June 4 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday that together with the EU it has launched a 20 million euro ($22.5 million) programme that supports investment in research and innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and midcaps in Bulgaria, Romania and Latvia.
In Bulgaria and Romania, the programme targets increasing innovative SMEs’ competitiveness with the provision of financing, advisory services and training, the EBRD said in a statement.
In Romania, EBRD credit lines extended to financial institutions will be on-lent to SMEs and small mid-caps investing in innovation.
In addition, in all three countries, green innovation support will be provided via technical assistance and co-financing grants for projects with SMEs and mid-caps which are directly financed by the EBRD
Up to 200 selected companies can benefit from financial and advisory support under the programme.
The financing targets these three countries as they have some of the lowest scores on the EU’s innovation scoreboard, which assesses innovation capacities and outcomes, the EBRD explained.
To date, the EBRD has invested more than 8.3 billion euro in Romania and around 3.9 billion euro in Bulgaria.
($ = 0.8902 euro)