site.bta1,000 Bulgarian Companies to Get BGN 260 Mln for Output Modernization

Between 700 and 1,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the country will receive a grant to modernize production, purchase new software and develop new production lines and products. The funds are under the first procedure from the Recovery and Resilience Plan, "Technological Modernization", with a total budget of BGN 260 million, reported the Ministry of Innovation and Growth.

Application for the procedure began on July 22, 2022 and will continue until September 21, 2022. Documents are submitted entirely online. 

Companies can apply for minimum support under the programme in the amount of BGN 35,000. The maximum is differentiated according to the size and needs of the enterprises. If they are micro, they can request a maximum of BGN 180,000. The ceiling for the small ones is BGN 350,000, and for the medium ones - BGN 700,000. The money can be used, for example, to buy machines with automated control, robots or digital process control systems. Co-financing is up to 50%.

The procedure is aimed at companies in four of the country's economic sectors - C (Processing industry), E (Water supply; Sewerage services, waste management and recovery), J (Creation and dissemination of information and creative products; Telecommunications) and M (Professional activities and research). These are mainly manufacturing companies - for medicines, computers or optical materials, food, beverages, clothing, etc. Enterprises that deal with the collection and disposal of waste or the recycling of materials, film and television studios, radio, television and news agencies, as well as companies with architectural, engineering or scientific research and development activities are also eligible. A mandatory condition is that they are registered no later than December 31, 2019. They must also have realized annual net sales revenue for the last three years in the amount of over BGN 210,000 for micro, over BGN 750,000 for small and over BGN 3 million for medium enterprises.

It is expected that the evaluation of project proposals will begin immediately after the end of the application procedure. The list of admitted companies will be published by the end of the year.