Fund the qualification of your business model
The most directly relevant Portugal 2030 instrument for a company modernising its systems — because hardware and software are explicitly named as eligible expenditure.
Aviso MPr-2024-4 / MPr-2026 cycle · COMPETE2030 · Lisboa2030 · Algarve2030
What is SICE — Qualificação das PME?
It funds individual capacity-building operations promoted by SMEs that qualify and digitalise their business models through intangible competitiveness factors. For a company engaging a technology partner to modernise its systems, it is the most directly relevant Portugal 2030 instrument available — hardware and software are named expenditure, not an afterthought.
The call supports SMEs adopting more advanced business strategies and increasing their capacity to integrate into global value chains, with clear emphasis on operations producing tradable and internationalisable goods and services that reinforce the export orientation of the Portuguese economy.
Critical to how this works in practice: your company is the applicant and the beneficiary. Elyntis is engaged as the external technology and consultancy supplier, and our invoices constitute the eligible expenditure.
Who can apply?
- Micro, small and medium enterprises of any nature and under any legal form, located in mainland Portugal (Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo, Algarve).
- Excluded: SMEs operating in Finance and Insurance, Defence, Lottery and other betting games.
Criteria for eligibility
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Minimum total eligible expenditure of €200,000
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Intervention in at least two intangible competitiveness domains, justified by an integrated approach based on a strategic analysis of the company
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Comply with the legal conditions necessary to carry out the activity
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Regularised situation with the tax administration and social security
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Financial autonomy ratio of at least 15%
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Demonstrate adequate financing sources for project execution
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Compliance with the DNSH (Do No Significant Harm) principle
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Investments made prior to the application date, including feasibility studies, are not eligible
Intangible competitiveness domains
Your operation must intervene in at least two of these eight domains. A technology project typically covers domains 1 and 2 on its own — which satisfies the requirement.
Organisational Innovation, Management & Logistics
New methods of organisation, including information systems for distribution and logistics.
Digital Economy & Digital Transformation
Website, e-commerce platforms, and digital transformation of the business model.
Brand Creation & Design
Brand, design, CAD/CAM systems, product catalogues.
Product, Service & Process Development
Capacity-building for the development of new products, services and processes.
Industrial Property Protection
Patents, utility models, designs.
Knowledge & Technology Transfer
Transfer and application of external knowledge into the business.
Sustainability & Eco-innovation
Environmental performance embedded into products and processes.
Quality & Certification
ISO certifications and other quality standards.
Eligible expenses
Six areas of organisational qualification — each one a lever for competitiveness, and several of them directly deliverable by a technology partner.
Inner Processes
- LEAN / KAIZEN methodologies
- Hardware and software (CRM, ERP, and similar systems)
- Qualified employees (new hiring) — base salary and mandatory employer social charges
Digital Economy
- Website development
- E-commerce platforms
Brand & Design
- Brand and design work
- Hardware and software (CAD/CAM systems)
- Product catalogues
Industrial Property
- Patents, utility models, designs or models
Quality Standards
- ISO certifications
- Other quality standards
Distribution & Logistics
- Introduction of information systems
Cross-cutting
Specialised consultancy services provided by external consultants, provided they do not constitute a continuous or periodic activity.
Note: equipment and software must be used exclusively at the beneficiary's establishment and during the operation's execution period.
Incentive rate on eligible expenditure
Support takes the form of a non-refundable subvention under the real-cost modality.
50% is the standard rate across the majority of the mainland; the reduced 40% rate applies to Lisboa 2030 operations. Incentive rates may vary depending on the notice of application opening.
Result indicators
Projects commit to result indicators assessed at closure:
- Annual turnover growth.
- Export turnover / international orientation.
- Qualified employment created or retained.
- Value added per employee.
Example of a supported project
“STEAM”, a textile-sector SME operating in the Centre region, plans the following investment — with Elyntis delivering the hardware, website, e-commerce and systems components:
| Hardware (servers, endpoints, network) | €50,000 |
| Website | €10,000 |
| E-commerce platform | €20,000 |
| ISO certification | €20,000 |
| LEAN services | €50,000 |
| Qualified employee (new hiring, 2 years) | €50,000 |
| Total eligible investment | €200,000 |
| Grant at 50% | €100,000 |
At a glance
| Support form | Non-refundable grant (subvenção), real-cost modality |
| Minimum eligible expenditure | €200,000 per operation |
| Financing programmes | COMPETE2030 (Inovação e Transição Digital), Lisboa 2030, Algarve 2030 |
What Elyntis delivers under this programme
You are the applicant and the beneficiary. We are the external technology and consultancy supplier whose invoices constitute the eligible expenditure.
ERP, CRM & business systems
Selection, implementation and data migration for integrated business-management systems.
Website & e-commerce
Platform design, build and integration with your back-office systems.
Hardware & infrastructure
Server, endpoint and network specification, procurement support and deployment.
Distribution & logistics systems
Information systems including warehouse and traceability modules.
Process automation
Workflow-dematerialisation engineering as part of the LEAN and organisational innovation domain.
Application dossier support
Technical scoping documentation and cost breakdown for your dossier, including the two-domain justification requirement.
Applications & deadlines
Applications are submitted online through the Balcão dos Fundos (balcaofundosue.pt) whenever a phase of the Aviso is open. Under the published schedule, the MPr-2026 cycle was expected to open for applications at some point between January and April 2026, with a further edition opening 30 September 2026.
Both of those are opening dates, not application windows — and no corresponding closing date is published alongside them. Neither date, on its own, tells you whether submissions are being accepted today. Ask us and we will check the current phase status for you.
If the current phase is closed
A closed window is rarely the end of the road. SICE Qualificação das PME is a recurring instrument: the Aviso is periodically republished as new phases, with procedural clarifications and occasionally revised rates. A phase that closes is normally followed by another within the same programming cycle — so a closed call is a reason to start scoping, not a reason to wait.
Always confirm the in-force version and the current phase status before planning around any date on this page. Because investments made prior to the application date are not eligible, the scoping work has to happen before you submit — the companies that prepare during a closed window are the ones ready to file on day one of the next.
Official source: COMPETE 2030 — SICE Qualificação das PME (Operações Individuais)
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