ELEVATEX Open Call 2026 – Funding for Textile SMEs to Drive Green and Digital Innovation
Cascade funding from a pan-European textile cluster initiative to support individual SMEs in developing new products, services and processes that contribute to the green and digital transition of the textile industry.
About ELEVATEX
ELEVATEX’s overarching goal is to support the green and digital transition of the textile industry while strengthening its international competitiveness. To do so, the project distributes €1.98 million to European SMEs through two cascade funding open calls in 2026 and 2027.
The ELEVATEX consortium is formed by five European textile clusters: Techtera (France); PTC, Portuguese Textile Cluster (Portugal); NTT, Next Technology Tecnotessile (Italy); ATEVAL (Spain) and Tèxtils.CAT (Spain). This pan-European backbone ensures that the program has reach, sectoral depth and a network of national contact points to support applicants throughout the process.
About the 1st ELEVATEX Open Call
The 1st ELEVATEX Open Call targets individual textile SMEs looking to develop innovative products, processes or services with clear market potential. Projects should contribute to at least one of the following areas:
- Product or service development.
- New or improved processes for the green and/or digital transition.
- Market launch preparation.
- Strengthening SME competitiveness.
Eligible activities span a wide range: from prototype development and technical validation to market analysis, business model development, compliance studies and activities supporting green or digital transition.
Additionally, proposals must start from a TRL above 6.
Why Apply to this call
The 1st ELEVATEX Open Call will fund 20 SMEs with a fixed lump sum of €30,000 per project. The funding rate covers 100% of the grant amount, disbursed in two instalments:
- Pre-financing (20%): paid within 15 days of signing the grant agreement.
- Final payment (80%): paid within 30 days after the final progress report is assessed and approved.
Applicants must complement the ELEVATEX grant with their own financial resources. Proposals where the private contribution is below 1% of the total project budget will be declared ineligible, and the size of the private contribution is also considered for evaluating the proposal.
Projects are expected to start in October 2026 and run for six months, concluding by March 2027.
Who Can Apply?
The call is open exclusively to for-profit SMEs according to the European Commission definition and operating in the textile ecosystem, including start-ups with at least one year of legal existence at the time of application.
Only one application per SME is allowed. In case of multiple submissions, only the last one submitted before the deadline will be considered.
Furthermore, at least 10% of funded SMEs must come from eligible countries outside the four consortium countries, and EU-13 countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) are explicitly prioritized in tiebreaker situations.
How to Apply to 1st ELEVATEX Open Call
Applications must be submitted exclusively through the GoodGrants online platform before 17:00 CEST on 31 July 2026. The application consists of two parts: administrative forms, an abstract and a budget filled directly on the platform; and a set of mandatory annexes uploaded as PDF files.
The mandatory annexes include the results of the European Commission SME self-assessment tool and a Certificate of Financial Standing signed by an external financial expert or accountant. If this certificate cannot be provided, the balance sheets from the last two available years, together with a certificate of registration, can be submitted as an alternative.
Applicants from Spain can direct their questions to ATEVAL (julia@ateval.com / gema@ateval.com) or Tèxtils.CAT (fstp@textils.cat). For all other countries not covered by the consortium partners, the coordinator Techtera (vnallet@techtera.org / roddon@techtera.org) serves as the main point of contact.
Important Dates
- Call opening: 1 June 2026
- Submission deadline: 31 July 2026 at 17:00 CEST
- Evaluation period: August–September 2026
- Contracting and pre-financing: September 2026
Proposal Requirements
Applications must be written in readable English and must not exceed the character limits set for each text box in the online form. The application covers the following areas:
- Project overview and abstract.
- Impact and ambition: added value, market potential and degree of novelty.
- Excellence and expertise: technical experience, availability of resources and risk management.
- Implementation: project design, workplan coherence and feasibility.
- Budget and private contribution justification.
Evaluation and Selection Process
Proposals are evaluated remotely by two independent experts from the ELEVATEX Evaluation Committee. Each sub-criterion is scored between 1 and 10, with no half-points allowed. The overall threshold is 70% of the maximum grade.
The four evaluation criteria and their respective weights are as follows:
- Impact / Ambition (35%).
- Excellence / Expertise (30%).
- Implementation (30%).
- Private contribution: scored on a progressive scale from 1 point (below 10% of budget) to 10 points (30% or above).
In case of equal scores, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: higher score in Impact/Ambition, then Excellence, then Implementation. If still tied, applications from EU-13 countries and from countries outside the consortium’s four nations are prioritized.
Final Thoughts on ELEVATEX 1st Open Call
ELEVATEX represents a focused and accessible opportunity for textile SMEs across Europe looking to take a concrete step towards greener or more digital operations. For SMEs in the textile sector with a project already in motion at TRL 6 or above, this call offers a meaningful injection of funding.
The co-funding requirement affects the evaluation score, and proposals committing 30% or more of their budget from private sources score maximum points on that criterion. SMEs that can demonstrate strong financial commitment to their own project will have a tangible scoring advantage.
More Information
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FutureProofTextiles 1st Open Call – Digital and Green Innovation for Textile SMEs
