Support for entrepreneurship in the priority sectors of the South Aegean Region

The Managing Authority of the "South Aegean" Programme has launched the Action "Support for entrepreneurship in the priority sectors of the South Aegean Region", under the "South Aegean" Programme 2021-2027 (Priority 1 "Strengthening competitiveness and productive capacity", Specific Objective 1iii), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

The Action supports business initiatives in the Region's areas of specialisation and may cover investment plans aiming at:

• the development of differentiated products and services in the RIS3 sectors,
• the upgrading and modernisation of productive infrastructure and processes, technological and otherwise,
• strengthening the outward orientation of enterprises in sectors of comparative advantage, including actions for the sustainable blue economy.

The objective is the development of new, innovative or improved products and services of high added value, so as to strengthen the competitiveness of the Region's enterprises in the domestic and international market.

Each investment plan must be demonstrably linked to a regional derivative of the priority sectors of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3):

• Experience tourism (tourism, culture, creative industry)
• Agri-food
• Fisheries and Aquaculture
• Renewable Energy Sources

Information and Communication Technologies, clean "green" technologies and human capital run horizontally across all sectors.

Who it addresses

Existing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that operate lawfully and will implement an investment plan within the South Aegean Region.

Basic eligibility conditions

• They must have closed at least two (2) full accounting periods before the date of submission of the application.
• They must employ at least one (1) FTE in dependent employment during 2025.
• They must be substantively active in a RIS3 sector: the main activity code (KAD) or the activity code with the highest revenue of the previous calendar year must be included in the call's list of eligible activities.
• The investment plan must concern at least one eligible investment activity code. The enterprise is not required to hold it at the time of submission, but must hold it before the first disbursement.
• They must submit one single application per Tax Identification Number.
• They must provide evidence of secured private participation amounting to at least 40% of the total budget.
• They must keep single-entry or double-entry books under Law 4308/2014 and be registered in the Register of Beneficial Owners under Article 20 of Law 4557/2018.
• They must operate lawfully, holding the appropriate licensing document.
• The place of implementation must not be the residence of the beneficiary, primary or secondary.
• They must not have completed or fully implemented the physical object of the investment before the submission of the application.

Eligible legal forms

S.A., Ltd, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Private Company, sole proprietorships, Social Cooperative Enterprises under Law 4430/2016, Recreational Shipping Company (N.E.P.A.), agricultural and civil cooperatives, Limited Liability Social Cooperatives (KOI.S.P.E.).

Not entitled to submit

Financial and insurance institutions, public enterprises and organisations, public law legal entities and their subsidiaries, companies with direct or indirect participation of local authorities or public bodies exceeding 25%, athletic clubs, associations and sports public limited companies, as well as enterprises linked to the above categories. Offshore companies are also excluded.

Grant rate

Public expenditure amounts to 60% of the subsidised budget for all investment plans. The remaining 40% is covered by private participation, from own resources or a loan. Bank borrowing is not mandatory.

Following the inclusion decision, an advance payment of up to 40% of the public funding may be granted, upon submission of an open-ended letter of guarantee of equal amount in favour of EFEPAE.

Type of aid

Non-repayable grant, under Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 on de minimis aid (De minimis). The total amount of de minimis aid per single undertaking may not exceed EUR 300,000 over the last three years, calculated on a rolling calendar basis.

Area of application

The investment is carried out exclusively within the South Aegean Region. For three (3) years following the final payment, the beneficiary undertakes not to cease or relocate the productive activity outside the Region and to maintain the assisted fixed assets.

What is funded

Unlike other actions, here the cost of submitting the funding application is also eligible (up to EUR 2,000), separately from consultancy for monitoring implementation.

Points worth noting on costs

• Production equipment has no ceiling: it may cover up to 100% of the subsidised budget.
• The subsidy for a new job position is certified retrospectively and only in the final audit request. The FTE must be additional relative to the twelve months preceding submission, and the new employee must not have had a dependent employment relationship with the enterprise since 1/1/2025.
• The payroll cost of partners and shareholders is not subsidised, nor that of spouses and relatives of the first and second degree, although they do count towards staff retention.
• For electric transport vehicles, only those of professional or mixed use, up to nine seats, are eligible.
• A photovoltaic station is eligible up to 10 kW, exclusively for self-consumption, with a storage system of usable capacity at least equal to the station's output for one hour.

Budget

Subsidised budget per investment plan: from EUR 30,000 to EUR 400,000. Plans below EUR 30,000 are deemed ineligible from the outset and cannot be submitted. Any amount exceeding EUR 400,000 is considered 100% private participation, but remains subject to evaluation and audit.

Additional restriction: the subsidised budget may not exceed three times the highest turnover of the two full closed accounting periods preceding submission (2024 and 2025).

The total available Public Expenditure of the Action amounts to EUR 5,000,000, with an over-commitment capacity of 200%.

Implementation period

Up to twenty-four (24) months from the electronic notification of the final approval of the application. Extension requests cannot be submitted, except for reasons of force majeure under Article 23 of Law 3885/2010.

How the proposal is evaluated

The evaluation is comparative. Six criteria, each with a maximum score of 30 points:

The minimum acceptable total score is 15, of which at least 4.8 points must come cumulatively from the first two criteria.

Two observations of practical significance. First, in the RIS3 linkage criterion the score is determined by the percentage of costs connected to the strategy's prioritisation, not by a general description. Second, in the available capital criterion, covering exactly 40% of the budget yields zero points: the score scales from 40% to 100%, where the maximum is awarded. The 40% is the eligibility threshold, not the level that earns points.

Submission period

From 28/08/2026 (13:00) to 30/10/2026 (15:00). The application is submitted exclusively online through the Integrated State Aid Information System (OPSKE). Applications in which not all mandatory fields have been completed cannot be submitted, and applications that are in a reprocessing state on the closing date are treated as not submitted. The Managing Authority reserves the right to amend the dates based on the flow of submissions.

The competent Intermediate Body is EFEPAE, through ELANET.