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Good practice Imported

Vavčerji za digitalizacijo — Slovenia's SME Digitalisation Voucher System

Slovenia · Maribor · See the Slovenia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 65% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Slovenia's SPS ran four SME digitalisation-voucher tracks (2019–2023), completing 759 projects worth ~EUR 11 million, with 63% of funds weighted toward the less-developed Eastern cohesion region as an explicit equity mechanism.

759
Total completed SME projects (2019–2023)
231
Digital competences projects
425
Digital marketing projects
91
Digital-strategy preparation projects
12
Cybersecurity projects
~11 EUR million
Combined budget (2019–2023)
63 %
Funding share to Eastern cohesion region
9,999.99 EUR
Maximum grant per SME
60 % of eligible costs
Co-financing rate
Vavčerji za digitalizacijo — Slovenia's SME Digitalisation Voucher System

Details

Maturity
Discontinued
Promoter
Slovenian Enterprise Fund (Slovenski podjetniški sklad, SPS)
Period
2019–2023
Region (NUTS)
SI03
Keywords
SME support, digital transformation, digital skills

Context

Vavčerji za digitalizacijo (Digitalisation Vouchers) are one of around 15 small-value voucher instruments run by the Slovenian Enterprise Fund (SPS) between 2019 and 2023, alongside the national Digital Innovation Hub (DIH Slovenia) network.

Objectives

The scheme aims to help Slovenian micro, small and medium enterprises raise their digital competences, marketing, strategy and cybersecurity capacity through fast, modest co-financed grants.

Activities

Four voucher tracks — digital-competence development, digital marketing, digital-strategy preparation and cybersecurity — each covered up to 60% of eligible costs, up to EUR 9,999.99 per enterprise, with funds released within about a month of approval. Allocation was deliberately weighted toward Slovenia's less-developed Eastern cohesion region (63% of funds) versus the Western region (37%), an explicit equity mechanism rather than a first-come-first-served design.

Results

Across the four tracks, SPS reports 759 successfully completed SME projects: 231 in digital competences, 425 in digital marketing, 91 in digital-strategy preparation and 12 in cybersecurity, against a combined budget of roughly EUR 11 million.

Conclusions

As with comparable voucher schemes, public reporting covers project completion and disbursement rather than a rigorous assessment of resulting revenue, productivity or digital-maturity gains at firm level; SPS itself has noted that an earlier iteration of the voucher model 'did not bring satisfactory results' before this redesigned, faster-turnaround version launched in 2019.

Implementation

Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Combined budget of roughly EUR 11 million across four voucher tracks (2019–2023), each covering up to 60% of eligible costs up to EUR 9,999.99 per SME.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Slovenian Enterprise Fund (SPS) (funding body administering vouchers), DIH Slovenia — the national Digital Innovation Hub network (delivery/reporting partner)

Conditions for success

  • Four differentiated voucher tracks (competences, marketing, strategy, cybersecurity) rather than a single blanket grant, allowing SMEs to target their specific gap
  • Fast turnaround, with funds released within about a month of approval
  • Deliberate geographic-equity weighting, directing 63% of funds to Slovenia's less-developed Eastern cohesion region versus 37% to the West

Common failure modes

  • SPS itself has noted that an earlier iteration of the voucher model 'did not bring satisfactory results' before the redesigned, faster-turnaround version launched in 2019.
  • Public reporting covers project completion and disbursement rather than firm-level revenue, productivity or digital-maturity outcomes.

Where it fits

Governance type
national enterprise fund
Scale
national (Slovenia)
Income level
high-income EU member state

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes ERDF — European Regional Development Fund

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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