inDemand and Instituto de Fomento (Murcia) supporting companies during COVID

Jun 02, 2020

At inDemand we are proud of our partners. Not only their commitment through the project has been flawless, but also their meticulous work, taking care of the details with both healthcare professionals and companies. A great example of this attitude is what Instituto de Fomento de la Región de Murcia (Spain) did at the very beginning of the Covid 19 crisis. This organisation, in its role of Funder, decided to look after companies’ needs from the very beginning. To do so, they advanced payments for SMEs that were in the inDemand process of co-creation.

Moreover, Instituto de Fomento has developed many other initiatives to support companies during the first months of Covid 19. Here we are giving them the space to talk about them and it is also our chance to say congratulations!

Instituto de Fomento Region of Murcia (Spain) as Funders in the project inDemand had to reconsider how to tackle de problems that the Covid 19 has produced in every field.

In normal circumstances payments are foreseen at the end of the co-creation process once the companies justify the resources used and Challenger and Supporter issue a certificate agreed on the degree of completion of the work.

Most companies did not ask for an advance payment in the beginning, however this situation created by the pandemic has provoked that some of the Solvers have expressed their financial difficulties to continue with the project, therefore INFO decided to elaborate a contingency plan to amend the terms of payment included in the Sub Grant Agreement and make an interim payment according to the proved execution of the project for which the challenger and the supporter need to agree on the degree of completion. These payments have been made on 20 May 2020.

We understand that for an SME the actual situation is difficult to face without any pre financing as the co-creation was nearly finished in all regions and the companies had already used nearly all the resources allocated, and now the processes are on hold for 2 months as it is impossible for them to continue working with the professionals nor the patients.

Likewise, the Region of Murcia has launched a more ambitious Contingency Plan to help as many sectors in the region as possible, coordinated by the Regional Development Agency (Instituto de Fomento (INFO)), who has accelerated the payment of subsidies and suppliers to companies during the crisis.

The Instituto de Fomento (INFO), aware of the difficulties companies are going through due to the pandemic crisis, has redoubled its efforts to pay invoices to suppliers and to pay the subsidies agreed to companies, so that at the end of the week of 18 May, there will not be even one payment pending to suppliers.

The director of INFO, Diego Rodriguez-Linares, said that «from the first moments of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 we warned that one of the main problems would be the liquidity, so we have put special efforts and dedicated specific resources to meet the debts we had pending, both with companies, for the approved grants, and with suppliers for the services they had provided”.

INFO has accelerated the payment of subsidies and suppliers to companies during the crisis. Since the beginning of the crisis, at the beginning of March, subsidies have been paid to 130 beneficiaries for an amount of 4,540,963.68 euros, which has meant an outflow of funds of 2,545,687.55 euros and 263 invoices, from suppliers, for an amount of 959,241.64 euros. In the case of inDemand the amount of 118,006.55 euros has been paid to 4 beneficiaries.

The following support programmes have been issued during this crisis:

Covid Line 19 Zero Cost: EUR 1.5 million, to support guarantees, april 20 +info

ICT Voucher – e-commerce EUR 300,000, may 20 +info

ICT Voucher – Ciberseguridad EUR 200,000, may 20 +info

Innovation services Voucher (Teleworking, Product engineering, Innovation Systematization) EUR 500,000, may 20 +info

Grants to promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship EUR 1 million, may 20 +info

Support for the entry of private investors in innovative startup companies EUR 200,000, may 20 +info

Europa Voucher to contract consulting services EUR 100.000, may 20 +info

Internationalisation professional services recruitment EUR 295,000, may 20 +info

Support for technology investments Covid 19 EUR 1.5 million, june 20

Digital Business Transformation (Industry 4.0) EUR 2.5 million, june 20 +info

Grants to innovative companies and/or innovative technology-based companies EUR 2 million, june 20

Grants to scalable companies EUR 200,000, june 20

Grants for guarantee schemes EUR 750,000, june 20 +info

R + D grants EUR 5 million, june 20

Solidarity network of companies. Under the coordination of the Regional Development Agency, a solidarity network of companies has been promoted. These companies are providing products and services altruistically wherever needed. This collaborative and altruistic network is already close to be composed of a hundred of companies. Among them, the furniture, upholstery and contract sectors stand out, which have totally reconverted their production to focus on the production of masks and other healthcare material. In addition, several transport companies have offered to carry the material provided by other companies.