The Distribution Committee of the Interport Compensation Fund, composed of the presidents of the 28 Port Authorities and State Ports, presented last October 14 the second call of the “Ports 4.0” Fund for ideas and business projects, with the same objective of attracting, supporting and facilitating the application of talent and entrepreneurship to the Spanish public and private port-logistics sector.
The main novelty of this second call is that, given the success of the first call to which 520 innovative solutions were presented, the total budget of the grants will be increased by 50%, so that the ideas will receive 750,000 euros, being able to reach up to 50 subsidized proposals, and 6 million euros will be allocated to subsidize commercial projects. Therefore, the present call, whose Regulatory Bases are governed by the same ministerial order as the previous call, will have a total endowment amounting to 6,750,000 million euros for the term of the same.
The Algeciras Port Authority, which during the first call received and analyzed a total of 64 proposals, 7 of them for the category of ideas and 57 for projects, provides support to ideas and projects that are aligned with its strategic innovation focuses and objectives in order to attract the interest of national and international companies and start-ups, reinforcing its consolidation as an international Port Living Lab. To do so, interested parties can send their request via email to innovacion@apba.es.
As for the deadlines to apply for grants, for the category of ideas the deadline for submission of proposals will be open until December 21, 2021 and for commercial projects the deadline for application is January 21, 2022.
As for the Ideas or Commercial Projects likely to be awarded the grants, they must develop a new product, service, process, or improve an existing technology with a new innovative component, developing its application for the logistics-port sector. Applications must also promote the achievement of measurable breakthrough solutions in one or more areas of port-logistics activity. These areas are: logistic efficiency in the infrastructural, operational or service provision field, environmental sustainability and energy, safety and security, digitalization of processes and intelligent platforms and any other innovative product, service or process with an impact on the port-logistic sector or on the nautical or fishing port sector.
In addition, the Idea or Business Project submitted must possess a certain, demonstrable and clearly delimited innovative component, at least in terms of its scope, contents and costs, as well as not existing, both nationally and internationally, its application for the sector. This innovative component of the applications must account for at least 50% of the total budget, even if this percentage exceeds the funding limits established for each type of project.
Winning ideas will be awarded a fixed amount of €15,000 to enable them to carry out a proof of concept and achieve the TRL 3 required to reach the pre-commercial project category. On the other hand, for projects in the commercial phase, the aid will consist of a maximum amount of 80% of the costs associated in the project budget with the innovation component, with a maximum limit of €2,000,000.
In both cases, there is the possibility of accessing acceleration or advisory services to accelerate the commercial deployment, growth and ensure the business success of the project. These services are established in the territorial headquarters of the incubator-accelerator associated with the Plan to boost Entrepreneurship for Innovation in the port sector “Ports 4.0”.
Those interested can find more information about the call and register through the website: www.ports40.es. In addition, Puertos del Estado, through the technical office that coordinates the initiative (KPMG and Innsomnia), makes available to interested parties the address info@ports40.es, to which they can contact for any clarification or query about the program.
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