Background information

On 16 March 2021, the Ministry of Development & Investment launched the programme "Support for start-ups of the National Register" Elevate Greece "to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic" The action targets to the strengthening of the entrepreneurship and the liquidity of the start-ups and innovative small and medium enterprises, that are active in the areas of “Smart Specialization - RIS3”, of the National Register of start-ups "Elevate Greece", under the difficult conditions of the pandemic crisis which worsened due to its prolonged exacerbation of the affected economic Activity Codes. The aid will be given in the form of grants (working capital), so that companies remain viable and jobs are not lost.

Content of measure

According to the requirements of the programme:

• Beneficiaries of the financial support are innovative small and medium enterprises which are registered in the National Register of start-ups (EMNE) "Elevate Greece".
• The public funding covers working capital up to 80% of the company's expenses for the reference year (2019 or 2020) with a minimum grant amount of €5,000 and a maximum of €100,000.
• The beneficiaries choose the year in which they made the highest working capital expenditures, specifically in 2019 or 2020, on which the requested grant amount will be calculated.
• The subsidy of the beneficiary companies having expenses equal to or more than the amount of €125,000 will be at €100,000.
• Businesses are not subsidized in the case the result of the audit proves a sum of expenses less than €6,250.
• The amounts on which the exact amount of the grant will be calculated result from the sum of: purchases of consumer goods, purchases of raw materials and consumables, total payments to employees (excluding those engaged in agricultural - biological activities), and various operating expenses.
• Applications are submitted electronically to the State Aid Information System .

The budget of the program is €60 million. The application period is from March 16, 2021 to September 30, 2021. The Action is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and from national resources.

Use of measure

There is no information.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Start-ups	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

There is no involvement of social partners.

Views and reactions

There are no social partner's reactions to the measure.

Sources

• 16 March 2021: Support for start-ups of the National Register "Elevate Greece" to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic (Stirixi neofion epihiriseon Ethnikou Mitroou "Elevate Greece" gia tin antimetopisi tis pandimias COVID-19 (www.espa.gr)
• 10 September 2021: Extension of deadline for submitting applications in the framework of 'Elevate Greece' (www.antagonistikotita.gr)