European Regional Development Fund
Overview
The European Regional Development Fund provides support to encourage research, development and innovation, create and grow SMEs, develop a low carbon economy and reduce the environmental risk to businesses. Investments to date have been made to accelerate the creation of a Thames Valley Science Park (£5m) and extend the life of the Berkshire Business Growth Hub, to February 2021 (£750,000).
Download the 'Supporting Local Growth 2018' ERDF case study booklet, which references the Thames Valley Science Park. The LEP invested £5 million ERDF enabled through the its ESIF Strategy >>
Download the July ERDF Practitioner Network Bulletin >>
Open Calls
Enhancing the Competitiveness of SMEs
This call is looking to:
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promote entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and fostering the creation of new firms, including through business incubators
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support the creation and the extension of advanced capacities for products, services and development
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support the capacity of small and medium sized enterprises to grow in regional, national and international markets and to engage in innovation processes
Call value: Up to £1.3m of funding is available. A minimum value of £500,000 of funding can be applied for.
Outline application deadline: 30 September 2019
Call specification >>
Research and innovation
This call is looking to:
- Enhance research and innovation infrastructure and capacities to develop research and innovation excellence, and promote centres of competence, in particular those of European interest
- Promote business investment in research and innovation
- To support the call the LEP commissioned SQW to examine the availability of ‘innovation spaces’ within Berkshire. At the outset, these were defined as “spaces which provide entrepreneurs and businesses with accommodation on flexible terms and access to supporting administrative, business and innovation support services and networks”. Download the report >>
Call value: Up to £1,650,000 of funding is available through this call. A minimum value of £500,000 of funding can be applied for.
Outline application deadline: 30 September 2019
Call specification >>
Low carbon
This call is looking to support the shift towards a low carbon economy in all sectors, specifically:
- Promoting the production and distribution of energy derived from renewable resources
- Promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy use in enterprises
- Supporting energy efficiency, smart energy management and renewable energy use in public infrastructure, including in public buildings, and in the housing sector
- Promoting research and innovation in, and adoption of, low-carbon technologies
Call value: Up to £2,210,000 of funding is available through this call. A minimum value of £500,000 of funding can be applied for.
Outline specification deadline: 30 September 2019
Call specification >>
Additional support
Webinar
We held a webinar to support the call, the slides from this can be accessed here
Technical assistance
To support applicants, we have retained Andy Luff of ACL European Consultancy Ltd to provide technical assistance. The role of ACL will be to provide advice and guidance on the design and development of projects during the outline and full application stage. This technical assistance support will be available from the following dates:
- 1st July 2019 to 8th July 2019
- 7th August 2019 to 20th September 2019
Please note this support does not remove the need for applicants to fully read the National Eligibility Rules before preparing an application. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the National Eligibility Rules are adhered to and ACL cannot accept responsibility for any projects which are found to not meet these eligibility requirements at any stage of the application process.
Please contact Andy at andy.luff@europeanfunding.org.uk or 07825 827210
Examples of ERDF funded projects from the Case Study Booklets
Partner Finder
If organisations are interested in partnership working on any of the ERDF Calls, please complete the partner register, here, and return it to joanna@thamesvalleyberkshire.co.uk by Monday 15 July 2019. It will be circulated to interested partners on Friday 19 July 2019.
FAQ documents are available:
Enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs >>
Research and innovation >>
Low carbon >>
Joint investment
For organisations interested in discussing a joint investment approach with the LEP, meetings will be available on Thursday 8 August. Please book here >>