Under Annual Action Programme for the Republic of Serbia for the year 2018, Grant contract “IPA 2018 – Direct Award to the Innovation Fund - Increased innovation capacity and technological readiness of SMEs” (hereinafter the Action) has been directly awarded to the Innovation Fund with the aim to provide financial support to third parties through three grant programs – Mini Grants Program, Matching Grants Program and Collaborative Grant Scheme Program, which are designed to provide financial support for boosting commercially oriented R&D in Serbian SMEs and cooperation with academia. The total budget of this Action is EUR 20 million, of which EUR 15 million from the European Union Pre-Accession Assistance for 2018 (IPA 2018) and EUR 5 million from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, the line of Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation. The amount allocated for the financing of approved projects under the Mini Grants, Matching Grants and Collaborative Grant Scheme Program financed under this Direct Grant Agreement is EUR 18 million.
The purposes of this evaluation contract are as follows:
'==' to assess the performance of the Action, paying particular attention to measured results against its expected objectives;
'==' to assess the intended and unintended outcomes of the Action and determine the level of the Action’s contribution to outcomes.
The evaluation will clearly identify the results/outcomes achieved during four years of Action implementation.