Good practice:

SMALL-SCALE INCENTIVES FOR SMEs - VOUCHERS

At the beginning of 2019, the Slovene Enterprise Fund (“SEF”) introduced a new simplified programme of incentives for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”). The primary purpose of these vouchers is to financially assist SMEs through the co-financing of services in different fields and, consequently, to positively influence the competitiveness and competences of SMEs. Importantly, what differentiates these incentives from others, is that the costs of external advisors are also covered.
The amount of financial support is limited. Each voucher can co-finance a maximum of 60% of eligible costs, whereby the maximum value of each voucher is up to 10.000 EUR. On an annual basis, SMEs can be eligible for financing for a maximum amount of 30.000 EUR.
Interested SMEs can obtain vouchers through a submitted application, based on a public call, which is published on SEF’s website. To benefit from funding, SMEs’ must comply with the required conditions.
There are thirteen types of vouchers with different contents, varying from the vouchers for quality certificates, the improvement of digital competences, preparation of a digital strategy, participation in international fairs, cybersecurity, to the voucher for the reorganisation of the legal form of enterprises and a voucher for the protection of intellectual property. Public calls are published for each of the groups individually.

Available funds in 2019: €10.9 m
Available funds in 2020: €7.30 m

1946 PROJECTS supported in 2019

The system of vouchers as small-scale initiatives for SME-s can be easily transferred to other countries, which do not have this kind of support, particularly now when digitization becomes increasingly important. It is possible to adapt the content of vouchers to the specific needs of the country or region.