On September 28th, the member of WP1 INNCOME started one of a series of workshops aimed at contributing to inform entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs about funding instruments related to Interactive Robotics. In this case, the event took place in Madrid, at the Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid, and had the involvement and commitment of the Spanish National Contact Point Enrique Pelayo, responsible for the area of Information and Communication Technologies at the Centre for the for Industrial Technological Development.
After the welcome and introduction to the conference by David Arbelo, responsible for projects at the Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid, an entity committed to supporting entrepreneurs, Enrique Pelayo presented to the attendees the strategy proposed by the European Commission in its support for the development, marketing and adoption of robotics. Thus, the Digital Innovation Hubs stand out, with Cascade Funding projects, and Platforms and Pilots that will be financed in the next European calls, giving support to the experimentation of technologies that respond to the needs of the market.
Next, three ‘Cascade Funding’ programmes were presented, which seek to contribute to this process of development and bringing robotics closer to everyday life:
– EUROBENCH, presented by CSIC and INNCOME, a project called to build the first ecosystem for testing and validation of bipedal robotics and which finances proposals for participation in the development and construction of the same with up to 300 thousand euros. Its first call for proposals ends on 31 October 2018.
– RobotUnion, presented by TECNALIA, which has constituted an acceleration programme for startups in the field of robotics and which offers financing aids ranging from 3,800 euros to 1 million euros.
– ESMERA, presented by IK4-TEKNIKER, whose objective is to finance projects in the field of robotics capable of providing solutions to challenges posed, for which it offers funding of 200 thousand euros per proposal.
