coordinator and the Beneficiary will be signed, in accordance with the provisions of Annex 11-B (two partiers)– Sub-Grant Agreement.

The Coordinator may refuse to sign the Sub-Grant Agreement in case this Bank Guarantee is not provided or not comply with the requirements and conditions mentioned above.

After sending the notification of being awarded, the Managing Authority will prepare the Sub- Grant Agreement (according to the Annex 11 – Sub-Grant Agreement), mark/sign every page and send to the Beneficiary for signing by its legal representative(s). The Managing Authority is responsible for the completeness and correctness of the document provided to the Beneficiary.

 

The Beneficiary is obliged to provide to its Managing Authority three signed copies of the Sub- Grant Agreement within 7-calendar days after receiving it. In the case of failure to deliver the document in due time, the Coordinator may refuse to sign the Sub-Grant Agreement.

The Managing Authority’s legal representative(s) will sign the three copies of the Sub-Grant Agreement or, alternatively, will get the Bank Guarantee mentioned above.

The copies of the Sub-Grant Agreement and the Bank Guarantee (if applicable) will be posted by the Managing Authority to the Coordinator not later than 10th September 2018, to the post address below. In the case of failure to deliver the document in due time, the Coordinator may refuse to sign the Sub-Grant Agreement.

Departamento de innovación empresarial
Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia (INFO)
Av. de la Fama, 3, 30003 Murcia, SPAIN
with indication on the envelope: “Innovoucher Project / Sub-Grant Agreement”.

After signing copies of the Sub-Grant Agreement, the Coordinator will send two copies back to the Managing Authority and the Beneficiary. The Coordinator will keep a copy of the document and a proof of delivering Sub-Grant Agreement to each Beneficiary.

The grant may be awarded only if the implementation of the services has not commenced before submission of the Application. If the Applicant initiates the services in violation of the above rule, all services expenditure becomes ineligible for grant. The Applicant may start the services on the day following the date of the Application, voluntarily and at his exclusive risk.

The commencement of services implementation is the date of contracting the first legally binding obligation to order services related to the execution of the project, excluding the preparatory work for the project, in particular the process of selecting a service provider and preparing the documentation related to the selection of the service provider.

 

13. Granted Projects duration

Services must be delivered to the Beneficiary in conformity with conditions stated in the Sub- Grant Agreement.

Projects (both service providing & its payment) must be finished by 28th February 2019. An extension of the Project duration is not possible.

14. Procedure to apply for Amendments in Sub-Grant Agreements

It is possible to amend the Sub-Grant Agreement upon the request of the Beneficiary only in case of a change of accredited provider by duly justified reason. The request must be submitted not later than 2 months after the signing of the Sub-Grant Agreement. The request must be prepared in English and be sent via applications@innovoucher.eu. The amendment request will be forwarded by Call Manager to the corresponding Managing Authority for evaluation. The evaluation will be completed within 14-calendar days.

 

The Managing Authority’s Jury will evaluate if the amendments are still in line with the objectives of the Call and check if the application of amendments still fulfills the evaluation criteria and all other requirements, without a change of the overall score of the project. Chairman of the Jury will sign this evaluation report.

If the application of amendments is considered as not fulfilling all requirements and evaluation criteria, it will be rejected and the Managing Authority will notify the beneficiary by e-mail, giving the reasons of refusal. Otherwise, the beneficiary will be notified by corresponding Managing Authority and an annex to the Sub-Grant Agreement will have to be signed as stated in Article 12 Sub-Grant Agreement.

Claiming against this decision will not be processed.

 

15. Procedure for requesting for payment and its verification

After project completion, the beneficiary will submit a Request for Payment (see Annex 12 –

Request for Payment form) that must include:

• Information about the beneficiary,

• Information about the accredited service provider,

• Information about the project,

• Payment Data, including an Expenditure Table with details about concerning invoice(s) issued by service provider and payments done according to the chosen method of payment in Document “B” of the Sub-Grant Agreement.

The following documentation must be also attached:

• copy of service contract between the beneficiary and the accredited provider,

• copy of each invoice(s) issued by service provider and mentioned in the expenditure table.

• copy of payment documents from beneficiary (mentioned in the expenditure table;

  including endorsement of the voucher plus bank statement of the payment to service provider – cash payments will NOT be allowed),

• copy of bank certificate of IBAN/SWIFT and account number for payment of the grant (of the provider, in case of use of the voucher, mentioned in the expenditure table),

• final report and other evidences of delivered service -such as sub-reports, analysis, photos of prototypes, if it was done within the project.

• Power(s) of attorney (if needed).

Invoices, evidences of payment or other documents with date previous to the day after the application submission day are not eligible. The end of the project date, including payment to the provider, must not differ from what is stated in the Sub-Grant Agreement.

Request for payments and attached documents will be in English, and must be signed by beneficiary’s legal representative. It must be scanned and electronically submitted to the Call Manager only via applications@innovoucher.eu within 14-calendar days after project completion date. An acknowledgment of receipt will be sent to the beneficiary, including a time stamp (day & time) of reception of the request for payment.

 

The received requests for payment will be internally forwarded to corresponding Target Regions’ Managing Authorities to be processed.

If the request for payment is not complete, the beneficiary may correct or provide any documents to complete their initial certification of expenditures within 7-calendar days. Complementary documentation signed by the applicant will be scanned and electronically submitted only via applications@innovoucher.eu

Target Regions’ Managing Authorities will evaluate the Request of Payment and attached documents against the Sub-Grant Agreement.

The Beneficiary is aware that proportional reduction of the grant (voucher) would occur in case of lower execution of the approved budget of the project. Moreover, loss of partial/total payment rights would occur in case of an incorrect certification of expenditures or a lack of accomplishment of requirements or conditions stated in the Call or the Sub-Grant Agreement. In such case, the Coordinator reserves the right to deny the disbursement of the grant or any part of it.

Target Regions’ Managing Authorities will come out with a Certificate confirming the fulfilling of all requirements (according to the Annex 13 – Certificate for proceeding to payment), to be signed by the Managing Authority’s legal representative, recommending the payment of the grant. Otherwise, the Request of Payment will be rejected and the beneficiary notified by managing authority via e-mail, with the reasons of refusal. Claiming against this decision will not be processed.

The Certificate for Proceeding to Payment will state that the provision of services has been completed, the provision of documentary evidences has been received, reviewed and stocked; and will clearly indicate whether the provider or the beneficiary should receive the payment, including a valid IBAN/SWIFT of the entity to be paid. This certificate together with a copy of the power of Managing Authority’s Representative (signatory), an original copy of IBAN/SWIFT Certificate and the account number will be posted to Innovoucher Coordinator not later than 1st April 2019.

 

16. Payment Orders

Bank transfers will be ordered by the Innovoucher Coordinator in a maximum of 14-calendar day term after receiving a valid Certificate for Proceeding to Payment (above) from any Target Region’s Managing Authority.

Alternatively, when the payment is to be done by the Managing Authority (according to signed Annex 11 A (three partiers)– Sub-Grant Agreement among the Coordinator, Managing Authority and the Beneficiary), the Innovoucher Coordinator will transfer the grant to the Managing Authority for payment to the Beneficiary or Provider within the term of 7-calendar days. The Managing Authority will make the payment in 7-calendar day term.

 

17. Liability for damages, breaches and reimbursement of grant procedure

1. Liability of the Innovoucher Coordinator

   The Innovoucher Coordinator or the EC cannot be held liable for any damages caused to the Beneficiary (or to third parties) as a consequence of implementing the Services, including for gross negligence.

2. Liability of the Beneficiary
   Except in case of force majeure, the Beneficiary must compensate the Innovoucher Coordinator for any damages it sustains as a result of the implementation of the services or because the action was not implemented in full compliance with the Sub-Grant Agreement.
   If the Beneficiary breaches any condition, requirement or time term stated in the Sub- Grant Agreement, the Call or other applicable legal requirements, a breach procedure will be started. The Beneficiary will be notified, any claiming from it will be processed and a final decision and its communication issued. These procedures could finally result in losing the awarded grant, including any reimbursement if already paid. Managing Authority or the Innovoucher Coordinator are responsible for issuing these procedures as stated in the Sub-Grant Agreement.
   Each Managing Authority has been designated as responsible for the correct use of European Funds in its region or country, including the accurate management of Applications (from evaluation to certification for proceeding the payment). Therefore, in case of any cause resulting in the need of reimbursement of the grant received by a Beneficiary, the corresponding Managing Authority will proceed through its habitual procedures under local law. Alternatively, the Innovoucher Coordinator could execute the Beneficiary’s bank guarantee in order to recover the grant paid, if stated in the Sub- Grant Agreement.
   Beneficiaries shall retain responsibility towards the Innovoucher Coordinator, through the corresponding Managing Authority or the relevant funding body for the Services carried out.
   Beneficiaries shall ensure that the Innovoucher Coordinator is informed in due time of any event which might significantly affect the implementation of the action or the interests of the Union.

 

18. Legal Framework

This Call is launched as a pilot project under Innovoucher Project (Grant Agreement no. 671295), and is 100% funded under European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and shall be issued an accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1291/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 December 2013 establishing Horizon 2020 (i) the Framework programme for Research and Innovation and (ii) laying down the rules for participation and dissemination (2014-2020).

Applicants must be aware that their information and documents will be used by Target Regions’ Managing Authorities (and Trusted Partner EU Regions), EC and other entities involved in processing this Call from application to certification procedures. Specifically, Beneficiaries must be aware that, following the H2020 guidelines, Innovoucher Project Partners will keep internal records of, among others:

• A list of applications received, identifying the name and address of applicants.

• All communications with applicants before call closure and during the evaluation.

• The names and affiliations of the experts involved in the evaluation.

• For each application, a copy of the filled forms used in the evaluation.

• A record of all incidents which occurred during the evaluation (e.g. how conflict of

  interests was handled if they were detected during the evaluation process) and any deviation from standard procedure (e.g. if a proposer selection was not the highest scoring application, you must document the objective reasons why the highest scoring one was passed over).

• Copy of requests for payment and attached documents.

Beneficiaries shall comply with national legislation, regulations and ethical rules in the countries where the Services will be carried out.

 

19. Confidentiality

1. Subject to the conditions established in the implementing agreements, decisions or contracts, any data, knowledge and information communicated as confidential in the framework of an action shall be kept confidential, taking due account of European Union law regarding the protection of and access to classified information.

2. Information to be made available:
   1. Without prejudice to the section before, the EC shall, upon request, make available to the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, any Member State or associated country, any useful information in its possession concerning results generated by a Beneficiary in an action that has received Union funding, provided that both the following conditions are met:

   1. (a) the information concerned is relevant to public policy;

   2. (b) the Beneficiaries have not provided sound and sufficient reasons for withholding the information concerned.

3. In actions under the specific objective 'Secure societies - Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens', the EC shall upon request make available to Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies or to Member States' national authorities any useful information in its possession concerning results generated by a Beneficiary in an action that has received Union funding. The EC shall notify the Beneficiary of such communication. Where a Member State or Union institution, body, office or agency requests the communication of information, the EC shall also notify such communication to all Member States.

2. The provision of information pursuant to paragraph 1 shall not be deemed to transfer to the Innovoucher Coordinator any rights or obligations of the EC or of the Beneficiaries.

 

However, Innovoucher Coordinator shall treat any such information as confidential unless it becomes public or is made available publicly by the beneficiaries, or unless it was communicated to the EC without restrictions concerning confidentiality. The EC rules on security shall apply regarding classified information.

 

20. Rules governing the exploitation and dissemination of results

Beneficiaries shall comply with all the terms and conditions set out in the Grant Agreement No 671295 subscribed between the Innovoucher Coordinator and the EU to develop the INNOVOUCHER project (EU-funded through Horizon 2020 programme), related to the following aspects concerned the Services:

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS RELATED TO RESULTS

1. Ownership of Results

2. Protection of Results

3. Exploitation and dissemination of results

4. Transfer and licensing of results

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS RELATED TO BACKGROUND

1. Access rights principles

2. Access rights for implementation

3. Access rights for exploitation

PROTECTION OF RESULTS, EXPLOTATION AND DISSEMINATION.

1. Obligation to protect, to exploit, to disseminate the Results.

2. Information on EU Funding

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