State Aid for the Development of SMEs by Investing in the Information and Communication Technology

A Call for proposals (henceforth: “the Call”) related to the development of small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) operating in areas with development peculiarities by investing in the information and communication technology (“ICT”) has been opened in September 2015.

The Call is intended for SMEs in order to improve its competitiveness and efficiency by investing in (in)tangible assets related to the introduction of new and/or improvement of existing ICT solutions to optimize business processes, integrate business functions, effective organization of workflow and improve interaction with customers and suppliers. The aid intensity is 90%, the minimum grant amount is HRK 100.000,00 and the highest HRK 1.500.000,00. Applications for the Call can be submitted until 15 January 2016.

In order to demonstrate effectiveness of state aid/grant usage, projects need to show end results in terms of increased annual operational turnover and retention of existing or opening new job positions. Eligible activities for co-funding are as follows:

• Investments in hardware and software, including installation, programming and configuration, as well as supporting equipment and licences and also smaller construction operations which are not subject to construction permit
• Employees’ training
• Project-related external consulting services