In parallel, the Commission also announces that over 275 European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been selected to receive new grants of €117 million in total to finance innovation activities and the development of their business plans, or feasibility studies for their projects. All of these grants are awarded under the EU's SME Instrument.

Both the FTI initiative and the SME Instrument are run under the EU's research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020, and are designed to better and faster exploit excellent ideas on the market and help generate jobs and growth for Europe. News announcements for the FTI launch and the latest results of the SME Instrument calls are available online.

(for more information: Lucia Caudet – Tel.: +32 229 56182; Mirna Bratoz – Tel.: +32 229 87278)