WORTH Open Call: Boosting Competitiveness and Innovation Capacity of SMEs Through Creative Partnerships and the Use of New Technologies

The WORTH Partnership Project aims to make European creative industries (like fashion and home decoration) more competitive, sustainable, and innovative. It helps small businesses (such as manufacturers, artisans, and tech providers) team up with designers and creative professionals to develop new and high-value products, services, or processes.

Through an incubation and acceleration programme, the project supports these partnerships by:

Refining business ideas
Finding the right market position
Showcasing prototypes at trade shows
Developing an Intellectual Property (IP) strategy
Creating plans to attract investors and enter markets

The project offers financial support, expert mentoring, training, networking, and visibility opportunities to help these businesses grow and succeed.

Eligible Activities

Matchmaking activities facilitating the establishment of partnerships to be supported
Selection of partnerships for incubation programme
Business and financial support to selected partnerships
Knowledge Sharing and networking activities for selected partnerships, including annual events promoting creative entrepreneurship

Who Can Apply

To apply, a team (consortium) of 3 to 8 independent organisations from at least 3 different eligible countries must submit a proposal. The team must include:

A business support organisation (e.g., a university, training centre, or research centre) that can help SMEs with knowledge transfer and training
A communication and dissemination specialist to manage outreach and publicity

Available Budget

Topic 1: SMP-COSME-2024-WORTH-01 — Boosting Competitiveness and Innovation Capacity of SMEs through creative partnerships – WORTH partnership project – Fashion – EUR 2 250 000
Topic 2: SMP-COSME-2024-WORTH-02 — Boosting Competitiveness and Innovation Capacity of SMEs through creative partnerships – WORTH partnership project – Home decoration – EUR 2 250 000

Number of Projects to be Funded: 2 projects, 1 per topic
Project Duration: between 36 and 48 months
Submission Deadline: 3 April 2025, 17:00 (CEST)

More Information: eismea.ec.europa.eu/funding-op[…]-and-use-new_en