SINLOC AND BANCO DI SARDEGNA TOGETHER FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

The Research&Innovation Fund is a financial instrument aimed at reducing the existing gap between the Southern Italian Regions and the rest of the country, by activating technological development initiatives and promoting innovation, with the aim of reaching the objectives of economic and social cohesion established by the European Union.
The Fund, set up by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), is a financial instrument which is part of the national operational programme “”PON Ricerca e Innovazione 2014-2020″. The MIUR, as Managing Authority, has in fact allocated part of the endowment of the PON R&I to the creation of a Fund of Funds (FoF) dedicated to R&I, the management of which has been assigned to the European Investment Bank (EIB), which subsequently selected some financial intermediaries and their technical partners to manage the resources.
The Banco di Sardegna and Sinloc were successful tenderers of an endowment of 62 million Euros. Such resources will financially support a series of initiatives in the field of research and innovation, with particular attention to the utilization of key enabling technologies (KETs) and will be able to activate further investments, through the blending of private and public resources, for a total of around 90 million.
The challenge of this Fund is to realise sustainable projects thanks to the blending of revolving funds and other public and private financial resources. In some segments this approach has proven to be more effective than grant funding in terms of leverage activated, since it makes it possible to attract private capital, promoting the set – up of companies partnerships.
Sinloc, in partnership with the Banco di Sardegna, and with the support of various Universities, with which memorandums of understanding were entered into, carries out the activities of scouting, selection and evaluation of the project, providing its skills and expertise.
The Fund has the following features:
it is aimed at some target regions, such as Sicily, Sardinia, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Calabria, Apulia and Basilicata
it has the objective of promoting territorial development projects in the subject areas of the National Smart Specialization Strategy (NSSS): Aerospace, Agrifood, Blue Growth, Green Chemistry, Design, Creativity and Made in Italy, Smart Factory, Energy, Sustainable Mobility, Health, Smart, Secure and Inclusive Communities
it is accessible to a vast audience of possible beneficiaries: small, medium and large enterprises and public and private research centres that develop innovative projects with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) from 2 to 8, in all the sectors of the NSSS.
Given the current context, the Research&Innovation Fund is evaluating the possibility of financing, besides research activities (TRL from 2 to 8), also the production and marketing costs (TRL 9) linked to projects useful for overcoming the health emergency, in any Italian region.