The Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) on Wednesday announced that the submission process for two key funding programmes is currently underway.

According to the announcement, the two programmes “aim at providing practical support to Cyprus’ business community”.

The programmes are titled Innovation Vouchers – InnoVouchers and Enterprises Capacity Building in New Product Development (NPD) respectively.

They have a combined budget exceeding €1 million and are funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility of NextGenerationEU.

“These initiatives seek to strengthen the competitiveness of Cypriot businesses by encouraging their involvement in research and development activities and fostering the creation of new products and services,” the RIF said.

Specifically, through the Innovation Vouchers – InnoVouchers programme, the RIF offers €10,000 per project to Cypriot small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employing between 4 and 29 permanent staff members.

The programme allows SMEs to access specialised expertise from relevant entities, supporting both the improvement of existing products and the development of new ones.

The new deadline for proposal submissions is April 28, 2025, at 13:00. More details on the programme can be found here.

The second call pertains to the Enterprises Capacity Building in New Product Development– NPD programme.

This aims to provide support to businesses with 15 or more employees by facilitating the recruitment of specialised personnel for product development and engaging them in research and development activities.

The total budget for this call is €750,000, with a maximum funding of €30,000 per project.

The submission deadline for proposals is March 31, 2025, at 13:00. More details on the program can be found here.

“Businesses selected for funding will automatically gain access to RIF’s free innovation support and knowledge transfer services,” the announcement concluded.