For ambitious companies looking to grow, grants, financing, loans, support programmes or schemes can determine the difference between success and failure. As we do every quarter, we list five new opportunities.
Natural gas-free
Entrepreneurs or end-users who invest in an innovation that helps make homes, neighbourhoods, residential buildings and non-residential buildings natural gas-free can apply for a grant under the Energy and Climate Innovation Demonstration Scheme (DEI+). This is possible whether they act alone or in collaboration with, for example, the supplier of the innovation. The central government’s main objective is to make 30,000 to 50,000 existing homes natural gas-free each year.
A total of 9 million euros is available. Applications for the grant can be submitted until 31 August at 5.00 pm. The grant is intended for structural and technical installation work and for preparing homes for connection to a sustainable alternative, such as electricity from solar and/or wind energy.
Further information on the conditions
Circular plans
The Polestar Capital Circular Debt Fund (PCDF) aims to ensure that innovative, circular projects no longer fail due to a lack of funding. To be eligible for a loan, a company must demonstrate that it can significantly reduce a waste stream, that it produces a bio-based alternative to a raw material, or that its new product reduces CO₂ emissions, as Reinier van der Vusse, circular economy expert at Polestar Capital, recently explained in an interview. The fund also assesses the potential for global scaling up.
The fund is primarily intended for companies that want to and are able to make an impact, but which are not yet large enough to approach banks. The fund offers solution-oriented financing.
Read more details about the PCDF.
Guarantee
The government is extending the SME Credit Guarantee Scheme (BMKB) by four years until 1 July 2027. Under this scheme, the Ministry of Economic Affairs acts as guarantor for part of the loan, making it easier for fundamentally sound entrepreneurs to borrow money.
The BMKB has been in place for over 100 years. Entrepreneurs can apply for this scheme through lenders, such as banks and alternative finance providers. Since November 2022, there has also been a ‘green strand’ of this scheme. This BMKB-Green is intended to help entrepreneurs make their businesses more sustainable. The loan can be used, for example, to purchase an electric oven or to make business premises more sustainable.
Read more about the guarantee scheme.
Sustainability
The SME Sustainability Grant Scheme (SVM) enables SME entrepreneurs to make their businesses more sustainable. Applications can be submitted until 30 September. A total budget of 14.4 million euros is available.
Through the SVM, SME entrepreneurs can receive a grant to hire an energy adviser for bespoke advice and assistance in implementing the recommendations. The energy advice sets out which energy- and CO₂-saving measures are possible and what investments these require. This includes advice on making both the business premises and business operations more sustainable.
Further details
German-Dutch
Since the start of this year, the Interreg VI Germany-Netherlands programme has had a small projects fund in the fields of education, governance, health and people-to-people exchanges. The fund is intended for German-Dutch citizen projects and small-scale initiatives, such as school exchanges, the promotion of cooperation between government bodies and authorities, exchanges and networking among health services, or citizen collaborations.
Project applications can be submitted at any time by, amongst others, local authorities, local organisations, associations, companies and individuals running a business. Only projects in which German and Dutch partners collaborate will be funded. The maximum grant is 25,000 euros.
Further information is available here.
