By decree of the Director General for Internationalisation Policies and Trade Promotion of September 18, 2017, the Ministry of Economic Development defined the operating procedures and deadlines for the application and granting of “Voucher for internationalisation”, aimed at supporting SMEs and business networks in their strategy of access and consolidation in international markets with 26 million resources allocated, pursuant to the Ministerial Decree of July 17, 2017. This is the second edition of this important instrument to support the internationalization of SMEs, which includes interesting innovations compared to the previous call:
- SMEs set up as partnerships will also be able to apply;
- There will be non-repayable grants of different amounts, depending on the needs of the beneficiaries;
- Community resources will be allocated to the Regions of Campania, Apulia, Calabria, Sicily and Basilicata;
INFORMATION SHEET:
Aims: The intervention consists of a non-repayable grant in the form of vouchers, in favour of all those SMEs that intend to look at overseas markets through a specialized figure (the so-called Temporary Export Manager or TEM) capable of studying, designing and managing processes and programmes on foreign markets. Companies must contact a company providing the services, choosing it from those included in the special list that will be published on the Ministry’s website by December 20, 2017.
Beneficiaries: micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), established in any legal form, and networks of enterprises between SMEs, which have achieved a minimum turnover of 500 thousand euros in the last financial year closed. This constraint does not exist in the case of Start-ups registered in the special section of the Register of Companies, as per art. 25 paragraph 8 of Law 179/2012.
TWO TYPES OF FACILITATIONS:
Early stage” vouchers:
Voucher for an amount equal to 10,000 euros against a service contract of at least 13,000 euros net of VAT.
The service contract, stipulated with one of the subjects registered in the Ministry’s TEM company list, must have a minimum duration of 6 months.
The voucher is equal to 8,000 euros for the subjects already beneficiaries under the previous call (DM 15 May 2015).
Voucher “advanced stage”:
Voucher for an amount equal to 15,000 euros for a service contract of at least 25,000 euros net of VAT.
The service contract, stipulated with one of the subjects registered in the Ministry’s TEM company list, must have a minimum duration of 12 months.
It is possible to obtain an additional contribution of 15,000 Euros against the achievement of the following objectives in terms of sales volumes abroad:
- increase in turnover deriving from transactions with foreign countries during 2018, i.e. during the same year and until 31 March 2019, compared to the turnover deriving from transactions with foreign countries achieved in 2017, must be at least equal to 15%;
- the percentage of turnover from transactions with foreign countries as a percentage of total turnover in 2018, or in the same year and until 31 March 2019, must be at least 6%.
Article published in: Ministry of Economic Development [link not working, cache copy of 16 May 2019]
