The National Contact Point for the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) within Malta Enterprise has organised an information session to provide details on the Call for Proposals for projects to be supported through the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme.
The Call for Proposals, for which applications will be received until May 8th, 2013, seeks to support organisations – including public bodies, private companies, education establishments, NGOs, associations and SMEs – in implementing clean and sustainable energy solutions.
Additionally, the IEE programme – which is one of the initiatives undertaken by the European Commission as part of its drive to deliver on the ambitious climate change and energy targets that the EU has set for itself – also supports the dissemination and the Europe-wide exchange of related knowledge and know-how.
Targeted funding is provided for creative projects putting these ideas into practice with three main objectives, namely promoting energy efficiency and encouraging the rational use of energy sources; increasing the use of new and renewable energy sources as well as encouraging energy diversification; and stimulating energy efficiency and renewable energy in the field of transport.
More than 500 European projects involving 3,500 European organisations have to date received funding through the IEE and a lot has been achieved already.
Amongst others, examples of successful projects include training on new construction techniques that can lead to 50 per cent or more in energy savings when compared with traditional buildings, as well as the improvement of support schemes for electricity generation from renewable energy sources across Europe.
A number of European cities have also tapped into the IEE funding to develop more energy-efficient and cleaner transport, leading to a better quality of life for their citizens.
In the coming months, the European Commission – which manages the CIP – will amongst others issue two Calls for Proposals for projects to be assisted through the CIP's Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP) and the Eco-Innovation – under the CIP’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (EIP).
The ICT-PSP aims at stimulating a wider uptake of innovative ICT based services and the exploitation of digital content across Europe by citizens, governments and businesses, in particular SMEs; while the Eco-Innovation Programme provides support to SMEs to enable them to pilot the market uptake of highly eco-innovative products, services, systems or processes.
These calls will be the last ones before the CIP gives way to Horizon 2020 and the Programme for the Competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs (COSME) in the following year.
For more information, visit www.cipmalta.com or contact the Malta National Contact Point at Malta Enterprise on [email protected] or on 2542 0000.