CrossRoads Vlaanderen-Nederland

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Unfortunately, the network of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs still stops at the border too often. If an entrepreneur wants to innovate and looks for complementary partners, opportunities across the border are often missed. With CrossRoads, Interreg Flanders-Netherlands, Vlaio Team Business Pathways, Economic Impulse Zeeland, REWIN, the Brabant Development Company, LIOF and Innovation Quarter want to boost the existing potential in the border region by supporting SMEs and SMEs in the search for the perfect partner from across the border and subsidising their joint innovations. The project builds on the success of predecessors CrossRoads, CrossRoads 2 and CrossRoads 2 Sustainable Energy. Through these projects, dozens of innovations were realised by ‘couples’ Flemish and Dutch companies, and the Flemish-Dutch frontier in the field of innovation was therefore partly broken. For example, CrossRoads 2 (2016-2020) in which 202 companies participated in 118 innovation projects, where the total investment of EUR 7 million in grant resulted in an estimated economic added value of EUR 16 million per year! Crossroads Flanders-The Netherlands focuses on innovation focused on social needs. The added value of the innovations for ordinary Flemish and Dutch people is central. The focus will be on objectives that are at the top of the agenda in both Member States: Sustainable use of raw materials, Renewable energy, Industry 4.0, Health. The planned innovation pathways run up to two years, with a maximum grant of EUR 250.000 ERDF, accounting for 50 % of the total eligible costs. The ambition is to select at least 50 innovation projects with at least 125 companies. In the coming months, the scheme will be set up and discussed in concrete terms when a first call can be launched.

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