Attica Business Support: Grants Covering 50%–65% of Your Investment

▲ Key Eligibility Conditions

For a business to submit an application to the Attica Regional Programme 2021–2027, it must first meet the following conditions:

o It must have commenced activity before 31/12/2022 (i.e. more than 2 financial years).
o It must have had at least 2 full-time employees in 2024 (on average, i.e. at least 2 FTEs).
o It must have substantial activity in an eligible Activity Code (main NACE code or the one with the highest revenues).
o It must hold a valid operating licence, in accordance with applicable legislation. If the licence has not yet been issued or has expired, it is required to submit the relevant application for issuance/renewal or a certificate from the competent authority confirming that the legal operating conditions are met, or a notification of commencement of operation, or a document of exemption from operating licence.
o The investment budget must not exceed twice the highest turnover achieved in either 2022 or 2023.
o The subsidised investment must be implemented within the Region of Attica and concern an eligible Activity Code (NACE).
o The score obtained based on the evaluation criteria must exceed 50.
o The company must be registered in the Register of Beneficial Owners.
o There must be no outstanding debt arising from a previous grant scheme (no pending recovery of state aid against the company).
o The company must not be classified as an Undertaking in Difficulty, nor be in a state of dissolution, liquidation or bankruptcy, nor have received rescue aid.
o It must not have received grants exceeding €300,000 over the last 3 years (this also applies cumulatively to linked enterprises).
o It must qualify as a Very Small or Small Enterprise.
o It must take appropriate measures to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities (PwD) to the business premises or to any electronic applications addressed to clients.

Only one Funding Application may be submitted per Tax ID (AFM), and at the same time the same expenditures cannot be subsidised by another programme.

▲ Eligible Types of Businesses

Business Legal Form:

Beneficiaries of the Action are Very Small and Small Enterprises that meet the programme’s requirements and operate exclusively under one of the following corporate/commercial legal forms:

[Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership (O.E.), Limited Partnership (E.E.), Limited Partnership by shares, Limited Liability Company (E.P.E.), Single-Member Limited Liability Company (M.E.P.E.), Société Anonyme (A.E.), Single-Member Société Anonyme (M.A.E.), Private Company (I.K.E.), Single-Member Private Company (M.I.K.E.), Civil Cooperative with Limited Liability, Civil Cooperative with Unlimited Liability, Profit-making Civil Cooperative, Other Profit-making Private Legal Entity (N.P.I.D.), Social Cooperative Enterprise under Law 4430/2016 as in force (KOIN.S.EP), Social Cooperative with Limited Liability (KOI.S.P.E.), Recreational Craft Shipping Companies (N.E.P.A.).].

Franchise:

Franchise businesses which have concluded franchise agreements, either as franchisors or franchisees, may also be included in the programme. Linked enterprises are examined in order to determine the maximum allowable aid due to cumulation limits, and a Solemn Declaration signed by a Chartered Auditor–Accountant is required.

Eligible NACE Codes:

The eligible NACE codes in which beneficiary enterprises must be active can be found here.

▲ Grant Amount and Allocation

The programme, with a total budget of €120,250,000, is funded by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) under the “ATTICA” 2021–2027 Programme.

The basic grant rate is 50% and may be increased as follows:

o A 10% bonus (i.e. 50% + 10%) is granted if “Green Transition” expenditures (GREEN) represent at least 20% of the project budget.
o A 5% bonus is granted for the special support areas: Agistri, Aegina, Kythira, Poros, Salamina, Spetses, Troizinia-Methana, Hydra.

The eligible budget of the funding application ranges from a minimum of €30,000 up to €200,000. The eligible budget of the funding application cannot exceed twice the highest turnover achieved in one of the two fiscal years 2022 or 2023, with an upper limit of €200,000. Funding applications with a budget lower than €30,000 are considered ineligible and cannot be submitted.

▲ Subsidised Expenditures

The main categories of subsidised expenditures, with their maximum percentages of the total budget, are as follows:

1. Expenditures for Equipment, Vehicles & Instruments – at least 10% of the total
1.1 Production & Mechanical Equipment
1.2 Office IT equipment
1.3 Other business equipment such as laboratory and quality-control equipment, etc.
1.4 Electric vehicles for professional or mixed use (up to 9 seats)
GREEN Equipment – up to 50% of the total
1.5 Equipment to improve Energy Efficiency / energy saving
1.6 Circular economy equipment
1.7 Equipment for the installation of photovoltaic systems and storage systems for electricity production and self-consumption (self-generation)

2. Expenditures for Buildings, Land, Installations & Surrounding Area – up to 60% of the total
2.1 Buildings, installations and surrounding area
2.2 Constructions, layouts, extensions, rearrangements to facilitate accessibility for PwD

3. Expenditures for Services
3.1 Expenditures for submission of the funding application and consulting services for monitoring implementation of the investment plan – up to €6,000
3.2 Services for procurement/use of Software under a “Software as a Service”, “cloud computing” or similar model – up to 20% of the total
3.3 Expenditures for services related to product or process development studies – up to 20% of the total
3.4 Certification of services & processes in accordance with national, harmonised and other European and international standards – up to 3 certificates and up to €3,000 per certificate
3.5 Packaging – Label – Branding Design Services – up to 10% of the total
3.6 Intellectual Property – Patents – Technology Transfer – up to 20% of the total

4. Software Expenditures (Software and software licence fees) – up to 40% of the total

5. Expenditures for Promotion, Marketing & Networking – up to 20% of the total
5.1 Expenditures for SME participation in trade fairs – up to €10,000 per fair
5.2 Other promotion – marketing – networking expenses – up to €10,000

6. Expenditures for newly hired personnel – 1 FTE up to €15,000

7. Indirect Costs – 7% of the total

See the detailed list of subsidised expenditures here.

▲ Programme Participation Procedure

Applications start on 30/06/2025, with a first-come, first-served procedure until the budget is exhausted. The evaluation of funding applications is carried out through an immediate (FiFo) process.

The Action is implemented at all stages (submission, evaluation, appeals, approval, inspection, certification, modification, payment, monitoring of long-term obligations, etc.) via the State Aid Integrated Information System (OPSKE), through which beneficiaries are required to submit all requests (e.g. submission requests, appeals, inspection requests, modification requests, etc.).

*The minimum score required for a business to be approved is 50 and depends on criteria such as: Number of Employees, Turnover Growth 2022–2023, Profitability in 2022 & 2023, Investment Size versus Turnover, Relevance to Smart Specialisation/RIS Attica.

[The Action “Attiki On – Enabling Entrepreneurship – Strength for Growth – Support for Business” is funded by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) under the “ATTICA” 2021–2027 Programme. The budget amounts to €120,250,000 (initial budget €65,000,000 with an overbooking of 185%).]

▲ Programme Guide / Forms