In 2024, CESCI expanded its portfolio to include the development of innovation capacity building, providing professional support in the February call for capacity building I3 2B of the Interregional Innovation Investment Facility.

From November 15, 2023, the EU Funding & Tenders portal reopened its doors to the Interregional Innovation Investment Facility (I3) 2b call, which received special attention among applicants since its first appearance. The purpose of the scheme is to promote the development and strengthening of regional innovation ecosystems and value chains in less developed regions.

I3 2B supports increasing the capacity of interregional innovation ecosystems in less developed regions, in cooperation in EU value chains. It promotes interregional cooperation between actors of the regional innovation ecosystem to increase the capacity to participate in other calls of the I3 instrument, e.g. device I3 1 and 2a. to submit tenders according to its area.

In 2024, the additional tenderable amount for the less developed regions is 13 million euros, which will appear in the next call in October. The duration of the projects is between 18-24 months, and the expected budget can be between 500 thousand and 1.5 million euros.

The priority objective of the 2024 call is to increase the capacities of regional and national authorities, as well as innovation intermediary organisations such as clusters. In this way, it supports them in being able to provide more efficient assistance to companies in identifying interregional investment opportunities.