SME Call 2027

The complete procedure, including final timelines, will be published no later than September 1 

Health Holland invites companies and research organisations to participate in the SME Call. Through this call, Health Holland aims to strengthen the development capacity of SMEs and enable them to collaborate with research organisations on the further development of new or improved products, services, or processes.

All activities should contribute to the Netherlands’ economic earning capacity, strengthen the country’s competitive position, and help address societal challenges. Within this SME Call, Health Holland will make at least €8 million in PPP funding available in 2027.

Health Holland promotes innovative research by financially supporting public-private collaborations in the Life Sciences & Health (LSH) sector. With this call, companies and research organizations are encouraged to jointly invest in research & development (R&D), with the aim of developing sustainable, innovative products and services within the Dutch LSH-sector, in support of the Netherlands’ economic growth and resilience. Health Holland can financially support a collaborative project by awarding PPP Subsidy. 

 

How much PPP Subsidy is available per consortium?  

Each project may apply for between €225,000 and €450,000 in PPP funding. SMEs and research organisations may claim this funding, subject to the applicable financial conditions. Co-funding by all consortium partners is required.

Key eligibility requirements:  

  • The consortium must consist of at least one for-profit enterprise and one research organisation.
  • The main applicant must be a for-profit enterprise established in the Netherlands.
  • Dutch SMEs wishing to use PPP funding must declare at the full application stage that they are not an “undertaking in difficulty”.
  • Use of the mandatory consortium agreement template is required. Only minimal changes to this template are permitted. The consortium must be aware of the applicable provisions in this agreement, particularly those relating to intellectual property.
  • The project may have a maximum duration of two years.
  • The project must consist of industrial research (TRL 4–6).
  • Dutch SMEs may apply for a maximum of €150,000 in PPP funding per project year, per project.
  • Dutch research organisations may apply for a maximum total of €150,000 in PPP funding per project.

Application procedure and deadlines: 

Timeline SME Call 2027

 ⚠️ Please note: the SME Call is a popular and highly competitive funding call. Due to the high number of applications, with an average of more than 80 applications per round, and the limited available budget, an assessment procedure with pre-selection will be applied. Health~Holland intends to allow a maximum of 50 projects to proceed to the full substantive assessment phase and expects, based on the available budget, to be able to fund approximately 30 projects.

⚠️ Declaration: not an undertaking in difficulty

Under the current legislation and regulations, Dutch enterprises applying for funding under the SME Call must not qualify as an undertaking in difficulty according to the relevant definition. At the time of submission, your company must be able to provide a declaration, based on the RVO template, confirming that it is not an undertaking in difficulty. This declaration can be obtained by completing the decision tree on the RVO website, where further information about the assessment is also available.

⚠️ Please note: submitting a comparable proposal to the Science for Industry Call 2026, for which the full application deadline is 22 September 2026, is not permitted. A scaled-down version of a Science for Industry application will be regarded as comparable under the SME Call and will be declared inadmissible upon submission. The consortium must determine which call is most appropriate for the application and decide under which call it wishes to submit. Should you require advice on which call best fits your project, please contact tki@health-holland.com to arrange an advisory meeting. We will then provide clear advice on which call is most suitable for your application and whether you are eligible to submit under the SME Call.