Deadline: 24 October 2019

Applications has been launched for COSME Programme aiming at boosting sustainable tourism development and capacity of tourism SMEs through transnational cooperation and knowledge transfer.

The Programme will support transnational and cross-border cooperation to foster innovative solutions for sustainable tourism development and management of tourism enterprises, in particular SMEs.

Objectives

• The specific objective of the action is to develop and put in place transnational and cross- sectoral support schemes to build capacity for sustainable growth of SMEs in the tourism sector;
• Fostering SMEs’ capacities and skills to explore and uptake solutions, which would improve their sustainable management and tourism sustainability in general;
• Reinforcing transnational and cross-border cooperation to enable sustainable growth of tourism SMEs;
• Fostering Innovative solutions for sustainable tourism through cross- sectoral cooperation.

Focus Areas

• Boosting Skills and knowledge transfer activities, through:
  • Facilitating knowledge transfer between companies lagging behind in terms of sustainability and those more advanced;
  • Trainings and peer to peer learning for SMEs and start-ups in the tourism sector.
• Implementing technical support activities related to incubation, acceleration and scaling-up of tourism SMEs to:
  • Improve sustainable management of tourism SMEs;
  • Foster innovative solutions for sustainable tourism through enhancing cross-sectoral cooperation for the development of new products, services, skills and new business models.
• Providing direct financial support for capacity building in sustainable tourism to the selected tourism SMEs.

Funding Information

• The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 5 000 000;
• The maximum grant per project will be EUR 1 000 000.

Expected Outcomes

• Enhanced transnational cooperation of public and private stakeholders (including SMEs) on tourism sustainability;
• Increasing the competitiveness of tourism SMEs by improving their capacity and uptake of innovative sustainable solutions;
• Boosting innovation in sustainable tourism through knowledge transfer and cross- sectoral collaboration;
  Increasing transnational cooperation between tourism SMEs as well as between SMEs and incubators, accelerators and knowledge providers;
• Encouraging tourism SMEs to invest in sustainable solutions and capacity building;
• New market opportunities for SMEs, start-ups, in the tourism sector and for providers of sustainable solutions.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be fully or partly public or private bodies; private bodies must be properly constituted and registered under national law.;
• Applicants must be legal persons forming a consortium. The following is a list of non-exhaustive types of legal persons that may apply:
  • Non-profit organisations (private or public);
  • Non-governmental organisations;
  • Public authorities and their networks or associations at European, international, national, regional and local level, or organisations acting on behalf of a public authority, responsible for or active in the fields of tourism, economic affairs, industry, business support or related fields;
  • International organisations;
  • Private and profit making entities including micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) active in tourism and business support;
  • Chambers of commerce and industry;
  • Training and educational institutions, including universities and research centers active in tourism and business support;
• Natural persons are not eligible.
• Linked third parties, i.e. legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as applicants in order to declare eligible costs. These linked third parties must be identified in the proposal in order to consider their costs eligible;
• Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible:
  • EU Member States;
  • Countries participating in the COSME programme.
• Eligible consortia
  • The consortium must gather a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 members/partners – different legal persons – covering at least 5 eligible countries
• For British applicants
  • Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply via given website.

For more information please visit https://bit.ly/2KnocL9