The European Commission Launches ‘Eco-Innovation’ Initiative

This European-financed initiative, Eco-Innovation, which seeks to associate businesses with the environment, is conceived for the European market but is open to Dominican companies thanks to the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

The European Commission has issued a call to European and Caribbean companies who are at all connected to products, services or innovative management practices that have a positive ecological impact.

The European Commission has issued a call to European and Caribbean companies who are at all connected to products, services or innovative management practices that have a positive ecological impact. The target of the call are products or services that already exist and are already functioning but have marketing problems due to risk factors. The initiative, which offers subsidies from a global fund of 30 million Euros in 2009, intends to help overcome these obstacles and direct their assistance to the PYMES (small to medium-sized businesses)

This initiative was created within the framework of the European Commission in Europe and with European companies (the call in fact is “Eco-Innovation Projects in Europe), nevertheless it is opened Caribbean businesses (including Dominican, of course) due to a clause in the Economic Partnership Agreement which was signed between the European Union and the Caribbean block CARIFORUM in December 2008.

This is very significant and demonstrates the originality and focus on development that characterizes the EPA.

All the information about the call and how to present your application can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation/call_en.htm as well as the attached brochure that more broadly explains the initiative.