Public call

The public call is closed.

Public call for Smart Start

In accordance with the provisions of the Law on Innovation Activities ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 129/2021) and the provisions of the Law on Budget of the Republic of Serbia for 2024. ("RS Official Gazette" no. 93/2023) and Program of allocation and use of funds for subsidies to public non-financial companies and organizations for 2024., as part of the Government Decision RS 05 No. 401-12449/2023 dated December 25th 2023.

Innovation Fund

publishes

Public call for the Smart Start program

The goal of the Smart Start program (Program) is to support highly promising teams in their efforts to validate their business ideas and demonstrate future usefulness of their technology through development of a first prototype or a minimum viable product (MVP).

The maximum amount of funding that the Innovation Fund (hereinafter: "Fund") allocates per individual project is up to RSD 5,400,000.00, which represents 90% of total project budget (excluding mentorship support). The minimum of 10% of the project budget (excluding mentorship support) is to be secured by the Applicant from any private source, but it needs to be secured in cash. No in-kind co-financing will be accepted. Additionally, all Awardees will receive RSD 600.000,00 of the additional funds that are to be allocated for the mentorship support. The mentorship support is paid by the Awardee directly to the mentor from a separate budget line of the project budget.

Terms of aplication

Eligible Applicants for this Program are:

  • Teams comprised of 2 to 5 members, and
  • at least 51% of team members that are residents of the Republic of Serbia.
  • at least 51% of team members does not have any stake in any other company in the Republic of Serbia.

Each individual team member can participate in only one Application within the current public call regardless of the IF programs.

If financing is approved:

  • The Applicants will be required to establish a limited liability company in accordance with the current Serbian Company Law.
  • The Co-founders of the newly established limited liability company must be residents of the Republic of Serbia and does not have any stake in any other company in the Republic of Serbia.
  • The newly established company must be 100% owned by at least 51% of the proposed team members. The ownership percentage among team members is subject to their internal agreement.
    • In case the team is comprised of two team members, both proposed team members have to be co-founders.
    • In case the team is comprised of three team members, two team members have to be co-founders.
    • In case the team is comprised of four or five team members, three team members have to be co-founders.
  • The legal representative of the newly established company must be one of the founders of the company.

Each individual team member is limited to one implementing project within Innovation Fund Programs. Accordingly, the Application where team members are also part of other implementing project within the Innovation Fund’s Programs will be disqualified from the further evaluation process.

The complete Application documentation consists of the following documents:

  • Applicant Statement (signed and submitted on the IF portal in the PDF format);
  • Application Form which has to be filled out and uploaded on the IF portal in PDF format. Furthermore, application form contains following sections to be filled out:
    • Details on the proposed solution and its potential business cases;
    • Brief description background of the team members to be engaged on the project (minimum 2 and maximum 5 team members);
    • Simplified budget;
    • A video clip representing the applicant’s elevator pitch lasting no longer than 3 minutes, including a brief explanation of the concept behind the product/service, and introduction of the team members.

Note: The application form must be submitted in the exact same visual and structural format and style as it is provided on the IF website. Any attempt to modify the Application form by unlocking and/or altering the formulas or text will result in the Application being disqualified from further evaluation. Applicants are allowed to use style formatting options within the predefined text boxes in the application form.

De minimis State aid regulation is applied to the financing received by the Awardee from the IF through this program in accordance with the Innovation Fund’s Rulebook on applying state aid rules.

All supported Awardees must complete their project activities within 6 to 9 months.

The program is open to Applications coming from all sectors of the economy and all fields of science and technology. However, please keep in mind that this program is aligned with the 2020 – 2027 Smart Specialization Strategy Serbia, which focuses on four main priority domains:

  1. Food for the future;
  2. Information and communication technologies (including a specific focus on Artificial Intelligence, as envisaged by the Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2020-2025);
  3. Machines and production processes of the future;
  4. Creative industries.

At least 50% of IF’s available funding for the call for proposals will be allocated for applications in the abovementioned priority domains.

All Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  1. Usefulness and competitive advantage of the proposed solution
  2. Market potential
  3. Team competence

Only Applications that meet the above criteria will be considered.

A team can submit only one Application within this Public Call. Incomplete Applications, as well as Applications that are not submitted by the deadline for submitting the Application, will not be considered.

In order for the Application to be considered and evaluated, it must be submitted in electronic form through the Innovation Fund's portal.

Due to the international evaluation process, the submitted Application must be in English.

Additional details regarding the application process and evaluation of submitted applications can be found in the Program Manual, which is available on the Fund's website: Documentation.

The deadline for submitting applications is December 16, 2024, until 12 p.m.

Please use this link to apply.

Contact: smartstart@inovacionifond.rs.