Its innovative Waterjade project has attracted the attention of the European Commission, and it has decided to fund it with €50,000.
MobyGIS has participated in the StartUp Europe Accelerator programme of Finnova Foundation in order to obtain this funding. It won the prize of the Water category of the StartUp Europe Awards Italy 2017.
The SME Instrument is the financing tool for SMEs under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme.
Four startups of the Finnova’s StartUp Europe Accelerator programme have been awarded with the European Commission’s last call of SME Instrument: Apsu, Cloudsensing, Homyspace and Withoutrees.
Brussels, 05.04.2019. The Italian company MobyGIS has passed the screening to access Phase 1 of the SME Instrument with its Waterjade project, for which it has received a grant of €50,000. Waterjade is a real-time and forecast service for snow and water resources quantification. The technology is based on a new paradigm of hydrological models, capable of exploiting all sources of data with the proper modeling detail, from in-situ measurements to satellite images and numerical weather predictions. The applications range from real-time snow monitoring on large areas to water discharge prediction in rivers.
“It is a great honor to be awarded by the EC in the SME instrument. The biggest value lies in the recognition of the innovative degree of our technology and the goodness of our business vision” has stated Matteo Dall’Amico, Founder and CEO in MobyGIS. “This has a great impact in terms of confidence in the team and focus in the prosecution of the project”. According to him, the SME instrument is “one of the most prestigious and competitive contest for start-ups in Europe”. Dall’Amico has concluded that “being awarded in Phase 1 means a lot in terms of confidence and value of our project. We are now even more determined to invest in the project to finally take it to commercialization”.
In addition, the company has just been selected by the CLIMATE KIC accelerator in Germany; it is the largest public-private accelerator in Europe in the fight against climate change, whose aid is valued at 95,000 euros. To access them, applicants must demonstrate that they have an innovative product with high potential for growth and international expansion.
Finnova’s StartUp Europe Accelerator is the only accelerator specialized in the opportunities offered by the EU, “working together in the preparation of reports to qualify for European funding such as that offered by the Horizon 2020 program and helping entrepreneurs to internationalize their businesses through European projects,” has stated the director of StartUp Europe Accelerator, Juanma Revuelta.
Through Finnova’s StartUp Europe Accelerator programme, which has received support from the Ministry of Employment for 3 years, more than 150 entrepreneurs have obtained mentoring and advice to access EU funds and other resources to internationalize their projects. The Finnova Foundation is a partner in obtaining and executing 14.3 million euros of European funds from the H2020 Nobel Grid project (13.9 million euros) and the European Commission’s SME Instrument tools and other national funding sources (400 thousand euros).
About SME Instrument
SME Instrument is a sub-programme of the 8th European Framework Programme for R&D&I funding Horizon 2020, with an exclusive focus on small and medium-sized enterprises. The financing of this sub-programme applies to all types of innovation, including non-technological and service innovations. The SME Instrument is structured in 3 phases covering the different stages of the innovation cycle. The proposal evaluation processes are based on simple rules in order to reduce the time to contract, receive funding in advance and be able to carry out approved projects as soon as possible.
The SME Instrument is an exclusive Horizon 2020 sub-programme for small and medium-sized enterprises consisting of three phases. In the first phase, each project has a duration of 6 months and is eligible for €50,000. The second phase has a duration of 12 to 24 months and is eligible for a grant of between half a million and 2.5 million euros. Finally, phase 3 consists of the commercialisation of the project. In this phase there is no direct financing; the aim is to facilitate access to private capital and facilitating environments in terms of innovation. In addition, access to risk finance is provided. It is permanently open until 2020 (with 4 annual deadlines. Next deadline for Phase 1: 7 May 2019).
In total, more than €2.8 billion will be allocated for the SME Instrument through the period 2014-2020.
Press contact
Catalina Valencia
Tel: 636889177