As early as January 2023, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth (MIR) will launch an application to receive grant-in-aid for the modernization of family businesses and companies from the creative industries and crafts, the ministry announced.

It will be possible under the procedure for Improving the production capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises worth over BGN 117 million. It is under the Program "Competitiveness and Innovations in Enterprises" (PCIP) 2021 - 2027. The procedure will be aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises businesses and more specifically family businesses – businesses that are owned by more than one family member.

Eligible expenses will be aimed at acquiring machinery, equipment, equipment and software related to the production goals of the enterprises.

We remind you that PKIP was approved by the European Commission in a record short time - in 48 days.

It was submitted on August 16 and approved on October 3.

Its total budget is BGN 3 billion. It is a continuation of the Operational Program "Innovations and Competitiveness" 2014-2020 (OPIC) and is one of the two major programs for business managed by the Ministry of Innovation and Growth.

It will support innovations in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at various stages of their development.

Partnership projects between SMEs and large companies to develop new technologies and innovations will be paid for.

953 projects will be the first to be financed under the Recovery Plan

The main priorities of the program are two - "Innovation and growth" and "Circular economy".

Funds are provided for the development and implementation of innovations in companies, development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, creation of new or development of existing companies with a focus on high-tech sectors of industry, protection of patents, industrial property, etc.

Digitization, the increase of cyber security, data privacy in small and medium-sized enterprises and the skills of the staff to work with the technologies of Industry 4.0 will be stimulated.

In addition to greater energy efficiency and independence of companies, in the second priority - "Circular Economy", funding is set for more efficient use of resources, the development of products with greater durability or with the possibility of recycling,

The "Research, Innovation and Digitization for Intelligent Transformation" Program 2021-2027 (PNIIDIT) with a budget of BGN 2.14 billion was also approved in record time - sent on October 26 and approved on December 5.

Only under the two new programs together (PKIP and PNIIDIT) MIR will manage a total of over BGN 5 billion until 2027. They will finance rapid development and implementation of innovations, as well as the introduction of scientific developments and their commercialization in the production and activities of companies .

After January 1, the individual application programs will be gradually opened.

It is carried out only electronically through the ISUN system (https://eumis2020.government.bg/), and more information is published on the MIR website (https://www.mig.government.bg/).