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As successor of the NER300 programme, the Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. It provides around EUR 38 billion of support from 2020 to 2030, depending on the carbon price, for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, which aims to bring to the market industrial solutions to decarbonise Europe and support its transition to climate neutrality.

The goal is to help businesses invest in clean energy and industry to boost economic growth, create local jobs and reinforce European technological leadership on a global scale. This is done through calls for large and small-scale projects focusing on:

• innovative low-carbon technologies and processes in energy-intensive industries, including products substituting carbon-intensive ones
• carbon capture and utilisation (CCU)
• construction and operation of carbon capture and storage (CCS)
• innovative renewable energy generation
• energy storage

The second call for small-scale projects was launched on 31 March 2022 with a budget of EUR 100 million. The call will fund projects with a capital expenditure between €2.5 and 7.5 million, in renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage.

The funding will help highly innovative technologies, which are sufficiently mature and have a strong potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional technologies, overcome the risks linked to commercialisation and reach the market. The Innovation Fund can support up to 60% of a small project’s capital expenditure.

Projects will be evaluated against their potential to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, their innovation, their financial and technical maturity, their potential for scaling up and their cost efficiency. The call is open for projects from all EU Member States, Iceland and Norway until 31 August.

Applicants can submit their proposals via the EU Funding and Tenders portal. The deadline for submission of applications is 31 August 2022.

Written by: Margherita Genua