Norway Grants for SMEs – the halfway point of the programme and a case study (Leven Group)

Up to this moment, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development has signed 131 contracts for a total amount of 62 mln euro (soon it will be a total of 180 contracts for almost 95 mln euro), for projects co-financed under the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021. This is the halfway point of the Agency's activity as the operator of the “Business Development and Innovation” programme.

The “Business Development and Innovation” programme supports innovations in Polish companies in the following areas such as: green industry innovation, welfare technologies (including facilitate access/quality of life for the elderly) and blue growth (i.e. developing companies operating in the maritime or inland waters areas). The grant schemes also include a Small Grants Scheme for female enterprises.

The call was first announced in 2019, with the application deadline at the end of May 2020. At that time already, the interest was much higher than expected - the applications submitted were worth over three times the available budget. A decision was therefore made to increase the budget allocation, thanks to which a larger number of innovative and ecological solutions (including those from the reserve list) could be funded.

One of the projects that we would like to introduce is that of Leven Group, located near the city of Poznań, which was funded under the "Green Industry Innovation” scheme. Leven offers cooker hoods and ventilation systems, mainly for restaurants in high-end hotels and shopping centres (more information about that company can be found in the Guide to the success of Polish companies published by PARP).

On 25^th of March, an opportunity arose to visit and get to know the company better, as a meeting of the Polish-Norwegian Cooperation Committee of the “Business Development and Innovation” programme, was held in Poznań. The meeting participants, representing Polish and Norwegian institutions involved in the implementation of the programme, were invited to visit the company's headquarters, and to learn about the operation of the plant, exchange experiences, and discuss the project implementation with the company's president, Witold Levén.

The Committee meeting was attended (among others) by:

• Mikołaj Różycki, Deputy President of Polish Agency for Enterprise Development
• Aleksandra Guzowska, Head of Unit at the National Contact Point for the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy
• Margrethe Asserson, Program Manager at the Financial Mechanism Office in Brussels,
• Magnar Ødelien, Program Director EEA Norway Grants at Innovation Norway.

Please view a video summary of the grant programme implementation at its halfway point, and a report from the visit at the beneficiary’s headquarters.