Innovation in the European Union - from the Sme instrument to the accelerator

Abstract

The European Union has been increasingly investing in innovation, through the allocation of grants to SME’s and Startups with new and social impactful business ideas. This paper aims to assess the financial impact of the SME Instrument(SMEI) grant in its recipients, whenthe EU is discussing the transitionfromthe SMEI tothe “Accelerator”, under the new Horizon Europe. The effects of the SMEI were found statisticallysignificantin the volume of Assets and number of Employees, when compared to the control group, while no evidence was found ofthe effect ofthis grant on theperformanceofP&Land Revenues. Additionally, moreasset intense industrieswere found to tend to be more impacted by the grant than themoreintense onesand there was nostrong relation foundbetween the propensity of private investors to invest in a specific industry and the impact of the grant in that industry.