Trust but verify, don't just trust.
From Sifted.eu, April 18:
Dozens of Polish startups haven’t received €175m in public grants they were awarded at the end of last year, as the institution in charge has been embroiled in a political corruption scandal
More than 100 Polish companies, including dozens of startups, haven’t received €175m in EU grants they were awarded at the end of last year as the institution in charge of paying them out has been embroiled in a corruption scandal. It’s brought many of them to the brink of bankruptcy.
Poland’s anti-corruption authorities have been investigating a programme run by the National Center of Research and Development (NCBR) — a public body responsible for distributing EU-funded grants to research projects and early-stage companies in Poland. The grants in the programme range from 2.7m to 122m złoty (€500k-€26.5m).
The inquiry started after Polish media reported that grants had been awarded to two companies of doubtful eligibility with alleged links to politicians.
Payment of all programme grants has been on hold since February. The delays have severely affected the operations of dozens of startups in areas like AI, drones, cybersecurity and advanced healthtech. The issue won’t be resolved until the end of the investigation, which is due to be April 28 at the earliest.
Once startups do eventually receive their delayed grant money, they will have to spend it by the end of this year to meet EU deadlines — or lose it.
“These entrepreneurs will have to end their projects within this month, some of them might have already given up,” says Krzysztof Brysiewicz, a partner at law firm BBS Legal, who is in touch with many of the impacted founders....
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