The Official State Gazette (BOE) published, last December 28th, 2023, the new call for the Ports 4.0 fund for its Ideas and Commercial Projects program. This call regulates the granting, by Puertos del Estado, of public aid within the framework of the Plan to Promote Entrepreneurship for Innovation in the Port Sector, with the aim of promoting and facilitating the transition of the logistics-port sector towards the “smart ports” of the 4.0 economy.
This third call of the Fund, whose Regulatory Bases are governed following the same ministerial order of previous calls, maintains the budget allocation of the previous edition for the term of the same, set at 6,750,000 euros, thus consolidating the agency’s commitment to this successful initiative. Particularly, the amount is distributed in 750,000 euros for the modality of Ideas, of which 105,000 euros will be destined to intra-entrepreneurship, that is to say, those ideas presented exclusively by working personnel of the Port Authorities and Ports of the State. The remaining 6 million euros will be for the modality of Commercial Projects.
The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) has played a leading role during the first two calls, where it received and analyzed a total of 99 proposals, of which it supported 74 proposals as a facilitating agent or letter of support, of which 16 proposals were finally awarded the grant, representing almost 22% of the total number of projects supported.
Similarly, in this new edition, the APBA provides support to ideas and projects that are aligned with its strategic focuses and objectives of innovation in order to attract the interest of national and international companies and start-ups and continue to strengthen its consolidation as a Port Living Lab of international reference. To do so, interested parties can submit their request for support through the following link Proposal form provided by the Port Authority.
As for the deadlines to apply for grants, for the Ideas modality, the deadline for submitting proposals will be open until February 29, 2024 and, for the Commercial Projects modality, the deadline for applications will end on March 29, 2024.
As for the Business Ideas or Projects susceptible of being awarded grants, they must develop a new product, service, process, or improve an existing technology with a new innovative component, developing its application for the port-logistic sector. Applications must also promote the achievement of measurable breakthrough solutions in one or more areas of port-logistics activity. These areas are: logistics efficiency in the infrastructural, operational or service delivery domain, environmental sustainability and energy, safety and security, digitization of intelligent processes and 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 have a certain, demonstrable and clearly defined innovative component, at least in terms of its scope, contents and costs, as well as not existing, both at national and international level, 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.
The winning ideas will be awarded a fixed amount of 15,000 euros, which will allow them to carry out a proof of concept and reach a maturity level equivalent to TRL 3, required to reach the category of Pre-commercial Project. 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 to the innovation component, with a maximum limit of 2,000,000 euros.
In both cases, there is the possibility of accessing acceleration or advisory services to boost 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 Entrepreneurship Promotion Plan for Innovation in the port sector “Ports 4.0”.
Interested parties can obtain further information on the call and register through the web page: www.ports40.es. In addition, Puertos del Estado makes available to interested parties the address info.ports40@puertos.es, to which they can address any clarification or query about the program. Likewise, all recurring answers to the call will be published periodically in the FAQ section.
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