[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6412\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EEye tracking in cars from next year as EU SME scheme accelerates\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt means increasing autonomy for modern cars that are allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel for longer and longer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn June 2014, the European Commission, along with the European Investment Bank, announced the launch of InnovFin - EU Finance for innovators, a series of financial products that are projected to release up to EUR 48 billion of investment in innovative European firms by 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of those is the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.eif.org\/what_we_do\/guarantees\/single_eu_debt_instrument\/innovfin-guarantee-facility\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESME InnovFin Guarantee\u003C\/a\u003E, which means that the EU will cover a proportion of losses if loans to high-tech firms go bad, encouraging banks to lend more to innovative companies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne such company was Sweden\u2019s Smart Eye, an eye-tracking software maker that had ambitions to sell its products to car manufacturers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It was thanks to this guarantee loan from the European Union that it was possible for us to secure and start delivering on the first automotive contract last year,\u2019 said the company\u2019s founder Martin Krantz.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKrantz got the original idea for the technology following a morning phone call from his father back in 1999. His father had dreamt that there was a way for his wife, who had a painful shoulder, to move the computer cursor just by looking, and he asked his son if it was possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Smart Eye is working with carmakers to put their eye-tracking technology in cars from next year. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u0022 height=\u0022420\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/smart%20eye%20device.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Smart Eye is working with carmakers to put their eye-tracking technology in cars from next year. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u0022 width=\u00221200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003ESmart Eye is working with carmakers to put their eye-tracking technology in cars from next year. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018A few weeks afterwards I had made some calculations and thought about it and I said, \u201cI think it is possible actually\u201d.\u2019 They went on to set the company up together later that year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey started out making eye-tracking technology for research labs, but the SEK 8 million loan enabled Krantz to recruit engineers to work on embedding it into automotive systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt worked out so well that the company has grown by 50 % since the beginning of last year to 45 people, after securing two deals with European carmakers to supply them with eye-tracking technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@aligncenter@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Smart Eye grew 50 % in one year with the help of an EU-backed loan to now have 45 employees. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u0022 height=\u0022694\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/Smart%20eye%20employee.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Smart Eye grew 50 % in one year with the help of an EU-backed loan to now have 45 employees. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u0022 width=\u00221200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003ESmart Eye grew 50 % in one year with the help of an EU-backed loan to now have 45 employees. Image courtesy of Smart Eye\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Our software makes it possible to say if the driver is tired, if the driver is paying attention,\u2019 he said, adding that the technology would be available in new cars in 2017.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESelected banks\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe InnovFin SME Guarantee works through a series of selected lenders, mostly banks, around Europe, who give the loans out.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Thanks to the EU guarantee we have been able to increase the total budget dedicated to this programme and reach a total volume of EUR 100 million,\u2019 explained Lola Merveille, from the European affairs department of Bpifrance, the bank that provides loans in France.\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGermany-based ProCredit group hopes to offer EUR 250 million to innovative small companies in eastern and south-eastern Europe as a result of the EU facility. ProCredit has signed up to the InnovFin SME Guarantee for its bank operations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Serbia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe geographically spread group believes it is able to respond to the particular difficulties faced by companies in this part of Europe, such as problems enforcing contracts and unreliable supply chains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Now that ProCredit is a full-fledged partner to the InnovFin programme, we can provide our clients with debt financing on more favourable terms, taking into account many of the impediments we jointly face,\u2019 said Borislav Kostadinov, a member of the management board of ProCredit Holding.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan style=\u0022font-size: 13.008px; line-height: 1.538em;\u0022\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EFinancing innovation\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EUnder its Horizon 2020 funding programme, the EU has set up an initiative called InnovFin \u2013 EU Finance for Innovators, which consists of a range of financing options and advisory services for innovative companies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInnovFin is run by the European Investment Bank Group, which includes the European Investment Fund, and covers all stages of research and innovation and\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.eib.org\/products\/blending\/innovfin\/products\/index.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;sizes of company\u003C\/a\u003E. It is available in EU Member States and also to countries associated to Horizon 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy 2020, the InnovFin initiative is expected to make more than EUR 24 billion of financing available. It is projected that this will be joined by private funding, so that the final total available to innovative companies over that period will be EUR 48 billion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore information can be found at: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.eib.org\/products\/blending\/innovfin\/products\/index.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.eib.org\/products\/blending\/innovfin\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-x9x7oonmrptcks3bgdw0pq2cq2fb67d5fbjgf47h1ti\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-x9X7ooNmRpTCKS3BGDW0pq2cQ2FB67d5fbjGF47H1TI\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]