The award of a Seal of Excellence allows a public authority, national or local, if it so wishes, to provide a grant to its beneficiary based on the evaluation performed by the European Commission, with no additional checks.
As to incentivize funding of Seal of Excellence, the Commission is moreover in the process of proposing:
- that such national or local public funding could be made at the same level of funding and under the same cost eligibility rules as those applicable to the SMEI Phase 2 and the Accelerator (70% of TRL 6 to 8 activities with a 20% flat rate for indirect costs), hence derogating to the usual lower applicable funding levels established by State Aid rules.
- that national and local authorities are given the possibility to use “structural funds” (e.g. regional funds) of the European Union they manage to provide such support.
- Finally, under the full-fledge EIC starting in 2021, all Seal of Excellence including those awarded under Horizon 2020 will benefit from some EIC Business acceleration services, as any direct beneficiary of the EIC.
Please, visit the EU Seal of Excellence website for more information.
Resource: Enhanced European Innovation Council (EIC) Pilot FAQ (25.10.2019)