SICE – Productive Innovation: How Your SME Can Access Non-Repayable Funding

The SICE – Productive Innovation notice (MPR-2026-6), with a total allocation of €182.5 million, closed on 30 September 2026. This guide explains what it funded, the real support rates, who qualified and how to prepare a strong application for the next notice.

Notice closed on 30 September 2026. This article remains as a guide for those preparing the next application. See the official notice MPR-2026-6 (in Portuguese) and follow new notices on Portugal 2030 and IAPMEI.

What is SICE – Productive Innovation?

SICE (Business Competitiveness Incentive System) – Productive Innovation is a public funding measure under Portugal 2030 that co-finances productive investment projects in SMEs. The focus is on structurally significant projects: creating new production capacity, modernising existing facilities, or expanding into new markets.

This was not a first-come, first-served scheme. The evaluation was merit-based: eligibility alone did not guarantee funding, and the quality and robustness of the project determined the outcome.

Who Can Apply?

The measure targeted Small and Medium-sized Enterprises with organised accounts operating in eligible sectors across mainland Portugal, covering the Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo, and Algarve regions.

Eligible spending had to be between €300,000 and €25 million, which positioned this funding line for companies planning meaningful capital investment: not a one-off equipment purchase, but a genuine transformation of operational capacity.

How Much Funding Is Available? The Real Rates

The support rate depended on the project's location, the company's size and bonuses. Under the 2026 notice, the maximums were: in low-density territories, up to 50% for micro and small companies and up to 40% for medium-sized ones; in other territories, up to 30% and 25% respectively. Alto Alentejo and Beiras e Serra da Estrela had higher limits (up to 60% for micro and small, 50% for medium). The final rate was a base rate plus bonuses (for example 5 p.p. for contributing to the climate transition, 2% to 5% for creating qualified jobs and 5 p.p. for SME capitalisation), always up to the applicable ceiling. In practice, the "up to 60%" often quoted only applied to specific cases: for a €1 million eligible project, a medium-sized company in a low-density territory could count on €400,000 at most.

What Costs Are Eligible?

Eligible expenditure covers the main components of an industrial modernisation project. The most relevant for Portuguese SMEs include:

• Tangible fixed assets — machinery, equipment, and construction works in eligible sectors.
• Intangible assets — software, licences, intellectual property, and patent rights, which opens the door to projects with a strong technological or digital component.
• Digital and green transition — components the notice rewarded, aligned with Portugal 2030 priorities and the European Green Deal.

For companies planning to invest in industrial management systems, process automation, or operational digitalisation, this is a relevant angle: the notice included digital-transition criteria in the merit evaluation.

What Makes a Strong Application?

The SICE application process is demanding. Building a solid dossier requires a financial analysis of the promoter, a detailed investment plan, a clear demonstration of the project's intrinsic merit — in terms of economic impact, job creation, innovation, and sustainability — and careful alignment with the notice's specific priorities.

Three common mistakes tend to sink applications that, on paper, would have been approved:

• The first is underestimating eligible investment — often because applicants don't realise that components like software or intellectual property are co-financeable.
• The second is starting too late. Application windows can seem generous, but investment projects require feasibility studies, floor plans, supplier quotes, and financial documentation that can take weeks to consolidate properly.
• The third is failing to distinguish what the notice actually rewards — and losing points on criteria that were within reach with a more precise framing of the project's objectives.

Technology as a Merit Factor

With the notice rewarding digital transition, projects that incorporate industrial automation, data analytics, or intelligent management systems held a scoring advantage.

At TecLab, we work with industrial SMEs across northern Portugal on defining the technology component of investment projects, from specifying the right solutions to supporting the technical narrative in funding applications. The right technology, properly framed, can be the difference between a successful application and one that falls short of the merit threshold.

Next Steps

If your company has an investment project in the pipeline or if your clients are in that position, now is the time to run a preliminary eligibility assessment. Evaluating whether the project qualifies, estimating the funding potential, and identifying the areas to strengthen involves no commitment, but can make a meaningful difference to the outcome.

The notice closed on 30 September 2026. If you have a project in the pipeline, start gathering feasibility studies, quotes and documentation now, so you are ready if a new notice opens.

Read also: Automation vs. Artificial Intelligence, How to Implement AI in Your SME and our use cases.

Talk to us to assess how your project fits.