The European Commission has published the results for the fourth cut-off date, of 15 March 2016, for the Fast Track to Innovation Pilot call under Horizon 2020. Out of 263 proposals received, 16 were selected for funding, representing an average success rate of 6% and involving 72 partners from 16 countries. The European Commission will allocate a total of €36 million to the selected projects.

Among the 4 Italian entities involved in 3 of the projects funded in this round is a Lombardy-based company,EuroClone Diagnostica srl ,as a partner in the project "FAST bact - A novel fast test for antibiotic susceptibility testing for Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria".

Since the launch of the Fast Track to Innovation pilot phase in January 2015, the Commission has received a total of 1,166 project proposals and selected 62 for funding, with a total financial contribution of over €134.7 million. Almost half (46%) of the participants in the projects are small and medium-sized enterprises.

Regarding the overall data for all cut-off dates, Italy ranks fifth in terms of the total number of beneficiaries (28), including 8 entities from Lombardy (7 companies), following Great Britain (50), the Netherlands (37), Spain (36), and Germany (36).

The next deadline for the submission of proposals is 25 October 2016.

The full list of funded projects can be viewed by clicking here. For further information, please refer to the EASME website .